We spoke with our Founder, Angela Martindale, about eating healthy and self care while in self-quarantine. Here are her top tips to stay healthy and on track!
1. Eat as many fresh, local, organic foods as possible. Make sure you have fruits and vegetables in your daily diet. When you fill your body with whole, nutrient rich foods, you allow it to return to its most optimal balanced state.
2. Maintain a regular sleep schedule. It’s so easy to stay up late right now because we’re just at home, don’t move much, and maybe don’t want to get up from the couch to go to bed, so you stay awake and watch TV or keep checking social media. Go To Bed! Going to bed and waking up around the same time each day is critical to your mental and physical well being.
3. Put Yourself on Your “To-Do” List. As tricky as it may be to prioritize yourself during this time with work and maybe you’re homeschooling kids on top of it, I find that when I make time to take care of myself, it renews my ability to be selfless. Taking time to recognize your hard work, decompress and reconnect with yourself will help you feel re-energized, relaxed and more generous with your love for others.
4. Move your body every day. You should move enough to create a sweat everyday. 20-30 minutes daily. If weight loss is your goal, you should be striving for intensity and duration in your exercise. You can also try my CHIYOGAFLOW series for an incredible rejuvenating stretch or for a great workout.
5. Pay attention to your body and what it’s telling you. Skip the social media for a bit and seek knowledge about anatomy, your endocrine system, nutrition, lifestyle, goal-setting, and time management. Utilize this time as an opportunity to teach yourself something new! Listen to your body and to your voice within.
6. What about snacks? While staying at home many people snack more frequently. Be sure to eat four to six portion-controlled, balanced meals every two to four hours throughout the day. By eating this way, you’ll effortlessly speed up your metabolism. Snacks are an important part of this equation. Limiting your simple carbohydrate consumption to the morning and eating protein after 4PM are other ways to promote this process. Choose snacks that are 100% real food.
7. Get plenty of water! Often, when we think we are hungry, we are actually dehydrated. Our bodies are over 65% water. Water acts as a flushing mechanism for free radicals, bacteria and viruses that could impact our vital organs. Even mild dehydration can impact energy levels, which can affect the body’s ability to fight off illnesses like kidney and urinary tract infections, and keep our skin healthy from top to bottom. A basic rule for hydration is to drink 8 glasses of water a day (64 oz). I drink way more than this, but 8 glasses will give your body the minimum of what it needs to more easily fight off bacteria and viruses, keep your energy and sodium levels in check, and keep your digestive system running smoothly.