Dr. Oz's Fridge Makeover: Your Kitchen Can Help You Lose Weight

Take a peek in your pantry and fridge. What do you see? Chips maybe? Crackers? Cheese puffs? What's that hiding way in the back of the freezer? Frozen pizzas? Ice cream?

Here's the thing about having all that stuff squirreled away in your kitchen: If it's there, you're going to eat it. And that doesn't get you any closer to modeling that new bikini this summer. "You can't keep bad foods in the house and expect that you won't give in to temptation. That's not realistic," said Dr. Mehmet Oz, a.k.a America's favorite physician and the host of "The Dr. Oz Show."

So, what should you do with all that junk? Grab a garbage bag, because it's got to go. "Biology will always trump willpower, so you want to make sure you don't set yourself up to fail," said Dr. Oz. "In my home, we go by the 80/20 Rule. Eighty percent of what's in the refrigerator and pantry are good wholesome foods, and 20 percent are treats that my family and I eat once in a while."

Want your fridge and pantry to look more like his? Here, Dr. Oz explains what you should toss out, and what you should stock up on instead. Follow his suggestions and you'll soon have a fridge and pantry packed with healthy foods that actually take the deprivation out of dieting. Plus, making a clean sweep of bad-for-you foods is a great way to psych yourself up to start slimming down -- and that puts you one step closer to your bikini summer.

Poultry, Fish & Meat
Dump: Bacon, pulled pork, any cuts of beef that have a lot of fatty marbling, fried chicken and fried fish -- yes, fish sticks count.

Stock: Skinless chicken breast, lean ground turkey (for making meatballs), turkey hotdogs, and any kind of fish or shellfish you like. "Poultry and fish are the leanest, healthiest of the animal proteins," Dr. Oz said. Keep in mind that while all fish have a great nutrition profile -- high in protein and low in saturated fat -- some varieties should be avoided because they contain high levels of contaminants like pesticides, PCBs, dioxins and mercury. You can find safe fish lists (and fish advisories) at the Environmental Protection Agency. Or, get the Monterey Bay Aquarium free Seafood Guide phone app at iTunes.

If you can't imagine dinner without the occasional steak, choose lean cuts (the leanest are solid red without any marbling) of grass-fed beef (look for "grass-fed" on the package label). "Corn fattens up the animals, making their meat high in fat and calories,"said Dr. Oz.

Dairy
Dump: Butter and margarine, whole milk, full-fat yogurt and full-fat cheeses.

Stock: Plant-sterol spreads, and olive oil or canola oil cooking sprays to be used in place of butter or margarine. "Although margarines don't contain all the fat and cholesterol we worry about with butter, they do contain synthetic fats and trans fats that our bodies don't digest well, which makes them a bad diet choice," said Dr. Oz. Replace full-fat milk, yogurt and cheeses with fat-free milk or low-fat soy milk, reduced fat yogurt or strained Greek yogurt (it has less sugar and more protein than other yogurts), reduced-fat feta and cottage cheese and part-skim mozzarella. And here's some good news about eggs: If you've been doing egg-white-only scrambles to save on calories, go ahead and enjoy the whole egg if you want to, said Dr. Oz. "Don't obsess over the yolks. They have a few more calories, but in the long run, having only egg whites won't make a huge difference." What does makes a difference is how you cook the eggs, said Dr. Oz. -- with a little cooking spray, not a lot of butter or margarine -- and what you serve with them. "The real danger is the grease and the sausage, bacon, hash browns and cheese that go with eggs in omelets," he said.

Fruits & Vegetables
Dump: Any vegetables that are fried, breaded or covered in cheese and other rich sauces. "It's easy to tell ourselves that potatoes au gratin, cucumbers with sour cream dip and fried cauliflower are good for us because they're vegetables," said Dr. Oz. "But the frying, cheese and cream add unnecessary calories. When you prepare them, vegetables and fruits should look exactly the way they did when they came out of the ground."

Stock: Any fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables. "Two of my summer favorites are watermelon and blueberries because they're a filling treat that's naturally sweet," he said. Look for bagged salad greens and pre-cut vegetables or fruits in the produce area. Though you may pay a little more for these, it's worth it if means you're more likely to snack on and cook with fresh produce because the slicing, dicing and chopping has already been done for you.

Cereals, Breads, Pasta, Rice
Dump: White rice, breads and pastas made with white flour, and sugar-coated cereals.

Stock: Brown rice, 100-percent whole wheat breads and pastas, oat-based cold cereal, shredded wheat or bran flakes, and steel cut oats (for oatmeal). "Almost every breakfast I recommend has a 100 percent whole grain cereal in it. Whole grain cereal is one of your best weight loss allies because the fiber in the cereal helps fight hunger all day long," said Dr. Oz. "But you have to be mindful of portion sizes. The biggest mistake people make is to pour a bowl that is three to four times the serving size listed on the label. A better idea is to pour out the serving size and then add fresh blueberries or other fruit. "This mixes up the flavor a bit and gives you a more filling portion," he said.

Snacks
Dump: Chips, crackers, pretzels, cookies, pastries, cakes, packaged microwave popcorn and fat-free ice cream. "I don't believe in fat-free ice cream because something else has to be added for this to taste good and it's usually sugar," said Dr. Oz. "A better idea for a cold treat is to freeze strawberries, sliced bananas, blueberries, peaches and grapes (or buy already-frozen fruit). You can eat them as they are, or toss them in the blender with low-fat yogurt, soy milk or even almond milk to make real fruit shakes."

Stock: Dark chocolate (look for brands with 70 percent cacao), or mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, walnuts and almonds, dried fruits (cranberries or apricots) and organic popcorn kernels. "Snacks are your friend because they prevent you from feeling hungry and overeating," said Dr. Oz. That said, having unlimited snack choices isn't wise because the sheer variety can tempt us into giving in to cravings and overeating high-calorie foods. "The key to successful snacking is to eat the same snacks every day because when you standardize your portions and calorie counts, you're more likely to stay on track," he said. You also want to snack frequently, so you never feel hungry, which can also lead to overeating. "I eat a snack every hour," said Dr. Oz. "My favorites are a handful of walnuts or almonds, a piece of fruit or some berries, even a piece of dark chocolate."

Drinks
Dump: Soda, fruit drinks that are not 100-percent juice and diet drinks. "Diet drinks are sneaky," said Dr. Oz. "You'd think they'd help with weight loss, but they can actually sabotage your efforts." That's because, he explained, when people replace sugar calories with zero-calorie artificial sweeteners, they often think they have more calories to splurge with and end up going overboard. "You save a few calories with a diet soda and then have an extra barbecue rib." In addition, anything made with artificial sweeteners tricks the brain into thinking that it's real sugar. "Then the brain thinks it has enough incoming sugar," he said, "and directs the body to store all the calories as fat."

Stock: Orange, grapefruit, cranberry or tomato juices, water, naturally flavored water, sparkling water that you can flavor yourself with lime, lemon, cucumber or mint, even coffee and tea. "On their own, coffee and tea contain few to no calories, and they're great sources of antioxidants," said Dr. Oz. "The danger is the creams and sweeteners and other add-ins like syrups that increase the calorie and sugar content. If you need to add a bit of milk and sugar, use reduced fat or skim milk and real table sugar. A tablespoon only has about 16 calories, so you won't lose the weight loss battle by adding one to your coffee." Agave syrup, honey and stevia are also good natural sweeteners.

Ready-Made Meals
Dump: Most commercially-made frozen family-style dinners, pizzas, desserts and snacks.

Stock: Look for frozen meals that contain no more than 4 grams of sugar and saturated fat per serving, no more than 400 mg of sodium per serving and zero trans fat. These brands are a good place to start: Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice and Amy's Kitchen. Or, make your own. "I prefer to prepare meals on the weekends, freeze them in meal-size portions and then I'm good to go all week," said Dr. Oz.

Condiments
Dump: Gravies, any sauce, spread or dressing that has a mayonnaise, sour cream, cream or cheese base as well as any condiment -- salad dressing, marinade, sauce or spread -- that contains more than 4 grams of sugar per serving or that lists high fructose corn syrup within the first five ingredients. "High-fructose corn syrup disrupts the feedback mechanism that lets you know when you're full," said Dr. Oz. "And because your brain doesn't recognize the fructose in HFCS as regular food, you can eat a lot of it and still be hungry, so you eat even more. Plus, HFCS encourages your body to store more fat."

Stock: Salt, pepper, fresh garlic, low-sodium soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, wine vinegar, virgin olive oil and apple butter. When it comes to everyday toppers like ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce and salad dressing, look in the supermarket organic section for natural products that don't contain HFCS, suggests Dr. Oz.

Dr. Oz offers even more tips for losing weight this summer!