Hi, how are you doing at home in isolation after all these weeks? Can you keep yourself in shape somehow? Do you eat well or indulge in a few too many treats to pamper yourself and relieve some tension?
Let’s start by saying that one of the first concerns once we realized that the isolation was going to last quite a while (and that especially in the meantime there was no running!) was that of physical fitness. Because it is undeniable: many people also run and play sports to have an alibi to eat whatever they like or to do so without much guilt, so much “Then I go running.” But if the excuse of running fails, how do you do it? To all appeared her own image at the end of the isolation fattened up by kilos and kilos.
Two opposing attitudes toward food
One can react to a stressful or alienating situation such as the one we are living in in two ways: by eating more than normal or less, to the point of not eating at all. It is clear that both in behavior are the extremes of the spectrum of possibilities, which one should never reach.
Their origins and explanations must be told, however, because they say a lot about ourselves.
Those who eat little or nothing are practicing a millennia-old behavior that dates back even to when humans had to survive dangerous and deadly animals every day. Indeed, if he had to escape or fight them, the best condition in which to do so was on an empty stomach. This explains why some anxious people (especially at this time) react to a general stressful and worrisome condition by eating little or stopping (sometimes forgetting) to do so.
Those who eat more than normal use food as a relaxant. “Stress relief” the British would call it, meaning something that provides relief in a pressing condition. Which has happened to you before in your life, hasn’t it?
What to act on, however, knowing that the general condition-which we all share, namely the epidemic and subsequent isolation-cannot be changed? All that remains is to work on ourselves and how we manage our relationship with food.
If you eat less
Have you realized that you eat little or forget to eat? Treat meals as you would any other appointment and mark them on the agenda. If you don’t feel like having a big meal, replace them with protein smoothies with which you can give your body a minimum of sustenance.
If you eat more
First accept that this is a transitional phase and that yes, most likely by the end of this isolation you will have gained weight. That said, the easiest way to control what you eat is, since the dawn of the invention of diets, to have only wholesome things in the house that do not make you fat. Snacks-which take away your nervous hunger and allow you to get to one of the main meals of the day without eating chair legs-must be healthy. Avoid processed and instant gratification foods and never miss fruit, perfect for mid-day snacks.
Another super-simple trick to ward off hunger symptoms and have something non-fattening in your body (thus relieving hunger pangs) is to have a thermos with a hot drink such as tea or herbal tea by your side. The act of pouring into the cup and then drinking something warm keeps the mind engaged and soothes the body (and fills it up, too!).
One last thing
In recent times there has been a deep-rooted baking fad: everyone has taken to making bread or pizza at home. It is very nice and also teaches a useful thing: to rediscover our roots and to do something you didn’t know how to do. More generally, baking is an art that teaches the value of time (kneading, rising, baking), entertains and frees our minds, and makes us do something useful and ancestral. More generally, preparing food is also a way to control hunger pangs and to recover a proper relationship with what we eat: it makes us know it better and love it more.
If you want to find a positive element in this isolation here is one: the rediscovery of the pleasure of being in the kitchen and getting things done.