How to Marie Kondo your eating habits

We’re all decluttering our homes thanks to Marie Kondo, but what we should really be decluttering is our fridges and pantries, writes Vanessa Croll. Here’s what should stay and what should go.

This is it. This is your life and the body you occupy this very moment is the one that will carry you to the end.

The wonderful thing is, your choices from this point forward can largely influence and control what state your body will be in when you get there.

What you put in greatly determines how it will behave, feel and work for you. How you fuel your body influences its capabilities, meaning you can have more say in how choose to fill your remaining days.

Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? So why is it so hard to get right?

Why are so many of us living with avoidable health complications purely resulting from our dietary choices?

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Our kids are fatter than previous generations. We are fatter than previous generations.

Our bodies ache and our heads hurt yet we continue to eat crap for the convenience and instant gratification.

Then guilt hits and we head to Google to find the latest lose-weight-quick-and-don’t-worry-about-the-consequences diet that tells us to cut out entire food groups or days of eating. Convinced the damage has been reversed, we get a hit of self-pride then hit a slump and hate ourselves when temptation wins. And thus the cycle continues.

It sounds like I’m generalising — which I am and there are so many exceptions — but when you consider News Corp Australia’s findings that 93 per cent of Australians are at risk of dying earlier than they need to purely because they’re not eating enough fruit and vegetables, it’s likely not far from the truth.

This brings me to Marie Kondo — the Japanese organisation guru responsible for a worldwide decluttering frenzy.

Within one month of Netflix airing her TV series, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, the KonMarie method of simplifying and organising the home become a phenomenon. She keeps it simple: if an object doesn’t “spark joy” when you hold it, then chuck it.

We can take this excitement and momentum created by Kondo and apply it to our eating habits. Cut out the clutter of information and misinformation surrounding weight loss fads and “miracle” diets and simplify our approach to food.

Advanced Sports Dietitian Ali Disher says it’s no wonder people get confused when it comes to nutrition.

“Type ‘nutrition’ or ‘weight loss’ into Google and over one billion results pop up for each,” she says. “It’s easy to get lost in the jungle of information and people often feel that the answer to good nutrition lies in juice cleanses, poached chicken and steamed broccoli — which is not only boring, but very unattainable long-term.”

When we deny ourselves sufficient calories, our bodies instinctively crave high-energy foods.

I couldn’t tell you the number of jumbo-sized bags of salt and vinegar chips I’ve scoffed or tubs of vanilla ice-cream with mountains of Milo and peanut butter I’ve devoured — all while convincing myself “it’s fine, ‘cause I’m so stressed”.

“Keeping snacks handy like nuts, fruit with skin on and yoghurt handy, or grabbing a protein hit via your milky coffee, should see you through,” Ms Disher says

The KonMarie methods invites you to be mindful of your living space — so try it on yourself. Ms Disher says to start by being kind to yourself and listen to your body.

“Are you eating out of habit, to satisfy cravings, or because there is an underlying stressor that happens to be soothed by food? It can be really useful to write these thoughts down, to gain a better insight into the ‘why’ behind your food choices.

“Remember that food should be enjoyed, but that it also impacts in many ways on other life aspects such as mood, energy and sleep. So if you’re feeling flat or low, anxious or moody, contemplating the food you’re fuelling your brain and body with can be a very interesting and helpful exercise.”

OK, so how do we put this to practice? Get your KonMarie on and take to your fridge and pantry. Chuck the rotten, soggy, out-of-date items because hopefully they don’t “Spark Joy”. Then do a bit of planning to restock with items that will “Spark Simple Health”.

Fresh fruits and vegetables from farmer's markets. Is there anything more delicious and healthy? Picture: Istock

“If you can cleverly stock your pantry, you can always whip up a meal or snack,” Ms Disher says.

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She recommends the following staples

— Tinned tuna/salmon: a quick hit of filling protein to eat with salad or veggies or a great base ingredient to make fish cakes.

— Rolled oats: a great base ingredient for baking, overnight oats or to add to smoothies to boost your carb intake.

— Nuts and seeds: full of anti-inflammatory fats and a variety of vitamins and minerals. Mixed nuts are a great booster to sprinkle over meals, to grab as a quick snack or to add to baking like banana bread. Aim to cap yourself at a small handful (pre-portion these if you don’t trust yourself!

— Quick grains: keeping microwavable rice, quinoa or options like couscous to simply add water to, means that you’re fuelling your body with essential B vitamins and a rich source of fibre from whole grains. It also means when you’re time poor, there are less steps to get a healthy meal into your belly.

And as for the perishables to keep in your fridge, Ms Disher says if you aim for two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables a day, you aren’t leaving much room for less nutritious foods. Add to this something with calcium — dairy or dairy alternative — and aim for roughly three serves a day.

But this is all so time consuming, right? Stop telling yourself that, you have plenty of time.

“Whether you’re working crazy hours, running around after kids or trying to fit training into your already jam-packed day, it’s very easy to push a button or two to put food on plates,” Ms Disher says.

“An interesting exercise is to take a look at your Screen Time analytics and see how you can free up some time away from technology. This could then be spent organising your groceries, planning meals for the week or even preparing some meals in advance.”

Vanessa Croll is a writer and producer for RendezView.

@VanessaCroll

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