The COVID-19 epidemic is still raging on, and most businesses and workplaces continue to be closed. It’s been a few months in quarantine now and it can be stressful being away from friends and family for so long, and being unable to socialize in person.
As a result, it’s common to turn to food as a warm comfort.
Set An Eating Schedule
In order to avoid overeating, you need to set specific times for eating and specific times for doing other things. By planning your eating schedule, you can set specific times for eating and avoid snacking by simply relying on and sticking to the schedule.
A good eating schedule could be to eat one meal at 9 am, another meal at 12pm, and another meal at 6 pm. You can be flexible with it (8-10; 11-1; 5-7) but making sure that you have a schedule is important to avoid overeating.
Plan a single treat once a day.
Of course, you still deserve to have a treat once in a while. You don’t want to make yourself feel even worse by denying yourself completely of any pleasure in eating. Eating is still an enjoyable activity; but like any enjoyable activity, there are negative aspects of falling deep into it.
Instead of going cold turkey, plan one small treat once a day, possibly near the end of the day. An after dinner dessert, perhaps.
Commit to daily exercise.
Now is the perfect time to start an exercise routine. You can exercise right in your home, with the simple goal of building up a sweat. Keeping your mind on healthy activities aligns you with a belief that you are a person who cares deeply about their health, and is not willing to let overeating compromise that. You might not have gym equipment, but don’t despair: you are still able to jog in place, do bodyweight exercises, and stretch!
Meditation Practice
Meditation has many different forms, and all of them are ways to help calm the mind and focus away from the negative aspects of life. It trains attention away from cravings, negative feelings, and unmet needs and moves it toward a point of chosen focus. This could be a mantra, an object, or simply the feeling of being alive.
If you’re religiously inclined, you may want to use prayer as a way to keep yourself from overindulging in poor eating habits. The Serenity Prayer is a good choice.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
What’s important is that you turn your focus away from the prospective pleasure of overeating and the fear and doldrums of quarantine, toward a more positive alignment.
