A WELL – Designed Kitchen

Now more than ever, we are focused on creating healthy meals for our family. As we’ve been spending more time in the kitchen you’ve probably noticed where your kitchen falls short in helping you do this easily.

Here are 5 suggestions for planning ways to support not only the creation of healthier meals, but a healthier place to create them.

  • Plan for less clutter – Seeing clutter actually stimulates the production of cortisol – the stress hormone.  Plan for ways to keep counters free of excess clutter by creating a place for everything.  Small appliances like toasters and juicers can live in countertop garages that close up when not in use. Consider fewer wall cabinets and more below-counter storage.

  • Light it up – Take advantage of as much natural light as you can. Maybe it’s time to consider adding some windows or moving a door to allow more natural light in.  It is also important to choose the right artificial lighting, incorporating energy saving LED’s and especially those that have a warm-dim component to them.  These allow you to change the color of the light throughout the day to assist our bodies adjust to their natural circadian rhythms.
  • Biophilia (What?!) This means bringing more of the outside in. There are many ways to do that, some listed above but you can also consider bringing some plants into the kitchen – a garden windowsill for growing fresh herbs or even a “green wall”.

  • Keep it Fresh – with more emphasis on fresh fruits, vegetables, and meatless meals, consider your refrigerator. Do you really need a lot of freezer storage, or are your needs for fresh food storage greater? There are so many options today that can assist you with keeping your fresh ingredients fresh and accessible.

  • Materials Matter – Choose the right materials to keep your kitchen healthy. Select cabinetry that is made with low levels of formaldehyde (which occurs in nature so you can’t eliminate it entirely) and FSC certified (good for the environment). Wood countertops and man-made quartz countertops have anti-microbial properties and please, please, make sure your hood vents to the outdoors to keep the air in your kitchen fresh.

These are just a few ways that you can make a healthy difference when you remodel your kitchen. Please join me on Wednesday, May 27 at 2:30 pm for a Facebook Live chat with special guest Alisa Bloom of Live Your Best 365! We’ll be talking about food choices to quell inflammation and how the design of your kitchen can add to your health!

Dreamy Design

Did you know that designers work to incorporate the latest advances in healthier living when designing spaces for their clients?  I’m always reading up on the latest ways to incorporate not only environmentally conscious elements, but healthier choices as well.  For instance, here are some ways to incorporate design elements for healthier sleep:

1.  Lighting:  Bedroom lighting should tend towards the warmer (red) end of the color spectrum.  Lighting that tends toward the blue end of the spectrum disrupts the formation of melatonin, a hormone that helps us regulate our sleep and waking patterns.  For instance, if you have a digital clock in your room, switch to one with red LED’s as opposed to blue or green.

2.  Sound:  The addition of sound-reducing materials like carpeting or rugs, window treatments to block light and sound, and solid-core doors help those who are easily disturbed by ambient noise fall asleep and stay asleep.

3. Waves:  The electro-magnetic kind.  The stuff that’s emitted from all of our electronic gear, including cordless phones, cell phones, computers, TV’s,  etc.  Believe it or not, these electro-magnetic waves can be disruptive to good sleep.  Try to keep EMF devices out of the bedroom, or at the very least, far away from you.  I know, this sounds a little “woo-woo”, but there are studies that suggest it’s healthier to keep electronics out of the bedroom.  (Apologies to my nephew Corey, who owns an A-V company and advocates for a TV in every room!)

These are just a few ways to design with health in mind.  In future posts, I’ll explore more ways of enhancing health through design choices!