How to Elevate At-Home Dining

Eating out frequently is often not an option when working on achieving health goals—and sticking to a budget. But it’s equally common to start to crave the ambiance of a café or restaurant, since dining at home day after day can become a solitary repetition that makes mealtimes far less enjoyable. If you’re bored by the idea of consuming yet another morsel in your own kitchen, try adding a little flair when serving up homemade food by:

• Dressing Up the Table: Being intentional about which items you not only cook with but also plan to use when eating, can positively—or negatively—impact the level of enjoyment one perceives. This means fancy glasses or table linens don’t always need to be saved for special occasions. After all, you are worth celebrating every day, so start with the small stuff like using colorful napkins more than just a few times a year.
• Food Prepping with Purpose: Set the mood long before the oven timer goes off by putting on music you can groove to while rinsing off fruits, chopping veggies or seasoning meats. Listening to an audiobook is another way to make your pre-meal time “to do” list feel less like a chore…because savoring the process of cooking has the capacity to increase how much the “five senses” (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch) are engaged in the foods you’re making.
• Keeping the Mess Manageable: A feeling of elegance will always be lacking if your breakfast bar or dining room nook is a complete disaster. Plus, a clean and organized kitchen reduces the chances of accidental food contamination by bacteria from cluttered surfaces getting transferred onto eating utensils—or potential food poisoning—when expired products remain in crammed cupboards long past the expiration date.

And because I recently moved into a house, arranging and decorating my new kitchen is one of my fave activities at the moment. So if you have any set-up or style suggestions for me this month, send ‘em on!

May your Wednesday be filled with wellness!