Or: Staying Fit and Healthy when at home
This is the topic for this week’s For the Health of it Meme. Chosen because all around the world people are having to stay at home and I can guarantee many are anxious about their health. Of course people are worried about developing coronavirus. It seems to be a horrible and pretty deadly disease and no respecter of age and previous health. Though those with underlying health conditions or who are older are at greater risk and so forced to isolate themselves more thoroughly. So, my thoughts on the topic.
Eating
I can’t deny that for the first week or so I threw all thoughts of eating healthily firmly out of the window. I wanted to keep to my eating plan but it was hard. Firstly it was difficult to get hold of things that were healthy and secondly I struggled with a ‘what’s the point attitude’. But gradually I have realised this won’t solve anything. The worst thing to come out of it (other than not to have my health or that of my loved ones) is to be back to square one. So, I am really trying hard this week to eat the right foods.
Weekends will continue to be more relaxed – allowing bread and more carbohydrates. But I am approaching each day as a new one (which it is) and trying to eat the right things.
Drinking
One bonus of the lockdown might be that no coffee shops are open. This has helped my wallet and my waistline. Those milky coffees can be a hidden minefield of calorie intake. Instead I’m drinking more tea at home. Plus water. I gave up sugary drinks (other than tonic) over a year ago and am not going back. That includes diet drinks.
My big downfall is wine. We’ve definitely got through more of it over the past few weeks. But again, we have pulled back especially on week nights. It’s only Tuesday but I’m firm in my intentions.
Maintaining my emotional and mental health
This is almost harder (actually it might be harder) than staying physically healthy. The news is depressing, but at the same time compulsive. Social media has its stresses. Everyone telling everyone else to stay at home is a true message that gets irritating. Then there are all the pictures, videos and memes that fly around. Everyone is an expert too.
Our lives haven’t changed massively in that we are both retired from work and don’t have to start working from home. We are not able to go out and pursue many of our interests but are able to continue doing things we normally do from home. We both have our separate spaces, our own little offices and we don’t spend all day every day together. I also have my slimming group, which has now gone over to weekly Zoom meetings. Keeping me focused on my physical and emotional wellbeing when it comes to weight.
Keeping in touch with family and friends by phone etc. is both rewarding and frustrating. I have the added burden that my mum lives alone a hundred miles away and still needs attention.
In the main we have tried to keep our days as they usually were. I always shower and dress even if I don’t always get up early. We eat at the same times as before and treat weekends differently to week days. In the evening, after dinner we sit together and try to find something worth watching on TV / DVD.
Every day too, I try to get out for a short while. Just walk somewhere even if I have no where to go. I wrote about physical exercise here yesterday.
I totally agree about mental/emotional health. One thing this situation has highlighted, in a mass-media in-your-face way, is that people (especially people in developed nations) are ill equipped to handle this emergency on a mental/emotional level. It’s the concept of endurance, and of having the courage and fortitude to do (calmly!) what needs to be done, that seems to be missing from all of this. I wish I could mentally beam a “calm down, be rational” brainwave to everyone who needs help doing so.