Here my tips for making a small kitchen work:

Stay organized! Organization is key. You can buy drawer and cabinet organizers pretty inexpensively at just about any store that sells home goods. Sometimes shelf organizers can even help to double space.

Use the backs of cabinets. Spice racks, pot lid holders and even dispensers for foil and wax paper can be found pretty easily in most home stores as well.

Look up! You may have more vertical space than you realize. Use the tops of cabinets or even hang a ceiling mounted pot hanger.

Use hooks and hangers. Mount them on walls, the backsplash or the sides of cabinets. My old kitchen had a bar with hooks on the side of a cabinet that I hung my large pots from. I bought it Ikea, and they also has some great accessories for hanging utensils and things like potholders and spices.

Keep designated countertop zones. Make sure you have a designated space for chopping and prepping food and don’t use it for anything else.

Minimize countertop clutter. Have a space for everything and put it all away they’re not in use. In the case of appliances “away” sometimes means it’s still on the counter, but make sure items all have a space where they belong. 

Don’t overshop! There were many times where I came home from the grocery store and found that there was no place to put some of the food I just bought, so canned and jarred goods sometimes ended up in a bag on the floor. Learn from my mistakes! Keep staples on hand, but only buy what you need when at the store.

Get extra cabinets if necessary. This can be a cute vintage cabinet that hangs on the wall for your spices, or something larger that sits on the floor. We had to buy an extra cabinet to sit under the counter at our old house to keep cat food in. It worked and we weren’t attached to it so we left it when we moved out.

Keep the room clean! Don’t leave dirty dishes, groceries, or food out. Clutter and junk will make the room look smaller.

Don’t over decorate the room. Sometimes decorations can actually look like clutter. Keep things clean and minimal and use kitchen related items as decoration. I have a cute retro colander my friend Liz gave me and I have sitting on top of my microwave with fruit in it. It’s functional and decorative at the same time.

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Here are 5 tips to keep you healthy this season:

Get Enough Sleep  Even though there’s less daylight, many people tend to sleep less during the autumn and winter months. Sleep is essential for health and wellbeing. While we sleep, our bodies are hard at work, detoxifying, repairing and rebuilding. When we don’t get enough sleep, we’re denying our bodies the time it needs for these functions and we’re compromising our immune systems. Studies have shown that lack of sleep leads to weight gain, and we tend to eat more to fuel our bodies through our waking hours. Studies have also shown that sleep deprivation causes increased levels in cortisol in the body, which means we’re all walking around feeling stressed out.

Plan Meals Ahead of Time  When we’re busy, we tend to grab whatever food is available, which is unusually unhealthy fast food or boxed processed meals. Spending a little time preparing for the week’s meals pays off big time. Pick easy recipes, shop for the ingredients and then chop vegetables and as soon as you get home from the store. Plan on making extra food so you will have leftovers for lunch, or prepare several salads at once and store them in containers in the fridge. Planning ahead takes the guesswork out of meal time, and preparing ingredients ensures that you will be spending minimal time in the kitchen on weeknights, when you’re busy. If you have one, break out the slow cooker, which cooks while you’re at work and welcomes you home with a nice, hot meal!

Eat Seasonal Foods  Nature provides what we need, when we need it. Fall foods help cleanse the body and prepare it for the cold months ahead. Autumnal foods such as apples, Brussels sprouts, onions, winter squash and sweet potatoes are all packed with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients as well as compounds that have been shown to reduce inflammation and lower the risk of developing cancer. And luckily, they’re all delicious!

Use Full Spectrum Light Bulbs  Shorter daylight hours can lead to Season Affective Disorder (SAD), which is a mild depression that tends to affect people during the winter months. Getting enough sleep, exercising and eating healthy meals can help combat SAD, as can using full spectrum bulbs, which mimic the sun’s rays.

Don’t Be Afraid to Say No  It’s common to take on too much at once, especially at this time of year. A lot of people, especially women, have a fear of letting others down, and end up juggling far too many projects and activities, and self care tends to get pushed to the back burner. Saying no isn’t always easy, but it gets more natural with practice. Self care is just as important as eating healthily, as we need to nourish our souls just as much as we nourish our bodies. Make sure you make time for yourself and the things you love.

What is your favorite way to stay healthy in the cooler months?

The post Fall Into Good Health appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Chic Vegan will still be providing you with the articles on fashion, beauty and lifestyle that you have come to love the site for. We will also still continue to review new products and books, as well as to interview prominent vegans. I plan to add more content to Chic Vegan in the weeks and months ahead, just bear with us during this transition, as it will take me a few weeks to catch up.

Since I’m following in Gretchen’s footsteps, I will be adding an Ask Dianne column to Chic Vegan soon. Feel free to email me with your burning questions. I am a vegan health and lifestyle coach, and I have certification in plant-based diet nutrition, so I can answer anything from where do you get your protein to what to do about your parents at Thanksgiving.

Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see featured on Chic Vegan. I would love to hear from you, so please drop me a note and send me your suggestions.

Dianne (at) ChicVegan (dot) com

Cheers,

Dianne

The post Change is in the Air appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Depending on the maturity and sensitivity levels of your coworkers, you may not have any problems being vegan at work at all, but chances are that you will. Years ago, I had a job where I was constantly harassed about my food choices. I regularly heard, “There’s Dianne eating her bean sprouts” when someone saw me eating lunch (that got old quickly), and once I got “Ewww… what are you eating?” while I was snacking on chips and hummus. Yet whenever there was a company catered meal, I would have to rush over to the food that was specially ordered for me, because if I didn’t it would be gobbled up by everyone else, probably because it looked more interesting than everything else.

A few years later I started a new job, and since I was wiser and more experienced, I was determined to squash any of that bad workplace behavior before it started. I first won my new coworkers over with cupcakes (Thank you Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero!).  After that I started making healthier raw desserts, and even worked my way up to kale slaw and quinoa salad. I gained a reputation as a good cook through my cupcake baking, so they all figured if I had made the dish, it must be good!

Here are a few things that have worked for me in the unvegan workplace:

Be a shining advertisement for veganism 

It’s very possible you are the only vegan some of your coworkers know, so try to set the best example for veganism that you can. You want to make sure that if it comes up in conversation when they’re not at work they say something like “There’s a vegan girl at work and she’s really sweet,” not “There’s a vegan girl at work and she’s pretty angry and sick all the time.” Try to look good and keep yourself healthy and cheerful.

Have a sense of humor

It’s inevitable that people will joke and make comments about your food. As difficult as it might be at first, try to take it lightheartedly and join in on the joke. This will make things easier on yourself, because fighting back takes a lot of effort and who wants to be angry all the time? Of course, if it gets offensive or turns to harassment, you need to talk to the person. Be firm, but don’t get angry, and tell them that they’ve gone to far and it needs to stop.

Share your food

People used to always tell me that my food smelled really good when I was heating it in the office microwave, so I often let them taste a bite of it. It was inevitable that they would ask for the recipe. I often brought in extras of what I was eating for coworkers to try too. I was able to get my whole office hooked on my chili and cornbread pretty easily.

Be the office baker

Offer to be the baker for office birthdays and celebrations. Use your most decadent recipes, because it’s very possible you will be serving your coworkers their very first vegan cupcake or cookie. I earned the title of Cupcake Queen at my old office, and I once saw my boss eat one of my cupcakes in just two bites. By baking, you’ll not only make yourself popular, you’ll be showing people that vegan food actually does taste good!

Join in the celebration anyway

If you were not the baker for a particular celebration and the cake isn’t vegan, don’t hide in your office. Be social and either bring your own treat, or just join your coworkers for a cup of coffee or tea.

Help plan events

At the first Christmas luncheon at my last job, the only dishes I could eat were the side salad and bread, even though I had planned ahead by talking to the person who was ordering food and requesting some vegan items. She requested food for me, but the caterer didn’t understand what vegan was and put cheese on everything anyway. After that, I volunteered myself to be the person who ordered the food. If you don’t want to be an organizer, ask the person who’s in charge to see a menu and suggest something that you can eat. Make sure you let people know that eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt and cheese are not vegan, because believe it or not, there are still a lot of people out there who don’t know what vegans do and don’t eat.

Call ahead when eating out

If you have to go to a meeting or event outside of the office, try to suggest where to go. If you are not able to suggest the restaurant, call ahead and tell them that you’re vegan and will be eating in their establishment. Restaurants want their customers to enjoy their meal, so most will be happy to make something special for you, if they don’t already have vegan items on the menu.

Keep vegan literature on hand

Your veganism will probably create curiosity in your coworkers, and some might decide to delve in veganism themselves. I always kept a folder with vegan brochures in my desk, because people often asked for information, not only for themselves, but for family and friends too. People decide to go vegan every day, and you may very well be influencing the people who work with you to join you on your vegan journey!

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Image courtesy of Flickr

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