Cleanse your kitchen for fall
Fall is here! Can you smell it in the air?
September always feels like a new year to me with school starting and the weather calling for a hoodie or a sweater in the morning. It also signifies to me that it is time to get the kitchen ready for baked apples and pumpkin stew! A change of season is always a good time for a cleanse to mark a new start!
Here are four ways to “clean out” your kitchen for fall:
1. Clear off the counters.
Sometimes – at least in my house – with everyone coming and going, the kitchen counter can become an area to set things down, and, if those things don’t find a place to belong, it can become their new home. Well, with all the beautiful dark kale and collard greens about to be harvested in the Fall, we will need as much clean counter space as you can get for cutting them up. Find other places for your stuff. For example, the scotch tape dispenser on my countertop found its way back to our home office. Lift up, wipe under, and remove some of your appliances, and consider moving them around. Those few inches of clean counter space you gain can make all the difference. Now, add a big beautiful bowl of crisp fall apples and notice how great you feel!
2. Get rid of the plastic.
Consuming plastics is bad for humans. When drinking out of plastic cups or eating out of plastic storage containers, you are consuming microplastics. Microplastics are defined as a pieces of plastic up to 5 mm in size. These microplastics can add up and wreak havoc on the body by increasing inflammation. In addition, some plastics have chemicals such as Bisphenol A (BPA) that act as endocrine disruptors, meaning they interfere with your hormones playing a role in poor reproductive health. Plastics can also have negative neurologic effects. Third, requiring your body to handle plastics can weaken your immune system. In addition, most plastic cups or bottles or storage container lids have lips or grooves that harbor bacteria despite running them through the dishwasher. Whereas ceramic mugs usually are void of lips and grooves. Consider replacing your water bottles and storage containers with those made of stainless steel or glass as a simple way to do something great for your health.
3. Get rid of junk food and old food.
I always tell my patients to shop mostly in the perimeter of the grocery store because the perimeter is usually where the produce is displayed. In the middle of the grocery store are shelves of food that are heavily processed and contain chemical preservatives to keep them on the shelf longer. Sometimes these foods stay in our pantries for long periods, and it is usually not the best food to keep around. Open boxes of cereal, potato chips, and crackers should all go. Going forward try to keep the pantry stocked with dried beans, lentils, nuts, glass bottles of healthy oil, and the foods you might find in the bulk/ dry section of the grocery store. If you remove these processed packaged foods, you will be less likely to eat them!
4. Throw out old Supplements.
Gather your supplements off of the counter, out of the kitchen cupboard, and the few in your fridge and take stock. I always tell my patients that supplements only work if you take them. If you are not taking them, start. If you have supplements that are expired, it is time to get rid of them. If you have supplements that are old in opened bottles – especially multivitamins and fish oils – they can get oxidized and can potentially be harmful to your health. Throw them out.
So, there you have it, four simple ways to clean out your kitchen for Fall.
