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How To Stay Healthy During Quarantine

In this podcast, I’m chatting solo about the biggest things you can do for your health. After working at home for ten years I’ve got this down. I’m going to tell you from years of experience how to avoid snacking when stuck at home and give you my best tips for staying healthy with minimal effort.

 

• Introduction (0:20)
• Natural Products For Better Health (1:30)
• The Basics Of How To Stay Healthy (1:47)
• The Snacking Habit (3:34)
• Intermittent Fasting (6:50)
• Scale Back The Booze (8:49)
• How To Stay Healthy – Have A Purpose (11:18)
• Boost Your Health With Nutrients (12:45)
• Move Your Body (14:06)
• Get Your Butt Outside (16:39)
• Manage Stress (17:11)
• Wrapping Up: Make This Time Special (18:52)
• Mentioned In The Podcast(17:11)

Welcome to the fit Fit As A Mama Bear Podcast. I’m Shelby, a certified strength coach, nutrition coach, mama to two, and all-around health nut. This show is a little bit of everything healthy and natural related. So, if you’re striving to smash goals, eat better, feel better, and enjoy the occasional mom rant. this is the place for you.

Introduction (0:20)

For most of us being stuck inside sucks. Everything about quarantine is challenging, and life is beginning to just eat at us.

The chaos with kids, the boredom without them. The lack of routine and social stimulation, everything we’re missing.

And then there’s the food. Being at home is a whole new weight loss struggle. You find yourself eating all the snacks and sight just because they’re there and there’s no reason not to drink. I mean, where in the world do you have to go?

And at the end of the day, after a long Netflix binge, you wonder what in the hell has happened to the world to you, to your days.

Sound familiar?

Well, I say that we need to get ourselves out of this funk and maybe out of the pajamas, well, at least the same pajamas last week.

I don’t think that now is the time for any major dietary restriction, but I do think that now is the time for focus, for trial and error and for a bit of mental clarity.

So, join me today as I chat solo about the biggest things you can do for your health. Well, in quarantine. I’m going to tell you from 10 years of experience how to avoid snacking when stuck at home and give you my best tips for staying healthy with minimal effort.

So, let’s dive in.

 

Natural Products For Better Health (1:30)

Stepping in before we get started. What you put on your body is just as important as what you put in it.

And Primally Pure is definitely my top choice for nontoxic chemical-free skincare. While I do love to make a lot of my own products. I will be honest in the fact that sometimes there just is not enough time in the day. And for other products like deodorant, I’ve learned that purchasing is simply easier.

Primally pure offers quality, all-natural skincare products with ingredients I can actually pronounce and purchase. The blue Tansy face cream and charcoal deodorant have totally won me over for life. For 10% off your primary pure order, go to www.fitasamamabear.com/primally-pure.

The Basics Of How To Stay Healthy (1:47)

I hope everyone is staying sane.

It’s a running joke in our house that I was made for quarantine life because I’ve worked at home for the last 10 years. I really hate running errands, I’m naturally an introvert and I really love being home, so it kind of works for me.

My hubby has been laughing that I actually haven’t left our neighborhood or been in a car in four weeks and I’m okay with it. So, everyone else is going crazy and I’ve kind of got my jam down.

The reason why is for the last 10 years I have worked at home. I run a personal training business as well as the Fitasamamabear blog and both jobs are done from home.

I remember when I first started my business, and everyone commented about how I was going to be climbing the walls after a while. But the truth is I love working from home. I switch rooms if I have to, I can go outside with it when I want. I can walk the dog when I want. I seriously love it.

But that doesn’t mean that it didn’t come with its fair share of struggles in the beginning especially when it came to learning to stay healthy. And one of those things is snacking.

I have always been a snacker. I love to graze. And while it is not an awesome protocol for weight loss or for health, it’s just what I do now. And working from home and just being stuck at home now you’ve probably become a snacker too.

 

The Snacking Habit (3:34)

Let’s be honest, it is super easy to just walk by the fridge and grab whatever you see. We’ve been baking a lot more just because we’re home. So, getting the kids in the kitchen means we have berry crumble and cookies, and all these things just kind of hanging about.

And it’s easy, really easy to shove them in your face. Unfortunately, snacking is not the best-case scenario for either weight loss maintenance or just from a health perspective. If we’re binge-eating pretzels every night watching tiger king, eventually that’s going to catch up to us.

So how do you get out of the snack habit and stay healthy? There’s a lot of things you can do, and I wish I had better advice to be perfectly honest. I wish there was a magical cure-all situation, but there never is.

First thing first: you are not lacking in self-discipline just because you are snacking. We are stuck in crazy circumstances. Everything is honestly just insane, and we are in very different times. However, you do have to make an effort when it comes to curbing your snack habits and your eating in general.

No goal is without its effort requirements. You do need to focus on it. You need to work hard. Even after working from home for 10 years and I still have to genuinely think about things.

• Make better quality snacks
• Distract yourself
• Make use of intermittent fasting

Make better snacks.

Stop just munching on mindless processed food. If you’re going to snack, at least have healthier snacks available so you’re getting some kind of nutrient reward. Doritos, Cheese puffs and whatever else people normally snack on, they’re pointless and they’re harming your gut health.

And if ever there was a time to boost your gut health, it is now. So, cut back on the processed foods and find better snack options.

I don’t think that anyone should be following an overly strict diet right now or striving for a lot of calorie restrictions. You’re setting yourself up for failure and it won’t help you stay healthy.. You are stuck in the house literally all of the time. We are in very different circumstances then a normal environment. I think that’s just placing way too much pressure on yourself.

But I also understand wanting to get your stuff under control, feel better, have more energy, and just kind of get out of the funk that we’ve all fallen into.

The second thing you need to do is to recognize the habit. This is a bit of a psychological, behavioral mindset swap, but a lot of the time we don’t even realize that we’re snacking.

It’s just that we walked by the fridge, we opened it, shove something in her mouth. Or there’s an open bag of something sitting on the counter. We’re just mindlessly eating.

A few things you can do is recognize the habit and then try and replace it.

• Sip on some water
• Go for a walk
• Dance all of a sudden

Find something to distract yourself with. It is super easy to just fall into the snacking habit, but you need to learn to recognize it. That way that I counter it.

 

Intermittent Fasting To Stay Healthy (6:50)

Another great option is using intermittent fasting. If you have never tried intermittent fasting, episode 8 and check out my podcast on intermittent fasting.

It’s about weight loss, but intermittent fasting also has a lot of health benefits and the reason why I’m recommending it is because fasting is at bare minimum a way to control calories.

If you do a 12 or 16 hour fast, you’re normally cutting out a lot of morning food and even if you are snacking a little bit more during the rest of the day, at least you will have cut some bulk calories to keep things under control.

On top of that. Intermittent fasting just helps with mental clarity. It helps with energy, it helps you understand hunger cues a lot more. The first few are not comfortable. You do have to give it a few weeks to get yourself into enjoying it, but it can make a huge, huge difference.

With my normal schedule, I fast every single night, I’ll do about 13 hours and then once a week I’ll go for a longer and hit around 16 hours.

It’s funny because my schedule hasn’t changed in the sense that I’m home, but it has changed because everyone is home with me. With everyone home, my husband’s making meals and we’re doing a lot more baking there are snacks everywhere.

I’ve found that I’m just not as hungry if I’m using intermittent fasting. So, I’ve been going for longer fasts and more regularly. Normally 16 to 18 hours and I find that it’s helping a lot to kind of keep things under control.

I’ve been using some form of fasting for around 10 years and I absolutely love it.

 

Scale Back The Booze (8:49)

You literally have nowhere to go, no and nothing to do. And if you don’t have kids and you’re listening in to this, why would you not drink? Even now I’m finding it really, really difficult.

As the weather gets nicer, we have nothing to do. It’s easy to just hang out outside and have a couple of drinks. But think about it from the perspective of trying to stay healthy.

The hardest habit I ever had to break was drinking every day. Worse than quitting smoking. It was worse than getting into an exercise routine. Worse than anything. I was a big drinker. I had two to three drinks every single day and that was the hardest thing to break. There were tears, there was anger, there was twitchiness.

I don’t want to get back to that. That’s kind of my motivation to not drinking every day. I brought it down to a schedule now where I normally in the real-world drink only on have a drink or two on Fridays and Saturdays and I don’t drink through the rest week. It keeps me more focused. It keeps my mind a little bit sharper and me a little bit less sluggish.

Stop drinking every day. It sounds terrible and it’s a really hard habit to break. But let’s go over the downsides of having a few drinks every day:

• less focus
• You are going to be lazier because you’re just not feeling optimal.
• Lower energy
• Far more snacking

It’s very difficult when you have nowhere to go or nothing to do.

But it’s also going to make a huge impact on your health.

I’m not saying to omit alcohol all-together. But I am saying that multiple drinks every single day are going to add up to both your waistline as well as your health and your immune system.

Alcohol is an immune system suppressant. I don’t think that there’s a perfect solution, but I do think that making it a priority and a focus makes a really big bang for your buck if you were stuck at home.

Drinking makes everything better for a little bit, but it doesn’t help long-term and it doesn’t help your next day.

 

How To Stay Healthy – Have A Purpose (11:18)

The reason that I’ve been able to weather quarantine really easily, is because I’ve worked from home and I have a schedule. I thrive off of freaking schedules. I absolutely need them in my life.

And the first week that we were quarantined, we did nothing. Everyone watched TV and a bunch of movies. We’ve seen Frozen 2 like 23 times now. I went crazy. It’s just not fun.

My girls don’t thrive. So, I made us a schedule. It’s not crazy but It is a schedule and we do stick to it. Schedules force you to get dressed in the morning. They give you something to get dressed for. Having a schedule forces, you to want to use your mind. it gives you something to wake up for.

That in turn makes it so that you don’t want to drink all the time because then you’re not going to be able to focus on whenever you’re learning.

Or for me, I’ve used this time to really focus on growing my blog, which I’m super excited about. I’m loving being able to have so much time to work on the blog and really make it a fulltime gig. So, I’m not going to drink until midnight because then I can’t get up in the morning and work and of course, it doesn’t help me stay healthy.

If you have something to prioritize, whether that is fitness or a new hobby or something you’re going to learn over the next few weeks, that’s going to help develop a routine, get you out of bed, and cut back on booze.

Being lazy is really easy and I’m not saying that it’s not fun. We have totally been lazier in quarantine. But habit wise, you’ve been given extra time. You might as well make use of it.

Boost Your Health With Nutrients (12:45)

Jumping in here to chat about superfoods! Given the limited grocery trips right now, I’ve found myself relying more and more on healthy nutrient boosting powders to make sure my health stays a top priority.

Perfect supplements is my go-to one-stop shop for all wellness products. Right now, they have a ton of natural immune-boosting helpers, but I tend to stick to the basics.

I keep an ongoing supply of chlorella or spirulina, acai berry powder, collagen and my all-time favorite bone broth powder. These powders are easy to throw into smoothies or even no-bake bars. And there are simple ways to keep your health high without a ton of resources like groceries.

I honest to God, sneak bone broth powder into something for my girls every single day. It’s all about the gut health. And today, Perfect Supplements is knocking off 10% for all listeners if you use code mamabear10 at checkout.

 Hit up PerfectSupplements.Com/MamaBear10 and enter coupon code mamabear10 to save 10% on your entire order

 

Move Your BodyTo Stay Healthy (14:06)

We think that it is awesome that we just get to be lazy for a little while. We don’t have to work, we don’t have to drive anywhere, we don’t have to do anything. But our bodies were made to move.

The number one complaint that I get as a personal trainer is that we don’t have time to exercise. We are busy with kids and jobs and work and travel schedules and it’s just insane. That has now been taken away.

Literally the biggest obstacle that everyone comes to me with has been removed and yet no one is using it.

I’m not saying that you need to get jacked and work at three hours a day. I am saying that now is the time to find a style of exercise that you actually enjoy, so you’ll stick to it later. Or try new workouts, try working out at different times of the day.

I think that you should just generally be moving your body. That means every hour, get up for 10 minutes and take a walk or do something silly, dance with your kids or play tag. Don’t just binge out in front of the TV all day. By all means, binge out in the evenings or at some point in time, watch your favorite shows but do something for your body too.

Don’t just let it seize up. The old saying of “if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it” is very true.

You need to use the muscles in your body. Again, you have been given a gift in the sense of time. So, make use of it all right?

Move your body. It makes the day better. The day goes by faster. It gives you something to kind of strive for. If you do silly challenges or want to learn a new movement, find something that you really enjoy and you’ll stay healthy.

And even if it’s just for a couple of minutes, at least you are moving. We’ve been going for a lot more nature walks, which is awesome. My girls love the forest and it just makes you feel good.

Remember, routine is awesome!

Having a purpose of something to do just one thing every single day helps.

It could be to learn a new skill or watch a cool video, what ever gets you up and moving because it’s really easy to stay in bed all day.

The way that I’ve been able to run two businesses from home is not by slacking off to watch Netflix in the middle of the day. It’s because I have a schedule and I stick to it.

Some self-discipline, some mental push is going to be a little bit necessary.

 

Get Your Butt Outside (16:39)

Get outside.

So how do you survive quarantine? You get outside in your backyard, on your deck, wherever you can. That is obviously not with other people but getting outside, breathing, fresh air all of those things are really good for you.

They’re mood boosters, they just perk you up. They energize you; they get you moving. You need to get outside.

The longer that you stay inside the less reason you have to do anything. Get outside, move your body, enjoy the fresh air.

 

Manage Stress (17:11)

And lastly, I want you to find a way to be calm and learn to manage stress. We have been given the gift of time. You now have time to figure your sh*t out.

I’m never going to be really great at meditation. It’s not where I thrive, but I have found ways to de-stress when I need to.

Lifting and running are those things for me. Getting outside in silence works really well for me and just taking deep breaths and focusing. But you have been given time to figure this out. If ever there was a time that you need to learn to manage all the things around you and take away the stress it is now.

Figure out what works for you. If that is yoga, if that’s sitting in silence and letting your mind play out its thoughts or getting outside and sitting underneath the tree for a few minutes. Just figure it out

 

One of the biggest things that hits our health is that we are anxiety-ridden. We are always go, go, go. We are always stressed about work and about money and about lack of time and mom guilt and all of those things. Many of those things have been taken away right now, which means that a lot of stressors have been taken away.

Find a way to center yourself, reduce your anxiety, and bring that with you when all of this eases up a little bit. It’s not easy. It is chaotic and scary and we are stuck in a world that is very, very new to us.

Wrapping Up: Make This Time Special (18:52)

But I stand by the fact that we have been given one big gift and that is time and how you use it is up to you.

I want my girls to look back on quarantine and think it was really, really fun. I don’t want them to know that it was crazy pandemic. Instead, I want them to think, “Hey, this was a time when I got to spend five, six weeks straight with my parents where I had their undivided attention”.

I’ve been given extra time to work, which is amazing. I always want to grow the blog. It’s a lot of fun. And I finally have time to sit down and get the thoughts out of my head. I’m not going to waste that.

You might not have those things and that’s fine but find something to spend your time on bettering yourself.

Read a book, organize a drawer, make a list of things that you want to accomplish, and write out the steps as to how to do that. Just use your time wisely.

It’s rare that we get a chance like this and well, I’m not going to say that quarantine life has been easy. It is chaotic with kids and entertaining them. The feeling guilty for just wanting to lay there for 10 minutes. But make use of what you have been given.

That about wraps it up for today. I truly wish you all a happy, healthy quarantine. And if there’s one thing that I hope you took from today’s episode is that big changes can happen from small habits. You’ve never had more time than you have right now to find a habit that suits you.

So, take control, dive in and get started.

 

Mentioned In The Podcast

• All-Natural Skincare – use code mamabear10
• Gut Health – What You Need To Know
• Episode 8 – Intermittent Fasting
• Superdfoods for health
• Bone broth powder – use code mamabear10