Hey everyone! Tracy here
If you're new here, I'm the Director of Customer Service for Nutracelle... but I was an avid Nutrafanatic before I even worked for the company! Thanks to Nutracelle, I've managed to lose over 130 lbs and keep it off. If you missed my blog about my big move to Ontario and my transition to working-from-home, you can get caught up on what I've been up to here. Otherwise, let's get to the good stuff.
Staying Mentally, Spiritually & Physically Healthy while Working from Home
If working from home is new to you, or maybe you're just out of practice, you're not alone. Many of us are feeling the strain of our regular routine being interrupted, children and adults alike. Without a set schedule for getting up, leaving the house, and coming home... chances are you're feeling a little scatter-brained and overwhelmed.If this feels accurate, or even if it doesn't, do me a favour and take a deep breath right now. Hold it for four seconds, and release it slowly while counting to four again. Do this one more time.
Let's work together on creating a mentally-safe, physically-empowering routine for your new at-home life. I've got some super easy, super helpful tips to get you started.
First, let's start with your morning.
Get up and get your happy tunes playing
Starting your morning on the right foot is integral to setting the tone for your day. Most days lately have started with the news blasting more bad news and scary statistics.
My biggest piece of advice is to start the day with your favourite playlist. Crank those happy tunes to help get you out of bed and feeling good.
If you want to check out my "Happy Tunes!" playlist on Spotify, click this link!
Get dressed and follow your usual get-ready routine!
Whether you're working from home or just spending more time at home due to COVID-19, try to stick to your usual morning routine. Get out of bed and put on fresh clothes, brush your hair, teeth, wash your face, etc. Whatever morning routine you had before the pandemic struck, try to pick it back up. The familiarity will be extremely reassuring for you and your family.
I highly recommend choosing different clothes than your usual lounge-wear. This helps reduce the cabin fever you may be starting to feel, too. Look good, feel good. Feel good, look good. They're connected, and it doesn't just mean putting on make-up or getting your hair done. Sometimes simple things like a fresh pair of jeans can help boost your mood!
Eat a healthy breakfast
Starting your day with a healthy, delicious breakfast like a Nutraleanor NutraVegan smoothie will help you in multiple ways! (Not a smoothie fan? No problem, check out our healthy breakfast recipes here!) Kick-starting your day with a dose of protein and fiber means you'll stay full for longer.
Thanks to our clean formula free of added sugars and chemicals, you don't have to worry about snack hunting an hour after you eat.
Not only will that avoid the non-stop snaccidents, but it also gives your brain a healthy start to the day! Once your breakfast is complete, don't forget to take your daily dose of Vitamin Gummies. They're essential to boosting your immune system strength and fighting off illnesses.
Moving on to lunch and dinner
Stick to your usual routine at lunch time
I saw one post on Facebook about keeping the routine of using a packed lunch for your children during the additional downtime, and I thought that was ridiculously smart! This will help ensure your kids aren't over-eating with their extended break at home, which reduces your grocery bill (cha-ching!) AND it helps keep them in the school routine for when things calm down and they have to return to their usual daytime schedule.
Sticking to the routine will avoid conflict and added stress to the already-pretty-stressful situation we find ourselves in.
If you need some inspiration, we have tons of recipes found here.
After lunch, take a minute to thank everyone for an awesome meal and delegate a quick chore before play-time happens again.
Children love feeling helpful and accomplished, and sometimes as adults... we tend to be the heroes and take on the bulk of the work. Letting your littles help will give you that inexplicable tingle of pride as you watch them diligently mirroring your methods of sweeping the floors, tidying up the table, and etc. And as an added bonus, they get to feel great for helping mom/dad around the house.
For dinner, keep your usual meal plan in rotation
You'll find the routine you're used to both comforting and familiar, which... let's be real: everyone could use a little bit of 'normal' right now.
Add in a new meal every so often (check out this link for some inspiration) to keep things fresh and exciting. Bonus points if you send us your new yummy Nutra-fied recipes!
Post-dinner fun to keep the smiles lasting all day can be a group dessert creation! Grab some Greek yogurt, or your favourite ice-cream if you're feeling like a treat is necessary. Set up fun stations and let the family decorate their own treats.
Some other ideas are board games, card games, drawing games, and more.
Evenings are a toss-up, and can be tough on a regular day
Staying on track and following your pre-planned eating tips seems to increase with difficulty as the sun goes down. The kids have settled in bed, so you throw on your favourite show and suddenly you're thinking about what to munch on.
You sigh, because just last night you told your partner that you wanted to stop snacking so much in the evening. Well, I have a solution for you.
Don't restrict yourself, just set yourself up for snacking success with these easy tips:
- Have your favourite healthier snacks prepped
Keep your celery, carrots, peppers, broccoli, etc, pre-chopped in the fridge. Have some tasty dips on hand, or make your own homemade protein dip with this recipe. The quick-grab snacks will keep you feeling proud, which keeps those good feels lasting all day!
- Keep the ingredients for easy homemade treats on-hand
Social distancing is at it's peak and we're big advocates for the STAY HOME movement. Plan your treats ahead of time so when you get your groceries, you grab the ingredients you need to make treats as-needed.
Mug cakes, macaroons, protein balls, and even pancakes are all examples of super easy recipes that require few ingredients and little work to create! Plus, the work you'll put into creating the treat will distract you and keep you from snacking while you're baking. Win-win!
- DRINK. YOUR. WATER.
I know, I know. It was already a challenge to stay on top of your water game while you were working your job under regular circumstances. Now you're home, amidst distractions and children, trying to balance this new lifestyle AND your health goals. Whatever you want to blame it on, make a promise to yourself right now to start drinking more water. In fact, stop reading and go get yourself a nice tall glass of water to sip on while you finish this blog... I'll wait.
Now that you're (hopefully) sipping your water, let me remind you why it's so important. Your body functions SO much better when it's properly hydrated. Not just your organs, your muscles too! Being home and more sedentary can lead to aches and pains. Constant pain is a huge factor in poor mental health. Stay ahead of the game and just stay hydrated, you silly goose. Plus, you'll snack less if you're drinking more water. Trust me. #selfproclaimedsnackaddict
Not sure how much water you should be drinking? Check out our water calculator here.
EXERCISE. Even if you didn't before the pandemic.
(Because you really should, and you know it!)
It's inarguable that exercising improves your mood and is the obvious healthy choice. Great for your body AND brain, exercising at home can be as easy as doing a daily stretch to start your day, some morning yoga with the kids, or even a body-weight workout after your day ends.
I know you know you should be exercising. I know this because I tell myself the same thing. Next Monday, next month, next birthday, yadda yadda - there's always an excuse. Let's cut the crap and be good to ourselves, fam. This pandemic has shown us just how important your health is (not that we didn't think it was important before), so let's do our part and show future generations that we learn from our mistakes.
There are tons and tons of free home workout guides available, including instructional yoga work-outs and more. Treat your body and mind right and exercise 'em, folks. Let's do this.
Here's our own playlist of Nutracelle at-home exercises! They're perfect for ANY fitness level, and fun for the whole family!
Want to step up the fun?
Make it a daily challenge to pick a new video and post a selfie on social media with your fam and the hashtag #NUTRAFIT to be featured on our page!
My last tip: remind yourself to be grateful
One of the things I noticed about myself was how easy it was to get caught up in the negativity out there. My job keeps me fairly active on social media, so I tend to see a lot of the pandemic posts, the stress-induced posts, the anger, and the fear. It can overwhelm me on a good day, let alone on a day where I'm finding it hard to keep up.
I've recently started writing one thing I'm grateful for every day. It may sound cheesy to you if you've never tried it, but I am a huge believer in the power of the written word. (I say, as I write another blog post ha-ha). I think the more we focus on the fear, the stress, and our anxiety... the more power we give it.
Today I wrote, "I am grateful for the opportunity to use my written word to help people." ♥ Thank you to everyone that reads my blogs, and posts in our community support group: NutraTalk. (If you're not in there, you should be!!)
Take back your power.
Remind yourself of all the GOOD around you. You have a roof over your head, food in your tummy, clothes on your body, etc. Maybe you have children, maybe you have pets, maybe you have an incredible circle of friends nearby, or maybe you have a network of online friends. Whatever your situation, I would bet anything it wouldn't take you long to find something to be grateful for.
Give it a try, I'm confident you'll find that it helps. Your homework tonight: write down one thing you're grateful for. You don't have to put it in a notebook, just open up a new e-mail draft and write it to yourself. Just put it out there.
Stay safe, friends, and stay home when you can. To those of you that are out there every day showing up for your shifts - THANK YOU. Regardless of what you do, we all appreciate that you're one of the heroes keeping the world going at a time when we need you the most. ♥
xo
Tracy
