How to Clean Your Kitchen for Weight Loss
Have you tried everything to lose weight, but it just doesn’t work? Then maybe it’s the chaos in your kitchen, scientists say.
Losing weight starts in the kitchen – but differently than you think! Because not only what you prepare in the kitchen, but also your kitchen itself plays a role. That’s what researchers from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab in New York say when they conducted a study with 101 female students. Their thesis: A clean kitchen helps you lose weight.
How is that supposed to work?
The calculation behind this is actually quite simple. A chaotic kitchen puts us under stress. And when we feel stressed, we eat unhealthy things. You probably know that too. In particularly stressful times, we like to let our good intentions slip and postpone our diet plans to an indefinite “later”. Researchers from Zurich, for example, have recently discovered that we attach more importance to taste when we feel stressed. How healthy the food is then plays a secondary role for us.
It’s different when we’re relaxed: Then we can calmly weigh up and would always choose the healthier option in case of doubt, and are then also prepared to do the one or other more steps to achieve this. That makes sense, doesn’t it?
A little thought experiment
Anyone who comes hungry into a dirty, messy kitchen, where encrusted dishes are piled in, on and next to the sink, where stains encrust the stove, crumbs are lying on the floor and old vegetables are gathering in the corner, will simply see that he or she will grab something as quickly as possible to satisfy the ravenous hunger. Stress and the feeling of losing control in this chaotic environment make us leave the kitchen in a hurry with a bag of chips in our hands.
If, on the other hand, you come hungry to a clean kitchen where you feel comfortable and relaxed, you also feel like staying and preparing something healthy for yourself that is in harmony with the kitchen. So we mirror our surroundings. In this bright, clean room, splashing frying fat, fatty sauces and thick cheese crusts simply have no place. This is where you want to transform fresh fruit and vegetables into Instagram-compatible creations and distribute fresh salad on colourful plates. And, of course, clean everything up afterwards.
“Although meditation is a great way to feel like you have everything under control, to get away from the constant snacking in the kitchen, it’s probably easier to just keep the kitchen clean and tidy,” says co-author Brian Wansink.
You still don’t believe it?
But even if that is the case, according to the researchers, we would rather fish a healthy couscous salad or cottage cheese and a fresh cucumber from the fridge in a tidy and clean kitchen than the frozen pizza from the freezer. And so a clean kitchen can actually help you lose weight. Give it a try!