Let the kitchen and is considered a working area, it can also work against you and your waist. You probably know that the design of many restaurants, cafes and supermarkets (as well as the appearance of the products / dishes themselves) is able to influence our subconscious mind, forcing us to buy and eat more than is actually necessary. Home cooking is no exception to this rule.
Do you have a white kitchen? Have you put the TV and comfortable chairs in the kitchen? Vase with sweets is in sight? In this case, your kitchen already has traps that can develop your habit of mindless eating, without even realizing it.
Do you want to reorganize your kitchen so that it promotes weight loss? Here are a few simple tips:
1. Conduct a rearrangement of products
Cornell University professor Brian Wansink and his research team visited 240 homes in which they measured and photographed every detail of the kitchen. After 8 months of analysis of the data obtained, one of the main things they discovered was that the storage of products in sight really contributes to completeness. So, women who had a box of cookies, a vase of sweets or other products on their countertops weighed an average of 9 kg more than the other participants in the experiment.
What conclusion arises by itself? Any high-calorie foods need to be cleaned out of sight! And if you really want to lay out something on your favorite beautiful dish, then let it be any vegetables or fruit.
But that is not all! Studies by Brian Wansink also showed that a person 3 times more often undertakes to eat what he saw first, something that caught his eye fourth or fifth. Thus, the food in the refrigerator and pantry should be arranged so that useful products are more noticeable than those that contribute to completeness. After people who have experienced in the experiment Wansinka, moved their fruits and vegetables from the bottom drawer of the refrigerator to the upper shelves, they began to eat them 3 times more often than they ate before.
2. Get rid of the mess
It turns out that not only the appetizing appearance of certain products may induce us to interest in food. Abundance of decorative details, logs of magazines, scattered recipes
3. Choose the appropriate kitchen color
Choosing the perfect color for the kitchen is actually a very complex issue. We used to think that warm colors - yellow, orange, red - stimulate appetite, whereas cold colors - blue, white, green - on the contrary, do not cause a desire to have a snack once again. However, when it came to testing this theory in practice, everything turned out exactly the opposite! Everything is simple: in bright and cold spaces people much more strongly want to treat themselves with something hotter than in a bright, invigorating atmosphere.
But this does not mean that everyone now needs to give up green and blue in the kitchen. Bright, rich shades of blue, green, yellow, red, as well as brown and earthy-gray tones - they all work well to raise the mood, and accordingly - to reduce the desire to eat more than the body needs. At the same time, from the abundance of white and various cream shades in the kitchen is really better to give up.
4. Remove from the kitchen recreation area
This rule runs counter to the latest trends in kitchen design. For many of us, the kitchen today is the center of the house, where there is also a children's playground in which the child can do homework, and a TV to keep track of the latest news, and a place for gatherings by a small company. However, the more time you spend in the kitchen, especially when watching TV, the more likely it becomes that sooner or later you will have a snack, although you will not want to eat for real. Let your kitchen be just for cooking and eating, and the rest zone should be organized away from it!
5. Simplify the process of cooking
Convenient furniture, organized storage of products and utensils, effective illumination of surfaces, a gadget for music playback and other amenities - all these things make us approach the cooking process more responsibly and create more useful culinary masterpieces. Fortunately, today there are kitchen organizers and other convenient appliances for the kitchen of all shapes and sizes.
6. Arrange the kitchen equipment in accordance with the priorities
Agree that if you can not quickly find non-stick cookware, then you will not use it. But if you just stand in front of the eyes on the table will be a fryer, then you may well suddenly want a crunchy potato. Therefore, when you are going to reorganize your kitchen, move the fryer, ice cream maker, toaster and other "harmful" appliances to the so-called "dead" zone - to the uppermost shelves of the kitchen cabinets, and the juicer and steamer to the most prominent place.
7. Choose the right size of dishes
Most dishes have a diameter of 28-30 cm. Since we unconsciously try to fill our plates and, as a rule, eat about 90% of what we put in them, it is natural that the size of the plates can affect the amount of calories consumed. Even a small difference can have a significant effect, for example, a dish with a diameter of 23-25 cm will allow you to eat considerably less. But be careful: experiments have shown that a sharp transition to plates smaller than 23 cm can cause a sense of self-deception and a desire to return for one more serving. Scientists have calculated that when using large serving dishes people eat an average of 17% more.
Other useful tips for serving food:
- according to the results of the experiments, red dishes make you eat less;
- use a small spoon and you will consume 14% less calories;
- Use lower and narrow glasses when serving sweet and sodas;
- impose food before you sit at the table: during the experiments it was found that people consume 19% less food when it is on a stove or a separate table, and not under the nose (this is especially true for guys who impose themselves over and over again when the food is right in front of them);
- Before you clean the food in the refrigerator, wrap the most high-calorie foods in aluminum foil, and the most useful - in a transparent plastic packaging. What will it give? Remember the rule from paragraph 1.
8. Adjust the air temperature
You snack more often when you are cold. The conclusion is obvious, is not it? Try to maintain the heat in the kitchen (for example, do not turn on the air conditioner or fan again, do not block the heating), and your waist will say thank you!
9. Make the windowsill work
Install a bay window or a deep window sill, which will give you the opportunity to always have fresh herbs on hand. They are not only useful, but even the very appearance of the green window sill can induce you to prepare healthy food.
10. Take care of motivation
A slate, magnets on the refrigerator or some other means will help you keep in mind the various vegetarian recipes that will motivate you to prepare and consume healthy food. As a rule, if one and the same recipe comes across our eyes more than three times, we will sooner or later prepare it.
As you can see, most of the items listed above do not require you to make any serious effort or expense. But they can really help you lose weight and accustom yourself to a healthy diet. Even if you are skeptical about this, but why not try it?
