7 Doable Healthy Habits for Lockdown and Beyond

Healthy choices can be challenging at the best of times and the restrictions and emotions that come with lock-down make it extra challenging to maintain a healthy lifestyle. With less incidental exercise opportunities, restrictions on regular exercise routines and the temptation for some serious comfort eating (and drinking), it can be easy to spiral into some unhealthy habits! 

Here's a few tips I have picked up from nutrition experts, with a practical interpretation that will still bring you joy while keeping keeping healthy and happy!

1. Plan your Food for the Week

Map out your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for the week. Collect all ingredients in one swoop and stick to the plan. Even better, type it up and stick it on your fridge. If your plan is in front of you, and you limit pantry and fridge resources to the meals in your plan, then it makes it physically and psychologically harder to deviate. It will also decrease the chance of you making meal choices based on your emotions at the time. 

2. Take the Opportunity to Support your Local Cafe / Restaurant. 

Chances are your local cafe / restaurant have take-away meal options options that could work out more economical than cooking depending on how many mouths you need to feed. Helping small businesses / keeping jobs and no cooking and clean up. That's what I call a win-win.

3. Reduce Portion Size

A good calorie and wallet saving hack is to half your portion size and add a large serve of fibre-filling vegetables. Use a homemade dressing (no sugar) to make it extra tasty. If you are still hungry, have some healthy snacks available between meals (see healthy snack options). 

4. Go for Consistency Not Perfection

We all know what is good for us and bad for us. Aim for mostly good, occasionally treating yourself to things you love, and do this consistently. Restricted diets may lead to extreme ups and downs. Rather take a slow, and steady approach to good nutrition, making long term, sustainable choices. If you had a binge, don't stress. Move on and go back to the plan.

5. Drink in Moderation (I Feel Like a Party-Pooper)

It's temping to hit the bottle in times of distress but alcohol contains high quantities of sugar and affects quality of sleep. Sleep is important for weight control and good mental state. Try to limit your intake, perhaps keep it for weekends only or limit to one glass per night. 

6. Sleep

7 - 9 hours of unbroken sleep is optimal. Sleep is crucial for mental performance, body repair and weight regularity. It can be tempting to stay up at night if you have nothing on the next day but maintaining a consistent sleep schedule is important. Setting up your intention for the day (see 7 Mind Hacks) will commit you to a wake-up time. Calculate what time you need to be a sleep by and start to unwind at least one hour before hand. Quick tips on creating a good sleep environment:
- Dark room with block out curtains
- No noise
- Cool room
- Declutter your mind of worries. Use mediation or a journal to write out your thoughts. 

7. Getting Moving for One Hour Per Day

If your gym is closed or your weekly game with gals is off the cards, make sure you find one hour to exercise per day. Don't worry about making it perfect, just keep moving. If you don't feel motivated to take your online gym class, opt for a brisk walk! 

What healthy habit hacks have you used in the last couple of months? We'd love to hear from our community and keep spreading ideas. Comment below or drop us a line.

Keep fit, fabulous and fashionable,

Nicci Pawlowski
Founder of Eighteen Eves

BONUS

Healthy and yummy snack options:

Savoury

• Unsalted popcorn
• Unsalted nuts
• Celery / carrot sticks with peanut butter, cream cheese or hummus
• Hard boiled egg
• Small piece of cheese
• Salmon or sardines 
• Olives
• Sun dried tomatoes 

Sweet

• 95% dark chocolate (less that 1gram of sugar per serve)
• Piece of fruit
• Greek yoghurt 
• Dried coconut 

Google snack portion size for each of these items