When your schedule gets upended, it can be tough to not let your health slip right along with it. While it’s important to cut yourself plenty of slack during times of uncertainty, it’s also true that what you eat and how you move your body can contribute to your mental and physical health. We have a few tips to help you stick with healthy eating when you’re stuck inside.
When In Doubt
Did you know that the CDC actually has guidelines for healthy eating? That’s a pretty solid place to start, especially right now.
Evaluate Your Goals
Are you trying to make a complete 180 with your eating while everything else is getting a little rocky? Totally overhauling your diet? Try not to expect to knock it out of the park perfectly. Aiming for a dozen new habits with 100% success rates is a tall order, so cut yourself some slack.
It’s Not All-or-Nothing
Being 80% healthy in what you eat is much better than 40%. A cookie after dinner doesn’t make your oatmeal for breakfast or your asparagus with dinner a wasted effort.
Think On It
Be mindful about what you’re eating, slowing down to let those fullness cues from your body catch up. This is a great time to learn more about when you get hungry and how much food you actually need to eat to feel full.
Write It Down
Instead of making assumptions about what you’ve been eating, write it down for a day or a week. You might end up a little surprised with the results.
Give It Time
There are cute little sayings that you can get on a motivational poster about how long it takes to pick up a new habit, but the truth is a little more murky. Research on habits showed that it took as little as 18 days for some people in a study to pick up a new habit. For others? 254 days.
