How to Keep a Healthy Diet in Quarantine

Plan It Out

Even if you stock up on healthy foods when you get to the grocery store, what’s to stop you from binging? In quarantine, you’re stuck in the house with everything you’ve bought.

One way to combat this problem is creating a clear-cut plan you can stick to, both for your diet and how you plan to spend your day, Satrazemis says. And don’t try to say you don’t have any time while stuck at home.

“Sit down and create a plan for yourself, and then really spend some time establishing routines for your new norm,” she suggests. “So things that are as simple as getting up, making the bed, putting on real clothes, establishing actual eating times and getting a little bit of structure into your day.”

Creating a schedule of specific times you want to eat, work out, or take breaks from working from home can help you form new habits and actually stick to the healthy diet plan you’re trying to follow.

“Habits are everything when it comes to sticking to a healthy diet,” Satrazemis explains. “We can make one choice pretty easily, but to repeatedly make that choice, we really have to set ourselves up with systems and routines to allow us to do that effectively.“

Make a plan before you shop, not after

It sounds like a no-brainer, but you’re better off making a solid plan ahead of your grocery store trip rather than stocking up and figuring it out later. Even if you aren’t able to find some ingredients, at least you’ll have a general idea of the perishables and non-perishables you need for the week.

“You should have some sort of plan for the food that you’re buying and how you’re going to ration it out for you and everybody in your household throughout the week,” Satrazemis says. “Then you don’t get into a place where you’re either wasting food or eating everything three days after you buy it.”

Including everything from meals to snacks in your plan is an especially good strategy if you find that you’re eating everything in sight—healthy or unhealthy—just because it’s there.

And about those unhealthy quarantine snacks? As far as Satrazemis is concerned, you’re better off foregoing them altogether if you’re serious about eating healthy during lockdown. If they’re in the house, you’re going to eat them at some point.

Keep the strategy simple

If you’re new to meal planning or if you’ve never successfully stuck to a plan, it can sound intimidating. But Satrazemis makes it clear that creating a strategy doesn’t need to be a massive undertaking.

“It doesn’t have to mean that you’re hitting a specific calorie and macro goal or weighing your food,” she says. “If you’re new to the concept, I would say just sit down, write out a weekly calendar, put it on the fridge even and say, ‘Here’s what I’m planning on eating for dinner throughout the week. Here’s what I think sounds good for lunch, here’s my breakfast, here’s my snacks.’”

Instead of stressing over it, just use your plan as a guide for your grocery shopping excursions and try your best to stay with it. In the end, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Solve the snack problem

Quarantine or no quarantine, snacks can be a roadblock, even for people who stick to their planned meal times and spend plenty of time at the gym.

One way to avoid excess boredom snacking is to replace it with something else. Satrazemis suggests activities like going outside for a walk, meditating, reading a book or doing pretty much anything that doesn’t involve shoving food into your mouth to cure boredom instead.

If you’re a hardcore snacker and just don’t see that working for you, another way to snack less is by choosing low-calorie foods or foods that take time and effort to eat. Her top picks are air-popped popcorn, any fruits that you have to peel or pit—think clementines, Mandarin oranges, or cherries with pits, and nuts like whole peanuts or pistachios that take some effort to shell.

“When you actually have to actively open it up with each bite, you think about it a little bit more and you’re less likely to eat as much versus something that’s unwrapped,” she explains.”

For those with a sweet tooth, a protein bar that’s at least mostly healthy is a good treat for the day.

Be realistic

It’s great to have goals in mind when you start something new, but getting in over your head can lead to disappointment. Whether or not you’ve been an avid meal prepper in the past, you may want to start off slow if your quarantine has been all cookies and ice cream.

“A lot of times when we’re getting into something new and we’re highly motivated, we tend to over-commit to something. Keeping it really simple and saying, ‘You know what, it’s okay. I don’t have to have homemade protein balls and baked goods as a snack every day. I can just have Greek yogurt and an Apple and make this easy for myself,’ is really the starting place.”

The bottom line is that having a plan at all is a great start, and making it complicated won’t help you follow it.

Another thing to be realistic about, especially for those who are less active now that gyms are closed, is the amount you’re eating, Satrazemis points out. If you’ve gone from daily lifting workouts to walking your dog for exercise, you need to reevaluate your calorie intake and adjust it to reflect those changes.

If you’re going to overhaul your diet, choose one you’ll enjoy

Satrazemis suggests smaller changes to get the best results with a new diet strategy. But if you’re set on choosing a plan like paleo, keto, or any of the trendy diets of the moment, do yourself a favor and choose the one that makes sense for your taste in food.

“We get caught up in wondering what the best option is, when really the best option for you is the one that you’re going to enjoy doing,” Satrazemis says. “Because if you don’t, there’s just no way that you’re going to stick to it.”

Stock up on healthy basics

Healthy food is getting harder to come by in supermarkets, but there are some basic foods that are both healthy and can last a while when getting to the grocery store isn’t the easiest task.

When it comes to protein, one budget basic is canned fish, an underrated source of protein. Whether it’s tuna, salmon, or whatever variety you opt for, it won’t go bad any time soon. Another pantry staple is any type of grain, from rice to pasta to quinoa. Boxed plant-based milks are another food to keep on hand.

Protein snacks like jerky also make the list (high-quality jerky that isn’t full of added ingredients and sugars), and nuts and nut butters are other snack-friendly staples.

If the very thought of going to the grocery store during a pandemic makes you want to order takeout every day instead, another great option is getting meals and ingredients delivered, Satrazemis adds. Trifecta’s a la carte ingredients and meals are vacuum-sealed and last up to three weeks depending on where you live, and you can freeze them to extend that time.

Remember the benefits of good nutrition

We don’t need to tell you that a balanced diet of healthy foods will help you feel better, but those benefits are important to remember when motivation is low—and especially when there’s a global health crisis looming outside.

“Getting good, healthy fats and paying attention to your overall macro balance is actually super beneficial in terms of your mood and energy levels day to day, so you want to have a good balance of protein, fat and carbs,” Satrazemis says. “We’ve all had those days where we’ve eaten nothing but carbohydrates and we just don’t feel that great, and then we’ve had those days where maybe we didn’t eat enough carbohydrates and we feel like we’re starving or hangry, or mood is a little bit out of whack as well.”

She suggests focusing on a healthy balance of macronutrients and not being overly restrictive. Those keys can help you create a plan that you can stick to and feel good about.

Get motivated with a like-minded community

There’s no getting around it: For most people, being in social isolation is difficult, and motivation to diet or work out isn’t exactly at an all-time high.

If you’re struggling to feel motivated because the only other being you can talk to about your fitness progress is your dog, joining a fitness or diet challenge that comes with a plan just might be your way out of that rut.

“Doing it on your own is much harder than when you have something to actually follow and inspire you,” Satrazemis says. “And you have the plan laid out right there for you. So I would recommend looking for opportunities like that because they definitely exist.”

Trifecta is one app option that’s currently running a 90-day challenge. But if you missed sign-ups, that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the app’s comprehensive workouts and advice on everything from nutrition to training and fit lifestyle tips.