Want to make it easier to live a healthy life? Here are some easy hacks to make your kitchen into a health haven for your whole family.

Health starts in the kitchen, and these tips will help you to get on that path. This is, of course, individual to each person.

Add more natural light

A dark and gloomy kitchen never did any favours to anybody. Bring natural light in as much as possible – whether this means getting a bay window or simply buying some natural-looking electrical light sources inside, lots of light will help you to illuminate your bad habits and avoid them as much as possible.

Having plenty of light also contributes to the kitchen being a soothing place to be. You want to be happy about spending time in the kitchen since that is the main way that we eat healthy food. By cooking meals ourselves, we find a renewed connection with our bodies. Not to mention that this will save you money on eating out and ready-meals down the line. Finding a love of cooking every day could completely transform your relationship with food, and it starts with loving your kitchen.

Rethink your storage

Store veggies properly! Tomatoes don’t go in the fridge and they are best stored stem-down (so they don’t spoil so quickly). You can keep bananas fresher for longer by separating each banana from the others. Or to speed it up, put them in paper bags. Save your fresh herbs in ice cubes – either in oil, water or stock, to later use as a seasoning agent!

Another place we don’t tend to think of which can negatively impact our health is the humble kitchen sponge. To avoid harmful bacteria from breeding there, make sure to thoroughly rinse the sponge after using it. Leftover suds actually encourage bacteria growth – the best thing is to make sure it dries completely after each use. You can do this by having two sponges on rotation and using a clip on the wall to make sure they dry faster.

Clear the countertops and add fruit!

A clear countertop means a clear mind – you will be less likely to mindlessly snack if there’s nothing on the counters to pop in your mouth! Have washed and dried fruit ready on the counter to encourage healthier snacking. Make sure to put all your fruits and veggies in a bath of water and baking soda to remove dirt and pesticides from your produce. If you do this all at once and dry them properly you will reduce preparation time for your meals which is another way to encourage yourself to eat healthily.

You can even prep your veggies in advance to even further increase the chance that someone reaches for a carrot stick instead of a packet of crisps (keeping those out of sight is also a great way of making sure they don’t get gobbled up too quickly). Speaking of prepping…

Make your kitchen user-friendly

Try to prep as many things as you can on the weekends. Weekday fatigue often has us reaching for the easy options, which aren’t always healthy. Aside from veggies, you can also boil multiple hardboiled eggs at once to have for snacks at work. Having cut veggies in the fridge and freezer make healthy meals a no-brainer, which is perfect for when you don’t feel like using your brain.

You also don’t have to let your onions make you cry anymore either! Freeze your onion before chopping and you will avoid tears and tantrums. These will have to be cooked straight away, however, otherwise, the raw onion becomes a bit soggy. Another option is to put a slice of bread into your mouth, half-way sticking out so that the bread absorbs the airborne irritants before they reach your eyes.

There are tons of ideas out there about how to encourage healthy living, but most of all you should try to do things that make sense to your life. Whether that means meal-prepping, separating snacks into small boxes or installing a little herb garden in your kitchen window. There are plenty of things you can do to encourage yourself to eat healthier.

Every little helps!