The Best Detox For Your Health

FRESH SPACE, FRESH START

“The kitchen is the heart of the home.” You may have heard that phrase before. The kitchen is quite the hub for activity in most people’s houses. Just as heart health is critical to physical health, the heart of your homes helps you establish and maintain your healthy habits.

To be successful in your healthy habits, you have to design your environment to maximize success. So in the home, that starts with a Kitchen Detox.

Three ways a detoxed kitchen helps in your healthy habits:

1. You can think more clearly and make better decisions without the clutter. 
2. It provides a visual reminder of your new healthy mindset. 
3. Removing temptation eliminates challenges.

A kitchen detox is about clearing out the old and unhealthy, organizing for better use, planning what to have, stocking up on the good stuff, and setting your mind right as you start your new normal of a healthy lifestyle. A fresh space creates a fresh start. 

Depending on how large your kitchen is or how long you have lived in your home, tackling your kitchen may seem like an overwhelming task. Though, if you are struggling with healthy habits, you will find this purging to be quite rewarding when done.

5 STEP KITCHEN DETOX PLAN

I am always trying to figure out how to make being healthy this simple, so I’ve come up with a 5-step process to help make removing the old and unhealthy and replacing it with the fresh and healthy achievable.

Before you begin, you will need to gather a few items:

• Hard copy of these 5 steps
• Trash bags, bins, and boxes
• Notepad and pen/pencil
• Cleaning supplies
• A few hours 
• Some good music

STEP 1 - REMOVE

Toss, Keep, Recycle, & Donate/Sell

• Designate areas for Keep, Toss, Recycle, and Donate/Sell piles. 
• Start in the pantry and remove everything...yes, everything!! As you remove each item, put them in the appropriate area—Keep, Toss, Recycle, and Donate/Sale. 
• What to ask yourself: The first question to ask is whether or not to keep a food item- Is this real food or made from a real food? If the answer is no, toss it. 
• How do you know if it is a real food item? The easiest way to spot fake food is it contains ingredients made by man, not nature. Nature-made food doesn’t come with an ingredients label. Anything artificial, processed, and full of sugar needs to go. Insta-anything is insta-outta here. 
• The second question to ask- is this expired or moldy? If yes (or if you’re not sure how long you have had it), toss it. Typical shelf life: Spices- 3 years. Oils - 1-3 years. Frozen food - 6-12 months. Condiments - varies. 
• Also, go through kitchen items and remove any that are overused, misshaped, stained, rusted, missing parts, or rarely to never used. This ranges from cooking utensils to linens to small appliances.
• Recycle and donate or sell items at your discretion.
• Repeat for the refrigerator, freezer, cabinets, and any other kitchen storage areas. Go through everything! Even around and under the kitchen sink. 

For a full list of what to keep toss, recycle, and sell/donate, download the 7Core Wellness Kitchen Detox Downloadable.

STEP 2 - REORGANIZE

Deep Clean & Organize

• Now that your pantry, refrigerator, freezer, and cabinets are completely empty, it is a good time to deep clean these areas. Having a clear space gives you the opportunity to make things look nice and sparkling. 
• Place items from the Keep pile back in an organized fashion. 
• Take the Toss, Recycle, and Donate/Sell items out of the kitchen.

For tips on reorganizing your pantry, fridge, freezers, and cabinet, download the 7Core Wellness Kitchen Detox Downloadable.

STEP 3 - REPLACE

Make a list.

• Now that you have purged the unhealthy items, it is time to make a list of the healthy foods you will replace them with. 
• First, start by planning healthy meals for the rest of the week.
• Then make a list of items from food to kitchen supplies and organizational tools you need to replace, as well as any staple items you feel you need to have on hand.
• Remember quality matters! It doesn’t have to be organic...
• Top items to replace: 
  • Old spices for new. 
  • Bad oils for good. 
  • Fake food for real. 
  • Poor snacks for quality. 
  • Old kitchen items for new.

STEP 4 - RESTOCK

Shop.

• Now that you have your Replace list, it is time to shop and restock your kitchen! 
• Hit the store or order online for either groceries, kitchen tools, or organizational items.  
• When you are shopping--remember quality matters! Look at the ingredient labels for sugar, bad oils, and unrecognizable ingredients. 
• With the junk food gone, don’t be tempted to buy the stuff you can’t keep yourself from eating. You have planned your healthy substitute snacks.

For a quick list of my favorite food, kitchen, and organizational items, check out my affiliate Amazon store.

STEP 5 - RESET  

Mindset & Plan to Maintain.

• This is the most important piece—coming up with a maintenance strategy. 
• The first part is to shift your thinking to match the healthy lifestyle you now live. Don’t see it as removing things from your life, but enhancing your life by adding more nutritious things that benefit your body. 
• Some possible mindset shifts to own: I have a healthy lifestyle. My body and mind deserve only the good stuff. Food is medicine.
• To begin setting your mind right, answer these questions…
  1. Why did you do this kitchen detox?
  2. Why is it important to you to maintain a healthy lifestyle?'
  3. What shifts do you need to make in your thinking?
• The second step is to create a plan to implement your healthy habits and overcome any challenges.
• A written plan ensures the best success, so answer these questions…
  1. What healthy habits are you focusing on?
  2. What might keep you from being successful with these habits
  3. How will you plan and prep for success?

• The third step is coming up with an approach to keep you accountable for your healthy lifestyle. 

MAKING IT HAPPEN

Now that you have a detailed plan to detox your kitchen and set up your home environment for success, when will you make it happen? 

Prepare by scheduling a time and gathering your Kitchen Detox supplies.

For those that want to do this but struggle with how to do it when not everyone in the house is on board with a detox of the unhealthy, here is what I suggest in dealing with that challenge of having an environment you want yet keeping the peace of the rest of the household. Obviously, there is no question that the old, expired, and moldy have to go. When it comes to artificial and processed food items, only keep what they like most, and ideally what you don’t like. Remove all the rest. If it is something you particularly struggle with not eating, you will need to put a top-notch accountability plan in place.

While I believe we need to be good examples of healthy eating to those we love, I am not an advocate of nagging or forcing anyone to do anything. We don’t want people to be food bullies to us for our healthy living, nor to do we want to bully others. That is never beneficial. Some people will come around in their own time or sadly, not at all. We may not be able to make others want it, but we can stand up for our right to be victorious in our healthy lifestyle. 

Jen