6 Things To Eliminate From Your Kitchen Today If You Want To Eat A Healthier Diet And Lose Excess Weight

I've been working with weight-loss clients for the better part of 10 years and I've seen a lot of success stories. While my clients have adopted different methods to arrive at their weight-loss goals, there are always some common denominators in their nutrition that I recommend to everyone who is on a fat-loss journey. The standard American diet is full of artificial ingredients, processed foods, and unhealthy fats that are leaving people sicker and fatter than ever. It takes a lot of deprogramming for people to learn what they should and shouldn't cook with. Things are especially confusing because much of the information passed down to us by public health organizations is simply wrong. For example, the low-fat and low-carb crazes were based on biased information and altered research. It's no wonder so many women are perplexed about how to eat for a healthier lifestyle.

What you eat is the single most important factor when it comes to weight loss and it's also the most important factor for longevity and general health. Food can be your best medicine or your greatest poison. And it all starts in our kitchen. One of the first things I suggest to my clients is to eat out as little as possible and cook at home as much as they can. That's where you can control your ingredients and portions, and you know you're putting good food into your body. But you have to have the right environment at home, so start by cleaning out these six things from your kitchen.

1. Seed Oils

Seed oils such as canola oil, grapeseed oils, soybean oil, and sunflower oil are highly toxic due to the amount of linoleic acid, which is a predominant n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) that is naturally found in very small amounts in animal fats like tallow. For reference, seed oils contain anything from 30-70% linoleic acid. Tallow only has 2% linoleic acid. Seed oils are also an omega-6 fatty acid that can lead to blood clots as well as increased hunger. That's why you just can't stop eating potato chips—they're literally designed to keep you reaching for more and more. Seed oils also cause chronic inflammation in the body, which is the underlying factor of any chronic illness or medical condition we see in today's society, including cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Seed oils also cause chronic inflammation in the body.

Seed oils are probably the hardest thing to get rid of because they're in just about everything, even the "healthy" items like salad dressing, granola, and cereal. Because they're in everything—and used at every restaurant—Americans' health keeps declining. The best thing you can do for your health is to eliminate these oils and instead cook with extra-virgin olive oil, tallow (rendered beef fat), butter or ghee, or coconut oil. Besides, your food will taste even better when you replace vegetable oil with tallow!

2. Conventional Dairy

This is a hard pill to swallow for most people because we've been programmed to believe that dairy is an excellent source of calcium, but pasteurized dairy actually is notoriously difficult for our body digest and the cows that produce conventional dairy are pumped with hormones and antibiotics, making milk and cheese much different today than it was a couple hundred years ago. The best thing you can do is replace store-bought dairy with raw dairy that you can get straight from a farmer. Kids who are diagnosed as lactose intolerant and react poorly to conventional dairy tend to have no issues at all with raw dairy, and even adults have a much easier time digesting raw dairy and experience much less bloating from it.

3. Packaged Snacks

You know exactly what falls into this category: chips, cookies, crackers, granola bars, etc. These are the silent killers that are full of artificial ingredients, refined sugars, seed oils, preservatives, and more. You already know that snacks like Doritos and Oreos don't belong in your kitchen, but many people are easily fooled by the snacks that are marketed as "healthy" or "natural." And yet these are often just as unhealthy as conventional potato chips. Additionally, packaged snacks often hold little to no nutritional value. No doubt they're convenient, but with a little planning ahead, you can make your own healthy, tasty, and protein-rich snacks that aren't going to wreak havoc on your body in the long run.

Many people are easily fooled by the snacks that are marketed as "healthy" or "natural."

4. Frozen Meals

When you have an impossibly busy schedule, it can be really easy to reach into your freezer and heat up a tray of frozen food in just a few minutes. However, these meals are not only full of artificial ingredients, but they hold little nutritional value. Instead of relying on frozen food to nourish you, make the time to meal prep on the weekend so your fridge is stocked with some extra food that will help you get through the day. I highly suggest investing in a crock pot or Instant pot because these devices make it really easy to meal prep in a short amount of time. Toss in a chuck roast with your favorite ingredients, walk away, and a couple hours later you have 5-7 servings of high-quality red meat that can serve as lunch or dinner throughout the week. No frozen food needed!

5. Cereal

Cereal is the most useless food on the planet. There is no nutritional value and it really just offers crunch and some taste to people who are looking for a quick fix. Because there's no protein and it's packed with sugars and corn syrup and seed oils, you feel hungry an hour after having a bowl of cereal. It may be the worst breakfast you can eat in the morning. Instead of wasting your calories on cereal, go for eggs or oatmeal or something else more nutritional and satiating in the beginning of the day. That will leave you with more energy and many more vitamins and minerals to nourish your body.

Cereal is the most useless food on the planet.

6. Premade Salad Dressing

Salads are the first thing that women eat more of when they're trying to be healthier. While it may be a popular choice for lunch, it's often ruined by a nasty salad dressing that was purchased at the store and had the words "natural" or "light" on it. Seed oils and sugar are almost always found in premade salad dressings (although there are a couple healthier brands out there), which is why I encourage all my clients to make their own salad dressings at home. You can create a tasty concoction with just extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, and lemon juice. Not only is it full of more nutrients but it even tastes better than the store-bought stuff—and it's way cheaper to make.

The best diet to follow is the 85/15 rule. 85% of the time, eat what you know you're supposed to be eating. And 15% of the time you can go out of bounds and splurge a little bit. But 85% is a vast majority of the time, so it helps to have a kitchen that is stocked with healthy options at all times. Creating the proper environment for yourself will ensure that you make healthy choices most of the time.