Yesterday a client asked us to help organize her kitchen, pantry, and refrigerator. She has had tremendous success with us, is part of our Women's Fitness Boot Camp in Louisville, but really struggled to stay organized in her own kitchen!

One thing we helped her out with was sorting through those confusing food labels. And here are just a few of the "culprits" we came up with -- Amy thought each of these were fantastic options for her family, including husband and teenage sons.

1. Naked Juices are not as magical as they lead you to believe. In fact, Amy had one of the larger bottles from one of those Wholesale Clubs (4 servings per bottle -- or 1 serving for her teenage sons). EACH bottle had over 35 tsp of sugar -- which is double that of a 20 oz soda! Also interesting is that each bottle suggests that it's the equivalent of over 8 fruits; coincidentally, with less than 1 g of fiber per serving, she would be much better of actually eating those 8+ fruits.
2. Vegetable Thin Crackers were next on the chopping block. She was attracted to the packaging that suggested they are "Made with real vegetables!" Yes, they sure are -- and those dehydrated vegetables, which do not get close to equaling anything of value to your body, are sandwiched right between some Trans fat (hydrogenated oil) and sugar!! I told Amy she would be better off spreading a carrot with some Crisco and rolling it in sugar -- at least that way she would actually consume a real vegetable like she thought she was! And the wholesale club that she bought the Naked Juice from was also her source of these Vegetable Thins -- enough to feed an entire dining hall, let alone her family of 4.

Here are two quick take home points: there's another thing made with real vegetables that's actually good for you-- vegetables themselves! If it has to tell you it has real vegetables in it, it's likely not the best option. The only thing you should consider those wholesale clubs for is frozen fruit, eggs (they do sell omega-3 fortified eggs), and few other select items. Most of the time, the options aren't the best!

We also taught her how to organize her pantry. It was amazing how many fantastic options were available in her pantry; they were just hidden behind the high fat, high sugar treats.

Think about your own home and kitchen. Is it holding you back from permanent weight loss and health?

When you open your cabinets or pantry, do you know everything that's in there?

How about your refrigerator -- is it well stocked and organized?

And your counter tops; are they free of mail, papers, a radio, TV, and all sorts of other junk, or are they so piled high it's simply overwhelming? You can't take control of your own habits and behaviors if you don't do the same with your own home. We'll call it spring cleaning -- and you have an extra 1 hour of daylight each day to make it a priority.

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