Eating Well While You're Home
The pandemic changed our daily routines and, with them, our relationship with food. Supermarket shortages made planning meals wisely more important than ever. Nutrition is part of your overall health, and thinking ahead about what you eat pays off, especially if you're also doing home-based physical therapy during this time.
Plan Your Meals And Watch Your Portions
Just like planning the rest of your day at home, from waking up to showering to exercising, set specific times for meals and snacks and stick to them. And be mindful of portion sizes, it's easy to give in to stress-eating, but with stock sometimes limited, portioning what you eat matters. Read the labeled portion size on the package rather than eating straight out of it.
Prep Snacks Ahead And Stay Hydrated
Meal planning extends to snacks: have something like orange slices, berries, or banana ready to go instead of reaching for chips, cookies, or a bagel. And drink plenty of water, staying well hydrated can reduce feelings of hunger, since the brain sometimes mistakes thirst for hunger, and having a beverage in hand gives you something to do besides eat.
Get Enough Vitamin D And Eat To Feel Full
Supplements can be harder to find during a pandemic, but Vitamin D is also available through food sources like margarine, oily fish, eggs, fortified breakfast cereals, and yogurt. And even while working from home, make full meals part of your routine rather than relying only on deliveries, a complete meal, like cereal with berries or banana added in, helps you avoid unhealthy snacking later in the day.
Organize Your Pantry And Fridge
How your food is organized affects how you eat. Keep candy and chips out of easy reach at the back of the cupboard, showcase sliced fruit in clear containers where you'll see it first, and stock up on whole-grain crackers, low-fat string cheese, and mixed nuts with dried fruit.
Balance, Not Perfection
These tips aren't only for people in physical therapy, they're for everyone, though anyone undergoing treatment may need to be a bit more mindful of their weight, since it can affect their care. It's fine to indulge occasionally; the goal is consistency, not perfection, and investing in your health now matters more than giving in to the pull of a pizza box or fried food every time.