How to start changing your diet during COVID-19

EASY AND EFFECTIVE 10-STEP GUIDE

Let’s face it. Corona has not only made a big impact on our social life but also on our health life.

And since you are currently reading this article you were probably attracted by the title which means that you have experienced a change in your eating behaviour during Covid-19 (here maybe a link?) and would like to find ways to start a healthier diet.

So, let’s not waste any more time and get started. The following tips are coming from my own experience but also through research as well as recommendations from friends.

1. Cook more meals at home.

This first tip should not be hard since many restaurants had to close down in many countries anyway. Nevertheless, I want to stress this point since it makes a big change ( also for your wallet) if you prepare a healthy breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner at home, where you know exactly which ingredients you use and how old they were then eating out at restaurants where you have not a lot of information about the details of your dish. Additionally, it is really important that you prepare healthy dishes or snacks in advance before leaving the house for multiple hours or when you need to work the whole day. By always having your healthy food options with you, you don’t get tempted to buy (mostly) unhealthy food at cafeterias.

2. Adjust your tastebuds.

Many of us are accustomed to eating food with lots of salt, sugar, fat, and other additives. To change your diet, you’ll need to retrain your tastebuds to appreciate the more subtle flavours of whole foods again. Of course, that won´t happen from one to the other day. Start with mixing it up: brown rice with white rice or normal pasta with whole-grain pasta. Same counts for salty and fatty food as well. Slowly minimize your intakes from dish to dish.

Remember: It can take up to 12 weeks to adjust, so don´t give up on it when your tastebuds haven’t changed after week 2.

3. Follow an 80–20 strategy.

We are humans. We can´t give 100% at all times. And we don’t have to. We can be weak sometimes. Okay, that sounded dramatic… but it is true, also when it comes to eating clean.

Eating plans go bad (and are eventually abandoned) when they turn obsessive. Clean eating is no different. If you don´t want to get into this trap I highly recommend making use of the 80–20 approach. That means, that you eat clean and healthy 80% of your time whereas the other 20% is for eating what you feel like, especially when you are with friends of on holiday. In that way, you keep living and not restricting yourself from everything. Would be a shame if you could never have ice cream, again right?

4. Choose whole foods instead of processed.

The next step you should undertake is to swap the frozen pizza in your freezer and the instant ramen in your cupboard with whole foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Since those are packed with essential nutrients like protein, fibre, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals they are a hundred times (at least) better for your health than processed foods which contain empty calories.

5. Keep healthy food readily available.

I´ve already touched that point at the beginning when I said that you should always have precooked meals with you when leaving the house for a longer period. Nevertheless, focuses this tip more on having healthy ingredients and food options available at any time, especially at home. When you get hungry, you’re more likely to eat the first thing you see on the counter or in the cupboard. Keep healthy food easily accessible and visible. I normally have fruits laying around everywhere and make sure that I have fresh veggies as well as frozen fruits or spinach (for smoothies mostly) always accessible in the freezer. In that case, I can´t have the excuse that I can´t eat something healthy because I don’t have the time to go to the supermarket. When going to work or university I also make sure to always carry a banana or a little container with nuts with me.

6. Go for nuts (and seeds).

By now you must have heard and seen superfoods everywhere. Some say it’s an unnecessary hype. That might carry some truth with it but there is a reason why it is being so hyped up by many. Nuts for example contain protein, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals. Similarly, chia seeds, flaxseed and pumpkin seeds are boosting your health immensely with their nutritional power. They are an incredibly good source for you to get your daily dose of vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals like calcium, zinc, and magnesium. The best thing is, that they are so easy to add to your daily dishes.

7. Count nutrients, not calories.

“All calories are not created equal — it is the quality of the calorie that has the most impact on health, not necessarily the quantity,” — Nutritionist Rhiannon Mack

8. Exercise portion control

I overeat. Often. But I do it unconsciously because the portions I eat normally feel right to me. In reality, I eat way more than I need. I never looked at the nutrition labels of food for the recommended portion size, so I never knew that I was eating way more than what was recommended. That being said: the numbers on those labels shouldn’t hold you back from eating what you need. You should still listen to your body and your hunger and find out how much you need to be satisfied and correctly nourished. Hence, when you feel like your portions are too big and that’s why you can´t lose weight you should try to minimize your portions a little bit each day till you reach the portion that makes you feel the best. It’s a process.

9. Replace emotional snacking with a fun exercise

One of my favourite hobbies is to snack. I snack when I´m happy, when I´m stressed, when I’m sad, when I’m nervous or, most importantly, when I’m bored. Especially during Covid-19.

10. Boost your protein intake

When you’re constantly dieting, you probably won’t be getting enough proteins to meet your body’s needs. So even though you are trying to cut down your meals and get rid of your snack attacks, don´t forget to intake enough protein. Good sources are, as mentioned before, nuts and fish, lean meat, eggs or yoghurt.

There are many more small things you can change or add to your daily life and throughout your journey, you will probably stumble over many more tips. Not every tip will be successful for you, even though it might be for others, It’s your own journey and you will find out more and more what you need and what not. It´s a process, remember that.

“When people change too much about their diet at once, they tend to give up before they reach their goals,” says Christen Cupples Cooper, Ed.D., R.D.N., assistant professor and founding director of the Nutrition and Dietetics Program at the College of Health Professions at Pace University. “We believe that small changes add up to big success — small changes at a time, which eventually become habits, make for lasting weight success.”