4 tips for a healthier kitchen

Make a rule and share it with every member of the family; dirty dishes are never to be left in the sink, and the counters and table are to remain clean. You'll be far more motivated to cook healthy meals if you don't have to clean the kitchen first.

• Take your prettiest pitcher, fill it with ice, water and lemon wedges, and place it front and centre in the fridge.
• Whenever you open the refrigerator out of boredom, pour yourself a glass of water. Water flushes impurities from your body, important for people with diabetes, who have a high risk of developing kidney disease.
• Drinking plenty of fluids also guards against water retention, a common problem when kidneys aren't functioning at their optimum capacity.

• Make fruits such as apples, pears, peaches and kiwis the first foods you see when you enter the house ravenous at the end of the day or swing by the kitchen for a snack.
• A flatter bowl is better than a deep one because most fruits keep best unstacked.

• You know you shouldn't be eating cookies, so why did you pop one into your mouth the second you walked into the kitchen?
• Maybe because the open package was sitting in the front of your cabinet, taunting you. Banish the cookies to the back of a high shelf or even the freezer.
• Put in their place some almonds, walnuts and peanuts. Also stash some low-fat yogurt in the front of the fridge, and keep cut-up carrot sticks or a bowl of cherry tomatoes or sugar snap peas there, too.

• If your family insists on having bags of sugary, salty, fatty snacks around the house, tell them to store the snacks where you won't find them. Hiding places outside of the kitchen are best.
• Tell your spouse to stash his or her chips in the garage or the trunk of the car.