It's Okay not to be Eating Okay

But here’s how you can change that!

Many of us try from time to time to carry on as if a situation isn’t affecting us, and if not, we might be feeling guilty about not exercising as much as we could or taking the time to cook 3 meals a day.

But here’s the thing. That’s totally okay. It’s okay to have ice cream for breakfast sometimes if it helps, it’s okay to skip that run if you’d rather watch your favourite T.V. show and it’s okay to act differently from how you think you should be to get through a difficult time.

When you’re in a bit of a rut you need to come out of it sometime, so if you feel like you want to get back on track, then we’ve got some nutrition tips below. Our advice is don’t try and do them all at once, take baby steps, and whatever you take on board do with some consistency to help form a habit.

Create some structure

Eat around the same time each day – this taps into chrononutrition. Fancy right? What we are saying is that the body has its own internal clock and by eating around the same time each day, it helps to keep this clock ticking correctly, which is important for keeping other areas of our life in check like sleeping.

Everything in moderation

Moderation – it’s not a very fun word but hear us out. If you find that you’re eating a whole share bag to yourself or you’re checking the food label and it says “serves 4” and you chuckle, there are easy ways around this. Put a smaller portion onto a plate or bowl so you don’t have to think about stopping eating. When your plate is empty, it’s empty. Bulk buys are likely to be cheaper per serving so try segmenting these large purchases into a more reasonable size. The other portions can then be kept in an airtight container or frozen.

Plan your meals

This doesn’t have to be every day but before a food shop, it can be exciting to think of a couple of meals and going through the process of looking for a recipe, however simple that may be. You can do this by yourself, with the people you live with or even friends over video call so you can cook together! Just by cooking instead of picking up a ready meal, you’re probably going to cook something more nutritious by default or... you know there’s always Huel don’t you?

Keep a food diary

Especially of your snacks – being at home means you’re probably snacking more. If you want to reduce snacking, try to switch to more nutritious snacks such as dried fruit or nuts which provide more than just calories. A food diary can help with this and can also nudge you towards being more mindful of those unconscious snacking occasions.

Short-term fixes

You can comfort yourself with more than comfort foods – during tough times we can fall back on certain foods, particularly those high in sugar, fat and salt, to make us feel better. This is fine from time to time but it’s only dealing with the symptoms, not the cause. If you can, try exercising, that includes walking, or doing something else you enjoy.