Today we look at some common items found in the kitchen that you should get rid of in order to help you to lose weight. Plus we give you some healthy eating options that you can use instead, which don’t compromise on flavour.
There are some grocery items that we just naturally throw in our trolleys each week. Often it’s not until you stop and think about what’s in them that you realise that they would be better off left on the shelf.
7 Foods NOT to keep in your kitchen
1. Pasta Sauce
There are so many brands and flavours available, but when we had a look at a popular Coles Red Wine & Basil pasta sauce we found that it contains almost 10 teaspoons of sugar per jar. Not ideal for a healthy family meal. You can make your own plain Healthy Pasta Sauce quite easily at home and just freeze it to use as needed.
Try this instead: Chunky Tomato, Basil and Feta Meatballs
2. Sweet Cereal
It’s not easy to avoid sugary and low nutrient breakfast cereals when the kids have fallen in love with them. That’s why you need to make sure that you make your own version that’s not only better for them but tastes great too.
Try this instead: Homemade Muesli & Berry Smoothie Bowl. The ingredients for this homemade muesli and berry smoothie bowl can be found in the “pick and mix” section of most supermarkets, health food aisle or in a health food store.
3. Canned fruit
Make sure you select fruit that is canned in natural juice, rather than syrup. Fruit canned in syrup can contain up to 40% sugar!
4. Tomato Sauce
Most kids love squeezing tomato sauce on their dinner, but when it’s made from 25% sugar it’s best to keep its use in check. But it gets worse – BBQ sauce is 45% sugar.
For you and the kids, limit the use of sauce (for instance don’t put it out when you set the table for dinner), and try to find other things to dip into such as hummus or mustard mixed with Greek yoghurt.
Try this instead: A delicious Healthy Salsa.
5. Flavoured Yoghurt
Kids love yoghurt and those little tubs or pouches are super easy for the lunchbox. But once again sugar is a key ingredient in these, and the diet yoghurts are no better. For instance a Ski D’Light Peach Melba yoghurt has close to 7 teaspoons of sugar in one 200g tub. You can buy some plain creamy Greek yoghurt instead (read which brands our nutritionist recommends here) and add a bit of honey, berries or cinnamon.
Try this instead: plain yoghurt is anything but boring with recipes like these Coconut Choc Jam Nutty Yoghurt Pots
6. Salad Dressing
Yes there’s even sugar in your ‘healthy’ salad dressing. But the good news is it is super easy to make your own instead and it will pack so much more flavour into your salad.
Try this instead: Chicken Caesar Wrap
7. Stirfry Sauce
Many pantries contain a jar or two of stirfry sauce, but these are not ideal for your healthy eating plan. For instance in a 575g jar of Kan Tong Sweet and Sour Simmer Sauce you’ll find 25 teaspoons of sugar. In our 28 Day Challenges we give you the tools for making your own healthy sauces from scratch using fresh ingredients (and it’s really easy too) so there’s no need to buy the processed sauces.
Try this instead: One Pot Teriyaki Lamb Stir Fry
Every month on the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge, we run a BRAND NEW 28 Day Menu with a different theme so you NEVER get bored!
Elle Temple has lost 25kg doing the challenges
Elle says “I’m nearly a year into maintenance of 25kg I’ve lost using the healthy mummy plans, I’m so thankful for the convenience of the smoothies always giving me a reliable super quick and easy option and the 28 day plans for educating me on how to lose weight in a healthy way and keep it off!”
You won’t regret it!
Join the challenge here
