How your kitchen is making you fat

CLUTTERED cupboards? Dozens of gadgets? Pics of food on the fridge? It could be making you fat.

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TRANSFORM that culinary culprit into a haven of health with these tips, writes Carrol Baker.

Unclutter your space

Never underestimate the power of a tidy kitchen. If yours is a chaotic jumble of bills and books, it's a stressful place to be, so get tidying.

Peter Walsh, author of Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? (Free Press), says a messy kitchen can also equal poor food choices: "If your son's football kit takes up your kitchen work surface, then you won't be chopping vegetables on it."

Psychologist Meredith Fuller agrees: "If you have to clean up before you prepare a meal, you're far more likely to opt for takeaway."

Go easy on the gadgets

From cake pop- and pie-makers to waffle irons and pizza ovens, the range of cute food appliances on the market is enough to make you drool. But while they may look fantastic on the kitchen bench, these gadgets could be sabotaging your plans for healthy eating.

There are appliances that are more worthy of your cash and better for your waistband, b+s nutritionist Lisa Guy says. "If you're trying to maintain a healthier diet, then don't purchase ones that encourage you to cook unhealthy meals." Instead, she suggests spending your money on a good-quality food processor and a juicer so you can make yourself nutritious vegie juices.

Create atmosphere

The kitchen is the hub of the home, and it's usually lit accordingly with an array of spotlights, pendants, downlights, chandeliers, lamps and built-in cabinet illumination. But while multi-layered lighting adds warmth and character to the kitchen, too much can tempt your tastebuds.

A study by Cornell University Food and Brand Lab revealed that with subtle lighting and some soft music playing, you're likely to eat about 18 per cent less.

So aim for ambient. Turn down the lights, tune into the stereo and you may help trim your tummy.

Remove food teasers

Photos of chocolate cakes or salty chips can trigger the centre in your brain that's associated with appetite control and reward, according to findings by the University of Southern California. The study, which involved participants looking at photos of high-calorie foods, found that simply viewing images of sweets or fattening foods made them yearn for the real thing.

This shows that out of sight, out of mind can apply to sweet treats, so store any high-kilojoule snacks in opaque containers in your pantry, where you can't see them as easily.

Stock the fridge

Many homes now come with a walk-in pantry with plenty of space for all those bumper-size bargains, however, research shows that buying up big can cause you to eat up big, too.

Researchers at the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab tested 48 products, and found that for 47 of them, large package sizes increased consumption by an average of 22 per cent.

"Having snack foods in your pantry is too tempting and can lead to over-eating these often unhealthy processed foods, which contain high levels of added fats, sugars and sodium," Guy warns.

Instead, super-size your fruit and veg purchases and stock the fridge with healthy snacks, she says. The majority of your weekly shop should be made up of fresh produce, not packaged foods.

Plate up a portion

Kitchen island benches look fabulous, are functional and are great for dishing up dinner from, but there's a catch: Buffet-style meals make it far too easy to pile up your plate, and go back to the bench for a second helping.

Keep some calorie control by serving portions directly onto the plates. And remove stools from around the kitchen island, so there's less temptation to sit and socially graze while a meal is being prepared.

Bring back the bowl

In the old days, kids grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl as they skipped out the door. Now they're more likely to snaffle a treat from the cookie jar, while the fruit lies forgotten in the fridge.

In NSW alone, $2.5 billion worth of edible food is tossed away each year, including $848 million of fresh food, according to the Environmental Protection Authority.

So revive the fruit bowl and fill it with nature's sweet treats.

Close the door on temptation

Open shelving and glass-fronted kitchen cabinets aren't your friend if you're watching your weight as they allow you to see what's inside all too easily.

Use open shelves to store plates or healthy cookbooks, or opt for antique glass to obscure what's inside a cabinet.

And put healthy snacks such as pre-cut veg and yoghurts within easy reach in the fridge, Fuller says. "What you see at eye-level in the fridge also plays a big part in what you snack on."