QuaranTIPS from a Nutritionist

bannerBg

After five weeks of overdoing the chocolate, chips, and wine, I’m finding my jeans a tad uncomfortable. But I won’t be seeing anyone for the foreseeable future and I’ve got (literally) NOTHING on my calendar to derail me. I’m going to turn this sad pattern around. I asked our go-to Nutritionist, Kara Pachniuk (who has seen us through POP Weight Loss programs) for some tips…

QuaranTIPS from a Nutritionist 

By Kara Pachniuk, MS, CNS

At this point, the snow-day feel of this quarantine has dried up, and reality has set in. Try to embrace it. Maybe it was constructing a home workspace, the gruesome task of homeschooling your kids or adapting to virtual workouts, but the new normal is here, and for the foreseeable future, it is here to stay.

As a Nutritionist, my focus with clients has changed, too. In quarantine mode, it’s easy to fall into old bad habits. A major force in my counseling since March 12th has been to reset blurred boundaries in this pandemic. We cannot control what is going on in the world, but we can control what we do and what we eat.

Here are some tips that I have been sharing with all my clients (near and far):

  1. Move your body. If the weather is nice, get outside. Find a safe route in your neighborhood or venture somewhere that you can walk safely while social distancing. If you cannot go out, many of the local gyms are offering online classes. If that’s not possible, you can find plenty of videos on YouTube, the Peloton app (free subscription right now!), or fitnessblender.com.

    Check out The E List’s round-up of local online classes here, too.

  2. Smart snacking. Thanks to a few popular memes, I’m tempted to refer to snacks as snacky snacks from now on. 

Snacking has been a downfall for many people. If you are sleeping later (which is fine!), pick a reasonable time to have lunch, and skip any mid-morning grazing. Make it to lunchtime, eat, and then have one snack before dinner. Put your snack on a plate and sit with it. Grabbing handfuls of food here and there can and will lead to overeating. 

Some healthy examples for smart snacking: apple + nut butter, celery sticks + hummus, hard-boiled egg [smooshed with dried mustard and paprika] + bell pepper slices. Do your best to limit the highly processed and highly addictive foods. 

  1. Soups. Drink your lunch! This is an easy way to get filling and nourishing foods into your body and a way to use the pantry staples we all have on hand (beans, broth, spices). Throw in some frozen vegetables, and it adds to the overall nutrition of the dish. Lunch sorted. 
  2. Inventory your food. Both the freezer and the pantry could be hiding ingredients to make a nourishing meal. Pick your protein first, and build your meal from there. It’s more challenging to get all the items we need, so utilize what you have. This is where soups and stir-fries shine. 
  3. Check your stress. This is uncharted territory for all of us, but we must keep stress under control. Look to yoga, breathwork, meditation, and self-care before turning to alcohol and overly processed treats, which can fundamentally derail progress.

Quality sleep, good nutrition, and stress control are how we can support our immune system during this time. Take it one day at a time. You got this!

For more information, visit Kara’s website: www.nourishandnoshct.com