Reorganize your kitchen: 6 hacks to help you lose weight and keep it off

You may not always be able to control what goes into the foods you eat outside of the house, but you can be in control of what you eat at home. Organizing your kitchen is one of the very best things you can do to make healthy food choices. To shape up your kitchen, try these six hacks:

1. Hide snack foods. If you keep your salty or sugary snacks on the kitchen counter, find them a new home tucked away in the pantry. If they're not in your line of vision every time you enter the kitchen, you'll be less tempted to eat them. Researchers at Cornell University found that people who stored foods and beverages such as candy, cereal, and soda on their kitchen counters weighed 20 to 26 pounds more than people who kept these items out of sight. On the flip side, those who placed a bowl of fruit on the counter weighed 13 pounds less than people who didn't.
2. Revamp your refrigerator. Arrange the foods that you'd like to eat more of—such as fruits, vegetables, lean meats, eggs, hummus, low-fat milk, cottage cheese, and yogurt—at eye level in your fridge so you're more likely to grab these first when you're hungry.
3. Make your freezer friendlier. Your freezer can be a lifesaver when there's no time to shop for healthy food. Because frozen produce is flash frozen within hours of harvest, it's often nutritionally superior to fresh, which can sit on store shelves for days, losing nutrients all the while. Stock up on frozen vegetables for quick side dishes you can microwave in minutes. Think of carrots, peas, broccoli, spinach, and edamame—you can even find interesting vegetable mixes, including some stir-fry blends. Any vegetable is fine, as long as it's free of cheese or buttery sauces.
4. Upgrade your pantry. Set aside some time to clean out and restock your pantry with these staples for quick and easy meals:
   • Quinoa, whole-wheat couscous, brown rice, and whole-wheat pasta. Higher in fiber than white rice or noodles, these whole grains are gradually digested for prolonged energy and satiety.
   • Canned beans. Whether they're black beans, pinto beans, or chickpeas, beans are a speedy way to add protein and fiber to salads, soups, and pasta.
   • Dried red lentils. These offer up the same health benefits as beans, plus they cook in just 15 minutes.
   • Cold whole-grain cereal and rolled oats. With these, you can make a nutrient-packed breakfast in minutes.
   • Air-popped or fat-free popcorn. Everyone needs a crunchy snack sometimes. Make yours popcorn. You can eat five cups of air-popped popcorn for the same 150 calories you'd get from just 22 potato chips.
   • Canned tuna and salmon. These lean proteins are a cinch to toss into salad or pasta on a busy weeknight. Marinara sauce. In addition to mixing with pasta,
5. Use smaller dishes. Simply using a bowl that's 50% larger encourages you to eat 20% more food. To keep your portions in check, try replacing 12-inch dinner plates with 10-inch ones. Or else banish your dinner-sized plates to the back of your kitchen cabinets and move salad plates up front so they'll be the first thing you reach for when you set the table. Take a close look at your bowls and serving dishes. Are they also oversized? If so, replace them with cereal bowls and invest in a few smaller bowls for soup and cereal. For snacks, try a small half-cup bowl or ramekin instead of a regular bowl.

And don't forget to check out your drinking glasses. Many of these can hold 12 ounces of fluid or more. If you're using giant glasses for water or a big mug for unsweetened coffee or tea, go ahead and keep these up front. But if you're trying to cut down on sugary drinks, push large glasses and mugs to the back of the cabinet and move smaller juice-sized glasses and coffee cups to the front.

6. Get the right gear. You don't have to go out and buy an entire kitchen's worth of new appliances to cook healthfully. However, there are a few basic gadgets that can help:
   • Kitchen scale. Nutrition labels on many foods, such as dry pasta or cereal, list serving sizes in ounces, making them tricky to estimate. Weighing your portions can give you a good feeling for what a proper serving looks like. Measuring spoons. Use these for doling out high-calorie ingredients that can be difficult to eyeball, such as oil or peanut butter.
   • Dry measuring cups. Try these instead of ladles or serving spoons for correctly sized portions every time.
   • Liquid measuring cups. Use these for measuring tomato sauce, milk, or broth.
   • Spiralizer (or a vegetable peeler). Lighten up your favorite pasta dish by eliminating the pasta altogether—instead, make veggie "noodles" from vegetables like zucchini, carrots, or beets.
   • Zester. Citrus zest adds loads of flavor to fish, chicken, or pasta—and it's practically calorie-free. Zesters are also ideal for shredding cheese finely, so you'll use less of it.
   • Muffin tins. Try these for perfectly portioned meat loaves or breakfast mini frittatas.

For more on weight loss strategies, including best foods to eat and avoid, read  Lose Weight and Keep it Off , a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.

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