This week has gotten a bit easier to manage my health aspect. With the gyms all being closed, I had to get creative to work out. I have decided to start doing virtual work out sessions in my living room. I chose to do the 21 day fix which requires you to work out for 21 consecutive days with no rest days in between. Tomorrow I will have been doing this for 7 days and it is honestly pretty rewarding to say that since I had thought about quitting so many times during the week. The work out if for 30 minutes each day (give or take) and it typically pretty intense. Since we are all quarantined for who knows how much longer, I figured this is the perfect time to work on myself and really commit to changing for the better. I have been trying to get myself to go on an additional walk or run each day as well, but it is not always so easy with this New England weather.
Something I have definitely been struggling with since being quarantined is my nutrition. First of all, my family has stocked up on a lot of pasta and canned foods so that we don’t have to go to the store often. We have a limited supply of fresh produce, such as fruits and veggies, and that is typically where I get my good nutrition from. I have found myself eating way more pasta and starches lately which is not great and is definitely something I need to work on through mindful eating. Mindful eating is “eating with the understanding and awareness that what you’re putting in your mouth has an affect on your body”(Donatelle, 2019, p. 194). One thing that the book mentions is not to use food as a reward because it interferes with the bodies ability to feel hunger (Donatelle, 2019, p.194). This makes a lot of sense to me because I have always given myself rewards of food to motivate me to get things done and I have a very unhealthy relationship with food. Now that I know that food should not be used as a reward I can help myself much better.
Another thing I could work on for myself and my health is my water intake. “The general recommendation for women is approximately 9 cups of total water from all beverages and foods each day” (Donatelle, 2019, p.180). This is definitely far from the amount of water I have been getting lately. I will usually drink about one water bottle worth of water while working out and maybe another throughout the day, which is not enough water when you account for the terrible diet I have had lately. In the past, drinking more water had helped me lower my hunger and binge eat less. I find it interesting that the book talks about how people usually get the right amount of water they need because their bodies tell them that they are thirsty. This is interesting because I do not feel like I get enough water and I don’t often drink things other than water, so I can’t imagine that someone who drinks soda or juice often would get the right amount of water just be being thirsty.
Growing up, I was overweight so I have had to learn through the years how to read the nutrition facts labels on food. “In 2016, the FDA published a new label that is more helpful for consumers”(Donatelle, 2019, p.191), and it made people focus on their caloric intake. The new labels have the amount of calories per serving in bing bold numbers so that it is easy to read. Another big thing that was a good change to the label was listing the added sugars separately. This makes it clearer to the consumer how healthy the food they are buying is. I am interested to see if the obesity rates have gone down at all (or will go down) since the release of the new labels.
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