Is Decluttering Your Pantry a Weight Loss Solution in Baltimore?
Is it spring already? Must be. The magazines and pop culture shows are hawking ways to trim down for the season. Lately it’s been all about this new phenom known as Marie Kondo, a Japanese lifestyle guru, and her highly touted technique known as the KonMari method.
Granted, Marie Kondo’s fame and fortune comes from demonstrating how to declutter your home. But it’s a lifestyle technique. Once you’ve mastered it, you’ve reset your way of cleaning forever. Can we transfer her method for trimming household clutter to trimming our pantries of excess food as well?
According to Marie Kondo, decluttering “is quite easy.” She tells us through an interpreter, “It involves three basic steps that anyone can do.”
Marie Kondo’s 3 Steps for Decluttering:
Step 1
In one shot, take the plunge and as quickly as possible, take everything out that you are considering cleaning, and dump it in one spot, like the middle of the floor.
Step 2
Sort by category: What you want to keep and what you want to throw away. Box up items for the “to get rid of pile” and give away or toss out.
Step 3
Carefully go through the pile of things you think you want to keep. Before you keep them, ask yourself, “Does this spark joy?” If you don’t feel a rush of happiness, get rid of it. It does not spark joy.
What Does it Mean to Spark Joy?
Does the item make you feel happiness, according to Marie Kondo. Does it make you feel pleasure, cheerfulness, merriment, delight, a sense of well-being? When you pick up each item, gauge the worthiness by the joy it sparks in you, she says. Then you will know whether to keep it or toss it.
Okay. So, here we may have to tweak this method a bit. For sure, the foods in the “give away” column are all the ones that make us feel joy. So, the foods in the “to keep” pile must spark a different emotion in us for this to work. Maybe when we pick up each item of food to keep, we should ask ourselves “if I keep this, will it make me “feel fabulous?” Will it make me feel well? Or lighter, healthier, stronger, more fit? That is what we’re going for when we want to reset our diet for summer eating. We’re going for a fabulous body. A healthier summer. Eating well is feeling fabulous inside and out.
So if the KonMari Method is to Work for Decluttering Our Pantry for Spring, Our Piles May Look Something Like This:
Pile to Keep
- Fresh veggies
- Fresh fruits
- Lean meats
- Fish
- Whole grains
- Air popped popcorn
- Water, water, water
Pile to Give Away
- Chips, tortillas, and potatoes
- Sodas, including diet sodas
- High caloric foods
- High sodium/high fats
- Processed foods
- Fast foods
Once you’ve tried the KonMari method for decluttering, Ms. Kondo says you’ve set yourself up for an open, flowing, less stressed life. It’s not something that you must do daily. With a lot less clutter, you will only need touch-ups.
Can the same be said for decluttered eating? If we keep the foods that are the best for us, will eating properly become less stressful? When we open our pantries and refrigerators, will we feel a sense of serenity and inspiration? The KonMari method has sold millions of books with quite a devoted following.
So, I don’t know for sure, but I’m willing to try.
