Christmas may be right around the corner, but it doesn’t take long for my brain to switch off from the holidays and turn to my New Year’s resolutions. I tend to take them pretty seriously, because the New Year really is a great jumping off point for any big change.
Last year my New Year’s resolutions was to lose weight. I know, that’s a pretty standard resolution, but after a few starts and stops, I actually did it. I’ve lost 34 pounds so far and my goal is to lose 40. How did I do it? I kicked my program into high gear by focusing on food. I’m really choosy about everything I eat now, and I credit a few of my appliances for helping me cook quickly and helping me add enough healthy variety that I could stay on track.
If you’re New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight or just eat healthier in general, these are a few of my favourite appliances you can use to keep your New Year resolutions on track.
A pressure cooker helps you stick to your New Year’s Resolutions
When you’re starving and it’s 5 pm, that goal of healthy eating tends to fly right out the window. If you haven’t planned dinner and you’re really hungry, it becomes really hard not to go and grab fast food.
I always found the hours between 4 pm and 9 pm to be the hardest for staying on track, but that was before I started using my Instant Pot on a regular basis. It’s my favourite appliance for a really quick and healthy meal.
With the Instant Pot pressure cooker you can make perfect hard-boiled eggs for a snack or your salad, whip up a healthy stew, or steam some fruit or veggies. Everything cooks up in half the time so you don’t have to wait that long, and thanks to a treasure trove of recipes online, there’s always something new to try.
Anything is possible with a great blender
When you want a healthy drink fast, you need a great blender on your counter. I’ve tried a few different blenders over the past year, and I swear by high performance blenders like the KitchenAid Professional and Ninja Auto IQ Kitchen System.
With a blender that has 1500 watts of power, you can literally blend anything. From smoothies with ice and nuts to healthy sorbets or a hot soup, high performance blenders can take on the job. I think the Ninja extra blender cups, that you can use to whip up your drink and take it to go, are really helpful when sticking to a healthy eating plan.
Add veggies to everything with a food processor
When you’re watching what you eat you can’t add fries to every meal. You have to get creative with your side dishes, or you have to ‘plump’ up your main course with extra sides of veggies. What I’ve found really helpful when it comes to vegetables is a food processor like the KitchenAid Food Processor.
They come in a few sizes: 7 cup capacity with a 2-in-1 feed tube or the KitchenAid Mini with a 3.5 capacity. Which you’d choose depends on how much you need to slice, chop, or shred at one time, but I’ve used both and they are both efficient and work great.
You can chop up carrots, celery, onions, and any other kind of vegetable just by throwing them in the cup. You can add a few cups of these veggies to beef up a meat loaf, as a side for chicken, or create your own veggie burgers. I really love bringing out the food processor. It’s a lot of fun to chop up your veggies, and it’s easy to clean because all of the components except the base can go into the dishwasher.
Sous Vide your way to weight loss
I had never tried Sous Vide until a month or so ago when I was sent the Instant Post Immersion Circulator to review. I was amazed at how great it worked, and it really is one of the best small appliances you can use to create a healthy meal easily.
Sous Vide cooking involves putting the Instant Pot Circulator in a stock pot of water and dropping a plastic bag into it. You set the temperature you’d like the food to cook at and it will remain at that temperature the entire time its cooking.
There are a few reasons why the Instant Pot Sous Vide helps with healthy eating. Because it can cook all day without overcooking, you can have your meal ready the second you walk in the door. The circulator will keep anything from a steak to chicken breast or vegetables at a low, set temperature until it’s cooked perfectly. When you cook your food at a lower temperature you also enhance the flavour and retain all of the important vitamins and minerals.
Keep your fridge organized with the Samsung Family Hub
I don’t have the Samsung Family Hub, but it’s been on my list for quite a while and I’m definitely choosing it when it’s time to replace my current fridge. Why is the Samsung Family Hub great for keeping your healthy resolutions on track?
For me, losing weight is all about having things stay easy and organized. Whether that’s eating or knowing when I have time to exercise, and the Samsung Family Hub gives you that schedule and so much more. It has a large LCD display right on the front of the fridge. You can use it to make lists, connect your entire family to a communal calendar, stream music or videos to it, and order groceries. You can even load up Allrecipes and walk yourself through a healthy recipe or two.
The best part about the Samsung Family Hub? It has internal cameras aimed at the shelves on your refrigerator. When you’re out shopping and you’re wondering if you have some specific ingredient, all you have to do is open up the Samsung app and take a look inside your fridge.
It’s pretty amazing, and when you have constant access to what’s in your refrigerator you’re much less likely to come home, see it’s empty, and head straight to the cookies.
These are just a few appliances I’d recommend to stay on track when your New Year’s resolution is to eat healthy or lose weight. My appliances have helped me stay on track almost a year later, and if I can do it, I really believe anyone can.
You can stick to your New Year’s resolutions by checking out these great appliances and more on Best Buy right now.
