What Is In A Nutritionist's Fridge?

A couple of years ago I was invited to be a house guest of one of America's best known and most influential nutritionists, who was a specialist in holistic nutrition. During my visit, I was given full access to the nutritionist's house, and most importantly to the refrigerator. I wondered what exactly is in a nutritionist's fridge?

I had absolutely no intent of going through my host's refrigerator just to find evidence of nutritional hypocrisy, but even if I had been a spy from the makers of Ding Dongs and Frito chips, I would have nothing but good things to say about what was inside this nutritionist's fridge.

We can all learn many things from nutritionists but did you know that you can learn so much just from their fridge? A fridge stocked with healthy foods that are ready to prepare is important for a healthy diet. Let's take a look at what exactly I found in my host's fridge and how you can have a healthy fridge too!

A Healthy Refrigerator

The first thing that I noticed about my host's fridge, after taking a peak, was that it was a clearly healthy refrigerator. By this, I mean it was perfectly clean and tidy. There was absolutely no trace of "refrigerator breath" from spoiled food. There was no mildew, mold, slime, or grime. 

Basic fridge items included condiments, all in clearly marked bottles, all well within their expiration dates. My friend takes the time to make her own mayonnaise and salad dressings, so she only needs items like mustards, capers, and hot sauce. 

The produce bins were full, but vegetables were not just tossed in the bin in a haphazard fashion. Melons, which have lots of nooks and crannies on their rinds that can hold E. coli and Salmonella bacteria, were covered in plastic. There's not much danger of picking up a bacterial infection from the melon itself, because its rind is peeled away before the melon is served. But the rind was kept well away from salad greens and root vegetables to avoid cross-contamination.

Fish, Meat, and the Three-Day Rule

There is an American saying dating at least back to Benjamin Franklin that "Fish and visitors begin to smell in three days" (with the exception of nice visiting nutrition writers who can stay three weeks or more). In my nutritionist friend's fridge, however, no meat or fish was held for more than three days.

Meat or fish that could not be consumed in three days would have been frozen or thrown out, but my nutritionist host avoided that problem by planning ahead. She only went to the market once a week, but she cooked roasts and stews all the same day, putting them in the freezer to be eaten later in the week or serving her family right away.

What You Would Never Find in My Nutritionist's Fridge

Some items, however, never appeared in my friend's fridge. Here are the top 10 nutritional offenders she banished from her refrigerator forever.

• Soft drinks. Both sugar-sweetened and zero-calorie soft drinks were strictly forbidden in my nutritionist's refrigerator. However, she kept soda water (mineral water) and naturally sugar-sweetened syrups to make Italian sodas as an occasional treat.
• Cow's milk. Not everyone has an allergy to cow's milk. However, my host family did, so they kept buffalo and goat's milk and buffalo, goat, and sheep's milk cheeses on hand for meals and snacks. They found that cow's milk yogurt was not a problem for them.
• Prepared salad dressings. It's really easy to make your own salad dressings, and the antioxidant content of the spices is far greater when you put them in the blend yourself. 
• Luncheon meats. My nutritionist friend had nothing against salami, pastrami, mortadella, sausages, or even hot dogs, but she only let her family eat them when they were planned, not as a substitute for healthy eating. She did not buy brands that were especially high in trans- fat or nitrates even when she did buy these snack items.
• Ready-made desserts. Desserts were not forbidden at my friends' house, but they were never the factory-made desserts that are loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, trans- fats from margarine, preservatives, and artificial flavorings.

The Best Items To Stock In Your Own Healthy Fridge

What I learned from my friend the nutritionist is that a healthy fridge contains more food, not less. In fact, the best thing you can do with your refrigerator is to use it as way to make sure you are never hungry, so you never binge. Here are some of the healthy items I keep in my own fridge.

A Nice Selection of Greek Yogurts

Even though Greek yogurt was not yet as wildly popular as it is now, my nutritionist friend had a great selection of Greek yogurt, especially the Oikos brand, which has not just one or two but five different live cultures.

I started stocking up on Greek yogurt myself. It's tasty, it's easy, it's not especially expensive, and it's packed with nutrition.

Greek yogurt is slightly higher in protein than conventional yogurt, but the main ingredient that makes a difference in this kind of yogurt is lactoferrin. This milk protein stimulates the immune system to fight infections, and the probiotic bacteria in Greek yogurt "train" the immune system so it does not over-react to mild bacterial infections with excessive inflammation.

And the nice thing about Greek yogurt is that it is tasty. Sure, there is a small amount of fructose in the fruit jams that added to most brands, but less than the 5 to 8 grams per serving that actually make a difference in fat and sugar metabolism. 

A Variety of Crunchy Vegetables

I won't pretend that a celery stick will satisfy you when what you really want is a hot pastrami sandwich or chocolate cake with whipped cream. However, keeping a variety of crispy, crunchy vegetables, already washed and cut up, ready to eat, can stave off hunger long enough to enable you to make sound nutritional decisions.

I usually stock at least carrot sticks, celery sticks, and a crunchy Latin American vegetable known as jicama. Depending on the season, I may also have a variety of bite-sized tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini or yellow squash, radishes, and turnips. Vegetables make a snack, not a meal, but they make the difference between being able to control your appetite and not. The more different kinds of vegetables you have on hand, the more you will be able to feel satisfied by eating vegetables. Variety satiates appetite.

At Least One Homemade Soup

I also usually have a pot of soup in the fridge waiting to be reheated. Soup, as the Campbell's Soup advertisements say in the USA, is good food. But homemade soup, free of extra salt and MSG the soup makers use to cover the "canned" taste of their products, is especially satisfying. 

Any slow-simmered soup made with a source of gelatin (soup bones, for example) takes added time to digest, and keeps you feeling full longer. Nutritionist and medical school professor Barbara Rolls has published no fewer than 75 studies finding that eating a slow-simmered soup at the beginning of the meal can enable feeling full on 100 to 200 fewer calories.

At Least One Ready-Made Meal

I also keep at least one ready-to-go casserole or roast with vegetables in the freezer for use as needed. Having a meal on hand saves the necessity of eating out when time is at a premium. You will spend less money, and you will eat fewer calories, plus you will have complete control over your choice of foods.

Other foods that are great to stock in your fridge?

• Kale salad. Kale doesn't get soggy like other salad vegetables.
• Fermented vegetables. Sauerkraut and kimchi have to be kept in covered containers, but they are an interesting snack.
• Bite sized protein snacks. Meat, cheese, or cured tofu can hit the spot between meals.
• Berries. A great source of antioxidants, berries can be eaten like candy between meals. Be sure to wash and dry your berries before putting them in the refrigerator, and eat in 2 days.