Spring cleaning isn’t just for your closets. This is your chance to get rid of excess baggage in your kitchen, too. With a fridge and pantry full of nutritious, whole foods you’ll be able to make healthier meal choices and create the foundation for optimal health. Bonus: You’ll feel lighter, too.
The first step to cleaning your fridge and pantry is to read labels. Follow these guidelines to help you decide what to keep and what to toss.
How to Read Labels
- Look for five or fewer ingredients.
- Look for ingredients that you can pronounce, or to quote Michael Pollan, “Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.”
- Pay attention to serving size, often something you may think is a single serving is actually labeled as two or even three servings.
- Look at fat content and aim for zero trans fat. Trans fats are found in hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils and have been directly linked to heart disease.
- Look at sodium content and aim for low-sodium or no-sodium foods. The daily-recommended guideline for sodium is between 1,500 and 2,300 mg per day.
- Look at sugar content and aim for no more than 26 grams (6 teaspoons) per day.
- Look for artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, and saccharine, and artificial flavorings and colorings. Studies have shown these artificial ingredients to be carcinogenic with the potential to damage DNA.
Toss foods that don’t meet the guidelines and re-stock your fridge and pantry with healthier options. Aim for re-stocking mostly whole foods, with a minimum of processed or packaged foods. Here’s what to look for …
Spring Clean the Fridge
Condiments
- Many condiments like ketchup, relish, bar-b-cue sauce, and salad dressings are loaded with sugar and salt. Consider making your own salad dressings from scratch for a healthier alternative to prepared salad dressings.
- Some yellow mustards contain artificial coloring, look for brands that don’t.
- Imitation mayonnaise may contain artificial ingredients, aim for all natural mayonnaise, or better yet make your own from scratch.
- Check expiration dates of condiments, which tend to sit in the fridge for a long time, and toss any that are expired. When in doubt, check the guidelines from Consumer Reports on how long to safely keep condiments.
Produce
- Eat organic produce whenever possible—it’s more nutritious and less toxic for your body, and it’s healthier for the planet too.
- Eat from all colors of the rainbow.
- Follow the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen guidelines.
- Shop local farmers markets for seasonal produce, which is often pesticide free even if it’s not certified organic.
Meats, Eggs, and Dairy
- Look for labels stating non-GMO, no antibiotics, and no growth hormones.
- Buy organic, free-range poultry.
- Try to find grass-fed beef and lamb.
- Avoid farm-raised fish; buy only wild-caught.
- Get cage-free eggs.
- Choose organic, no rbGH dairy products.
Beverages
- This is the number one place that sugar hides so ditch the naturally and artificially sweetened drinks in favor of water or herbal teas.
- Substitute soda with sparkling water—add a squeeze of lemon or lime, or a few cucumber slices, mint, or organic berries for flavor.
- Stock a variety of flavorful herbal teas, some of which are naturally sweet (such as those containing licorice root).
- Buy organic, fair trade coffee, and aim for only one or two cups per day, preferably before noon.
Leftovers
- Following Ayurvedic tradition, Dr. Suhas recommends not eating anything older then 24 hours. According to Ayurveda, leftovers are difficult to convert into Ojas, the vital nectar of life.
- The Mayo Clinic recommends not eating anything older than 3 or 4 days, after which food poisoning becomes more likely.
Freezer
- Review the federal government food safety website for a list of limits on how long you should store frozen foods.
- Do not re-freeze thawed, raw meats until after they’ve been cooked.
- Ice cream and other frozen fats are hard to digest, and are also loaded with sugar. Try substituting fruit sorbets made from scratch for ice cream. This blueberry-lemon sorbet even has anti-aging properties.
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