Tips on maintaining a healthy balance diet during lockdown
Having to move back to my family home for quarantine meant that my diet was inevitably going to change from my pre-competition diet, and going from a mainly vegetarian diet to a household that eats a lot of meat was a real challenge for me. However, I feel like I have managed to maintain as healthy a diet as possible, whilst opening up my parent's minds to a healthier way of eating and still enjoying some sweet treats. Here are my top 5 tips on how to maintain a healthy and balanced diet during lockdown:
1. Plan your meals weekly! I always planned my meals before lockdown began, but continuing to do this during the quarantine has ensured that my diet is balanced with a range of different food groups throughout the week. This also meant that I could identify days within the week in which the meals are a little unhealthier or calorie-heavy which allowed me to plan in some exercise, and days in which the meals were a little healthier, which meant that I could afford a treat or two.
2. Replace unhealthy snacks with fruit! It gets to about 9 pm in my household and my parents are both reaching for a packet of crisps. When writing out the shopping list together, I suggested that we get some fruit in which we could snack on during the day. This worked a lot more successfully than I expected, with myself and my parent opting for some fruit or veg at around 3/4 pm and then my parents finding that they were not hungry after dinner later on in the evening.
3. Choose some vegetarian alternatives! When I suggested that we have one vegetarian meal a week, as the volume of meat I was suddenly consuming compared to before lockdown was making me bloated and unwell, it was greatly frowned upon. But, after introducing my family to some of my veggie and pescetarian faves, such as spinach, ricotta and veg frittata, courgette spaghetti, and some oily fish tray bakes, not only were they feeling good within themselves afterwards, they quite often got their much needed five a day, and also had a damn tasty meal!
4. It's okay to treat yourself! I've recently got really into baking, and one benefit of that to me has been knowing exactly what is going into the food that I am cooking. Having a bit of cake or a few biscuits IS OKAY, and can be part of a healthy, balanced diet if eaten in moderation, and especially good if you have made them yourself!
5. Don't get obsessed with losing weight at this time! With gyms closed it can be difficult to get much exercise and being stuck at home can create temptation for those more unhealthy snacks. I have a friend who I train with who is currently doing a slim fast diet to lose weight for a completion in November that we don't even know is happening yet! There is no rush to lose weight if you want to and if you don't that is fine as well!It’s okay if you're not losing weight at this time, as long as your diet is healthy and balanced then you're doing a great job!
