How to Maintain a Healthy Diet During Quarantine
Right now, most states and many countries are on lockdown, limiting the amount of time people can spend outdoors and with others. Along with these worldwide closures have come empty grocery store shelves and limited food sources, and in some cities, food depletion altogether. So, how can you possibly maintain a healthy diet?
With fewer deliveries of nutritious food sources, many are turning to other meal options such as takeout and fast-food drive-thrus. If you find yourself wanting to get out of the house to grab a quick bite to eat, know you’re not alone. You might also find yourself turning to snacks and quick eats that you normally wouldn’t, which can lead to unhealthy food choices. Like many of us in this boat, it could be tempting to stress eat or snack endlessly out of boredom, but it’s essential to your overall health to maintain a healthy diet during quarantine. Here’s what you should know.
Planning Ahead is Critical
According to the World Health Organization, planning your meals ahead of time can help you maintain a healthy diet during quarantine. Whether you’re planning meals for one or for six, having it planned out will give you something to look forward to and can stop mindless snacking in its tracks.
When you plan ahead, you can also be strategic about what you buy at the stores. This can ensure that you’re limiting your trips out of the house and that you get everything you need for you and your family to have healthy and nutritious meals. Spending more time at home also means you likely have more time to prepare those home-cooked meals you’ve always wanted to try and can use up product or food items with a short shelf life.
Prevent Food Hoarding
During a pandemic, people naturally begin to hoard household items and stock up on food. With the uncertainty of what’s to come, most feel the need to have at least two weeks’ worth of food, and then some. Yet, this can lead to more waste than what’s intended, especially if you find that you’re throwing out weeks-old fruits and vegetables that have the commonly found white fuzz growing on them. When you maintain a healthy diet while in quarantine, you limit the need to hoard food. Planning ahead can help prevent this, and you’ll find it easier to stick to foods that are more nutritious.
Your healthy diet and self-discipline will also ensure that grocery stores don’t continue to struggle to keep fresh foods and vegetables in stock. These items may be limited already, so when you avoid hoarding them, you avoid limiting access to healthy foods for others as well.
Maintain a Healthy Relationship with Food
Trying to maintain a healthy diet during quarantine is important if you want to ward off that quarantine-fifteen or twenty. Excessive snacking coupled with little exercise, sleeping in, and limited social interactions can lead to rapid weight gain. By sticking to a strict meal plan and choosing fresh fruits and vegetables over processed cookies and cakes, you ensure that you and your family are getting all the proper vitamins and minerals necessary for healthy bodies.
Consuming essential vitamins in your foods is also a great way to boost your immune system and fight off any viruses or bacteria. If you have growing minis in your house, feeding them a healthy quarantine diet will ensure their little bodies continue to get all the necessary minerals and building blocks to grow big and strong. Incorporate foods like calcium-rich milk, eggs, yogurts, and cheeses to get your daily dose of Vitamin D. Add in a variety of citrus fruits to get all the Vitamin C as well.
You Stay Hydrated
Finally, the best way to maintain a healthy diet while sheltering at home includes staying hydrated. At the office, it’s easy to remember to drink water, but at home, it can become more of a challenge. Being more conscious of the foods you consume means you’re also more likely to be aware that your body needs to stay hydrated. While you do consume water from your daily intake of fruits and vegetables, don’t forget to also drink plenty of water.
Staying hydrated can help you focus, keep you energized, boost your immune system, and help your digestive tract all at the same time. All of these are important to when you’re on the path to maintain a healthy diet.
Drink Artesian Water!
If you’re considered essential and are still heading to the office during the COVID-19 pandemic, then make sure to fill up that water bottle as part of your healthy diet during these quarantine days. Our Artesian bottleless water coolers offer you and your employees a cleaner, healthier alternative to plastic water bottles that could be hosting an array of bacteria and viruses. To find out more about our systems, contact us today!
