SETTING UP YOUR WELLNESS KITCHEN

If you wanna be a wellness chic (or dude) the kitchen is where you've gotta start. You can't exercise well, meditate, drink lotsa water, and then eat crap food and expect to feel and look your best. But if you're new to all this, where do you start? What are the essentials in looking after yourself nutritionally in the kitchen.


I'm here to lay it all out for you. Take what love and implement those now, and leave what you don't love for later on or when financially possible. These are my essentials, and I cannot imagine my kitchen without them. All have their place and all have made massive changes to my health and wellbeing. Read on...

+ Well stocked fridge and freezer

This is your number one. Without an abundance of fresh (preferably organic and local) produce, you fail to lay your foundations of health. These should be the basis for all meals as fresh foods are the best foods you can put in your mouth. Whether you're shopping at your local grocer, a bigger supermarket chain, or weekend markets, plan to get there at least once a week and fill up on all the good seasonal local produce. Start here, and add the rest.

My recommendations: 

Fridge: all vegetables and fruits in season and organic, cod liver oil, flaxseed oil, coconut water, probiotic, organic butter, organic eggs, miso paste...

Freezer: organic meats and seafood, home made bone broth, acai, left over meal portions, raw bliss balls and treats for unexpected guests...

+ Awesome pantry contents

This is to complement your well stocked fridge and to allow you to have a few extra things on stand by for if and when the fridge contents dwindle before you can get to the markets again. Tins of tuna and sardines, tomato pastes, mung bean noodles, coconut flour... these all allow for better versions of well known menu items. Add in the powerhouse foods for your smoothies - maca, cacao, spirulina just to name a few and you're already walking the path of health.

My recommendations: maca powder, cacao or carob powder, green powder blend, gelatin powder, herbal teas, sea salt, coconut milk/cream/flakes, sustainable tinned fish, organic activated nuts, organic tinned tomatoes, coconut oil, stevia drops, sweetener of choice, just to name a few...

+ Blender

 I could not live without our high powered blender. I use it way more than any other appliance in our kitchen. Smoothies, soups, blending nut butters, making creams, sauces, crumbles, bulletproof coffee, you name it. I love the ease of having this on the bench top, throwing whatever into it, lid on and off you go. And washing is just as easy.

My recommendations: I've had a few and the Froothie Optimum 9400 is the best I've used at a reasonable price. Vitamix of course is also amazing, but double the cost.

+ Juicer

Fresh made organic juice - nothing beats it. Well, I could actually think of a bunch of things that do, but what I want to stress here is home made, cold pressed, and you can put organic produce in. Most juice bars use very fast juicers that literally smash the sh*t outta your veg, rendering all nutrients gone, and you can see that it looks like coloured water. If you're using a slower cold pressed juicer, these are pressing your juice so all nutrients remain, minus the fibre. The same with organic, most juice bars (I'd hazard a guess at about 99% of them) don't use organic produce. The choice is yours but if I'm eating organic, I wanna drink it too.

Now the question everyone always asks... smoothies in the blender or juices in the juicer? It's totally up to you. It may also depend on what your diet is like for many reasons. The whole "why not eat the fibre" thing... well yes, why don't we? The thing is most people don't (eat enough fresh fruit and veg) so juicing is a quick, easy way to get the nutrition in.

My recommendations: anyone you're going to use everyday... honestly! But if you want my fav cold pressed one, the Froothie 400 is what currently resides on my kitchen bench

+ Food processor

I used to think I couldn't live without this... turns out I can... but not for too long. Not something I use everyday but if I'm feeling creative and wanna whip up some sort of raw dessert, I need my food processor. Now you don't need to go out a buy a massive expensive number, infact I've still got an old mini one B and I found at council clean up years ago and it's perfect (having said that, a bigger one is on my wish list). Super quick grated veg in a jiffy, chopping, grinding, mixing anything for large quantities of ingredients to make raw desserts or bliss balls, this is what you want.

My recommendations: can't say I've got any

+ Fermented foods on the go

Saurekraut and kombucha are always brewing at out place and rarely a day goes by that I'm not getting into one or the other. Fermented foods as we know are super good for our gut health and immunity, and in turn our mental health and energy levels. They may seem a little scary at first, buy yoghurt is also fermented and I'm sure you've no problem eating that one. Also, when you start making these yourself you see how easy it is, and how much cheaper it is - like waaaaaaaaaaaaaayy cheaper. So it's a no brainer really. Starting off with saurekraut (fermented cabbage), kombucha (fermented tea - can taste like ginger beer peeps), kim chi (spicy Asian fermented cabbage) or kefir (made using either milk or water, it's a drink), you'll be getting gut loving goodness into you daily.

My recommendations: start with something you're going to want to eat or have already tried. You can buy fermented foods and beverages at health food stores now so grab something already done for you, make sure you love it, then start your own. Get creative with flavours, buddy up and work with your bestie sharing what you make, and see how fun it can be saving money and making mighty fine foods from scratch!

Now to you... What are your Wellness Kitchen tips and tricks that you might be doing? I'd love to hear them below.