With the current Covid 19 situation, we are all spending a lot, if not all of our time at home. We wanted to give you some tips to get you through this and hopefully, you can make a change and or keep your eating habits in check.
One of the most common mistakes in many households is the number of snacks (and not the good kind) that people buy. For example, chips, cookies, chocolates and all sorts of unhealthy snacks that are full of sugar and or saturated fats and food colorants. The main problem with these snacks is that you will usually eat them first and eat them quickly when you are spending lots of time at home. Most cravings only last about two weeks. Of course, your body will crave something more when you decide to stop eating sugar. The key will be to survive the first two weeks without having your sugar craving and once you have passed that threshold, the cravings usually get easier to manage.
During this stay at home period, try to not buy any unhealthy snacks that are full of added sugars and unhealthy fats, including sodas as well as limiting your wine intake. If you do not have it accessible to you, you will not be able to have it and you will not want to go to the grocery store to get it because you do not want to get additional and unnecessary potential exposure to the virus. Some suggested healthy snacks would be but not limited to: walnuts, pecans, almonds, oats, healthy smoothie or protein shake (just make sure you do not load it with sugar and calories), sweet fruits can also satisfy a sugar craving: peaches, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries are all great.
The best foods you can buy during this time are healthy foods with which you can make many nutritious meals. Getting some of these foods will also limit the number of trips to the grocery store: Lentils, quinoa, chickpeas, black beans, pinto beans, all sorts of beans, brown rice, black rice, white rice, brown rice pasta, sweet potatoes and of course as many veggies as you can. Try and keep it light on the carbs and pack on veggies that have lots of fiber and add your protein. These types of veggies keep you full longer and make you full faster so that you won’t eat as much of the carbs. Examples of veggies with lots of fiber are: lima beans, acorn squash, green peas, collard greens, artichokes, parsnips, broccoli, carrots, spinach, and green beans. For more information on veggies with fiber read this article. Another helpful tip is to drink a full glass of water before dinner. This will also help to limit the amount of food that you are eating.
This is a great time to make healthy choices for yourself and your family and get your health and or weight back on track. Remember, beach season is here and we all would like to improve our appearance at the pool or beach (once it reopens).
All of our fitness partners are offering virtual and live classes. Take this opportunity to get back on track with your fitness. You can even have your children and or significant others join the fun.
Just remember, for this kind of virus and for overall health, it is important to have a healthy and strong immune system. You can accomplish this by staying active, having nutritious meals, reducing stress and taking your nutritional supplements/vitamins on a daily basis.
Hope to see you all soon, let’s strive to become a better version of ourselves.
