Have you been forced into your home, are you scavenging your fridge for more food and snacks, is your eating habits like a bus schedule (every 15 minutes one coming)? Well my friends it looks like you have QUARANTINE 15.
Freshman 15 has now turned into quarantine 15 and the worst part is, it affects everyone, even essential workers and that’s because there is nothing else to do(haha). Quarantine 15 was sneaky, a lot of times you didn’t even notice you were eating that much until one day you looked in the mirror and some things seemed a little different, or you did know and you were just plain bored and eating just to past the time. Either way all of this weight came out of nowhere. As we are gearing up to opening cities back up and then being forced back in because of the second wave, we don’t want to turn that quarantine 15 into the quarantine 30 so I have a couple of tips for life after/during lock up.
Stop Eating!!!!!!
If it was only so simple. In this time we are overeating, when portion control needs to be in the forefront of every meal. How much we are eating and what we are eating is very important at any time but especially right now. During this lock down order, exercising has become a thing of the past and even if you are exercising the body is still more at rest then it has ever been before. No one is moving and shaking in these streets, we exercise, make a meal then head to the couch to watch re-run episodes of Real Housewives. Now as we begin to move back in these streets (Ima wait, you all can go first) people are going to want to start getting back to their normal routines.
So how do we maintain or restart a healthy lifestyle? I have a previous article (click here) that focuses on the full breakdown of healthy eating, in that article I show how to use the My Plate chart. My plate gives you the exact amount and look at what your food should look like on a plate. A lot of times when discussing portions or just healthy eating, people have no clue that the amount of food they’re cosuming is over portion and that’s because we don’t know what it looks like. Schools have now switched over to my plate to give students a more visual idea of what they should be eating instead of numbers or items like we did with the food pyramid. Use this tool when making meals. You can even print out the chart and hang it on your fridge so you and your kids can see and they can begin to make healthy plates themselves, while they’re at home and you’re smiling on your way to work. Portion control is the heart to any healthy lifestyle, using this tool will help with visualization so one day you’ll be able to know exactly how much food you should be consuming without needing a chart; mainly reassuring yourself to know that you’re creating a healthy lifestyle for you and your family.
Snacking
On most days we start out the day with the best intentions. We wake up maybe exercise, make some breakfast and begin to start our day with our quarantine activities, then you go get a snack. Now you’re watching tv relaxing mid-day and you reach for another snack, oh it’s lunch time yessss. Round 2, go for a walk, maybe play with the dog(exercise) dinner seems so far away let me grab a little snack, dinner time!! This is how most people day would go and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, even when having a diet plan you will always find a place for snacking. The biggest problem about snacking is what you’re snacking on.
In lockdown we have all the snacks. Chips, ice cream, candy bars, cereal, cookies(guilty), these items are anyone’s go to when they’re at home and that’s because they’re reachable and easy to access. Now that we’re slowly opening things back up and activity will begin to increase, our bodies will still be craving those sugary and salty items it has been living off of for the past 2 months. Good thing there’s already things in place to help us with those craving and they’re called healthy snacks, you know the ones you’ve been skipping over to get to that bag of salt and vinegar chips. Grocery stores have made it quite easy to find the healthy alternative by putting all the bad snacks and healthy snacks in the same aisle and all throughout the store. Fruit is constantly on sale right now buy up some and make little fruit bowls or try some granola, granola is healthy and filling I personally like to make my own granola bars to personalize them to taste (recipe in how to category). Try getting your healthy snacks ready the night before or in the morning to help with preparations, so when those craving or boredom hit you, you have something healthy already on hand. We are living in an era where we have healthy chips, candy bars even cookies we just have to buy them. To snack healthy, you must get rid of the temptation, I’m not saying never eat a salt and vinegar chip again but instead of buying the big family size bag try the small 25 cents bag instead and snack in moderation.
Quarantine 15 was sneaky and I know most people will look to a detox or cleanse for the quick and easy fix to kick start their bodies back up, which is fine when using those methods the right way (click here to read my thoughts on detox and cleanse). Whether you’re going back out when the cities re-open or being smart like the rest of us and staying in while everyone else test the waters you still have to watch your portions and snacks. A lot of us have learned new skills while in quarantine like cooking, so use those new tools even after all of this is over and create a healthy lifestyle for you and your family. Remember post quarantine 15 is a real thing, do not let those restaurants get you. Peace and blessings!!
Stay home
Stay safe
Leave a comment on what’s your go to for a healthy snack. Don’t forget to share!!!
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