By Michael Heath / selfpublishingUS.com
Routines disrupted. Freedoms curbed. Stay-at-home orders. Quarantines imposed. It all means much the same thing: we are stuck at home. And like news of an impending snowstorm, we stock up on groceries to have plenty to eat. We need food for nutrition and energy. We eat it because we enjoy it.
Working from home allows for those easy visits to the kitchen. When it is time to take a break, the pantry woos us. Bored kids cannot walk past the refrigerator without opening the door and looking in, as if they may find a chocolate cake that was not there 15 minutes earlier. That is sort of the danger. We are where the food is. There is no schedule to keep us on track. We succumb to the tendency of eating just to pass the time.
To avoid adding on so many unwanted pounds, it is important to start with the shopping. Purchase low-calorie fruits (e.g., grapefruits, apples, berries) and vegetables (e.g., broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts). There are plenty of online lists that can help you with selecting healthy produce. If bread is the enemy, sugar is the three-headed monster. Avoid processed foods like breads, cakes, cookies, chips, ice cream, sugary cereals and salad dressings. Read the labels. You may be surprised how much sugar there is in items like ketchup. A great drink to stock up on is flavored seltzer: thirst-quenching and zero calories.
Fail to plan, plan to fail. This old sales adage applies here. Plan your meals. Smart preparation always beats throwing something together. Take-out food is easy, tasty, and we need to support our local establishments; just be sure to limit how often you go this route. Take-out meals typically are high in calories. Deepak Chopra recommends conscious eating. When we consume food mindlessly there is the tendency to overeat. Do not snack in front of the television or while working on the computer. When eating, sit and savor the food while doing nothing else but enjoying the company of another human being.
Oscar Wilde said he could resist everything but temptation. With a little foresight, we will stock our homes with mostly healthy food. It is okay to indulge in a little fun grub to keep our spirits up; moderation is the key. This pandemic will end one day and hopefully we can get there without having added too much extra weight.
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