Everyone is living it and feeling the impact of the COVID-19 virus. These are very unfortunate and scary times as we all are uncertain of how things will continue forward. Many of us are isolated to our homes either working from home or worse, not getting paid and not working.
I’m not here to be one of the many voices who talks about this pandemic - I think we’ve all heard it enough.
So without any more talking about the virus - let’s focus on what we can do to stay positive and look to do day in and day out to help weather this storm.
Little disclaimer before I begin - I am in no way qualified to give any medical advice when it comes to COVID-19. As you’ve heard probably many times before - refer to the CDC for information on how to keep you and your children safe!
By the end of this you will be able to clean up your eating, and find a healthy balance of nutrition and fitness. I’ll include one bodyweight workout to do at the end of this!
High stress means more emotional eating
Stress is a catalyst for poor nutrition choices. Food is often a comfort in a time of stress because it makes us feel good. Think about your eating choices the past few days...have they been reflective of your healthy diet?
Do you feel that you’ve been eating mindlessly? With all the things going around in the news it's no wonder if you’ve found yourself chomping on some chips or chocolates without really realizing it.
I’m here to tell you that it’s okay that you are eating those comfort foods - it is necessary to help keep us sane at times of distress. Nutrition and health become less or a priority when you are trying to homeschool your kids or keep the house operating with it’s new normal.
Many of you are working from home (which may be a dream for some!) and are therefore closer to the snacks that are in the house. If those snacks are in the house - they will no doubt be eaten by someone.
When the stress hits - you are far more likely to grab that carb dense snack (crackers, cheetos, chips etc.)! Knowing this and realizing the reality of this will lend you to be able to better handle and change those habits.
Turn a negative into a positive
Spoken by the great philosopher Pitbull - let’s try and turn a bad situation into one that benefits you!
It’s easy to fall into the trap of disappointment, lethargy, and negative thinking. You look around and you see the stock market crashing, small and big business losing money, paychecks dwindling, schools canceling, kids not finishing their senior year, people getting sick and dying...yeah this is all very bad (sorry for bringing you down!).
Weren’t you reading this to get a little motivation? Don’t worry that’s coming!
With all of this however - I want to emphasize that there is always opportunity and things to learn from. We will no doubt get past this uncertain time so we must therefore do our best to stay on the trajectory of our ideal lives.
Is there something you’ve wanted to work on about yourself? Have you been wanting to eat more vegetables? Have you wanted to spend more time relaxing and taking time for yourself?
Well then - maybe this is the best time to do this. Think about what you can do - not what you can’t do.
For example...IF you’ve wanted to try a new dish out this is the perfect time to practice and perfect a meal. No doubt you will have more time to do so, so why not do this?
IF you’ve wanted to try and eat 6 servings of vegetables in a day - focus on taking your time each meal to include and prep some vegetables.
IF you feel you’ve been neglectful of your own emotional health - this might be the perfect time to schedule in 10 minutes of mindful practice each day (meditation, self reflection, yoga).
IF you’ve wanted to spend more time connecting with your kids ….well this is the perfect time to spend quality time with them!
Create and schedule these moments that will boost you up and make you feel that you are on your game and ready to go!
You can get some huge wins that will get you feeling better about yourself but also get you in a better mind state to help combat all this craziness.
Remember that you do have control over the actions you do each day - you don’t have control over the things that are happening right now in the world.
I want you to feel empowered and fired up about taking the right action steps to building yourself up!
Nutrition and Fitness tips
The focus here is to stay positive and to stay in line with your goals. These tips will help you to maintain or even improve in your health and wellness through this time.
Tip #1 : Plan and schedule out your meals each day
It’s so important to put together some sense of normalcy - creating a schedule of what times and what foods you will be eating each day can be vital in allowing you to exercise your control. Try to aim for 3-4 meals each day that include a protein, vegetable, carb, and a fat. Eating well rounded meals will help keep you feeling focused, positive and energized. Bonus: This is a great time to teach your kids how to cook! This can be a great family bonding experience!
Tip #2 : Eat slowly and non-distracted
Whether you are watching the news and eating your lunch or hard at work and quickly eating your breakfast - this is a great time to practice eating slowly with limited distractions. With more time on your hands I want you to try and focus on controlling the speed at which you eat. Try to time yourself and see if you can reach 15 minutes per meal. This is a skill that you can hone in on during this time. Not needing to run out to pick up kids from school or run to a business meeting is a huge positive in regards to learning how to eat more slowly!
Tip #3 : Take 30 minutes each day with no phones, no TV, and no distraction!
The urge to look at the latest news is super real right now. With updates coming every few hours it can get draining mentally and emotionally. Remember that getting away from all of this is so important and will help keep you sane. 30 minutes of your day should be spent reflecting, meditating, or simply just talking to a spouse or child about positive things that don’t have to do with our current situation. This is planned and purposeful and will help your emotional well being!
Tip #4 : Make sure to exercise 3-4x a week
One of the best stress relievers is a heart pumping, sweat inducing workout. Now many of you are probably super stressed that the gym is closed (me included) and worried that your progress and gains will deplete. Fear not! At home workouts can be just as effective in burning calories, releasing those endorphins, and building strength. If you have any equipment this is great - if not that’s okay too because there are plenty of workouts you can do with just your body! Workout with your kids and spouse to make it a family affair! (Below will be a full body workout you can do 2-3x a week)
Tip # 5 : Set some goals for the future
Setting goals for what you want to achieve will put you in the mindset of looking forward. Where do you want to be by this time next year? Is there a weight loss goal that you have? Do you want to better manage stress? Think about the things you want to improve upon. The focus again is to stay positive and focused on bettering yourself. My advice: block out an hour of time in the upcoming days to reflect about what it is you want to accomplish. Not only does this give you a plan of attack for what you want to change - but it will also give you that extra bit of motivation to perform the actions needed to achieve those goals. It will get you out of your head and into physical action!
With the right mindset and actions in place you can overcome the stress and anxiety that is surrounding everyone right now.
This may not be an ideal situation but if you make the best out of it - you will come out of this stronger and ready to take on the world no matter what it throws at you!
Body weight at home workout
No weights required for this one - let’s get after it!
Warm up
2 rounds:
20 Jumping Jacks
20 High Knees
20 Butt Kicks
For the next 3 sections you will perform as many rounds as you can with as little rest as possible within 6 minutes. Each circuit gets increasingly difficult. Keep the heart rate pumping and body moving!
6 Minute AMRAP
5 Push ups
10 Y Prone Superman
15 Air Squats
Rest 2 minutes
6 Minute AMRAP
10 Split Squats (each leg)
15 Plank-ups
20 Mountain Climbers
Rest 2 minutes
6 Minute AMRAP
5 Burpees (Modify: Elevated Burpee)
10 Jumping Lunges (Modify: Reverse Lunges)
15 V-ups