Issue 4: Food Self-Care: 5 Simple Tips When Life Feels Overwhelming

Compassionate food self-care strategies designed for therapists, health professionals, and their clients.

Hello!

As we head into fall, many of us are facing a schedule overload (school, work, extracurriculars, etc) and changing weather too. So, this month, in our therapist & allied professional newsletter, we are diving headfirst into the overwhelm.

Today, we are talking about our tips to simplify food and life when everything feels like too much. The information and blog post below offer practical insights you can bring into sessions or use to guide referrals when it might be helpful to dive deeper with a dietitian.

Overcome Overwhelm with These Tips:

1. Keep it Simple! 

When your brain is in overwhelm or when your schedule doesn’t allow the time, cooking is often one of the first things to go and that is okay.

What are your go-to low prep meals?

1. Sandwiches or wraps and add some fruit or raw veggies on the side
2. Order a meal delivery service or prepared foods to use for those extra hectic days when all you have capacity for is heating and eating
3. Make friends with the snack plate – this can be any combination of foods including but not limited to – crackers, cheese, pepperoni sticks, pickles, nuts, seeds, fruit, snap peas or raw veggies, hummus, pretzels, energy balls.
4. Canned soup or chili can always be a low prep meal idea. Try adding some extra nutrition by adding frozen veggies into the meal as you are heating it up.
5. Grocery store to go! Pick up a roasted chicken, a bagged salad and some fresh dinner rolls and you have dinner to go.

2. Make your food decisions in advance

Instead of mapping out every single meal, pick 2–3 breakfasts, 2–3 lunches, and 3–4 dinners you can rotate. This keeps variety without decision fatigue.

If we wait until we are hungry, food decisions become extra hard. Instead, have an idea for what you will eat for dinner or a few meal ideas for the week.

Even if in the moment you decide you want something else, that is okay, our goal is to have an idea for when you don’t.

You can also use some of the meal kit delivery services and let them make the decisions about what to eat and you just have to do the prep.

3. Plan for Snacks too!

So many of us are actually pretty good at coming up with meal ideas… but we forget about snacks.

Our tip for snacks is to try to make them long lasting energy by having two things together such as: apple & peanut butter, crackers and cheese, carrots and hummus, trail mix, Greek yogurt and fruit, a smoothie, apple sauce and crackers, tortilla chips and guacamole, etc.

Bonus points here if you write out your snack list to keep on the side of the fridge or in your phone so you don’t have to constantly come up with new ideas.

4. Set Aside One “Food Reset” Hour Each Week

Set an appointment time to do a little bit of prep. Use this time to wash produce, chop veggies, prep proteins, and make a few grab-and-go snacks.

You can even cook a few of your meal staples (like shredded chicken, roasted veggies, hard-boiled eggs, rice, or chopped fruit) that can be mixed and matched into quick meals all week.

5. Pack your lunch and snacks the night before!

Now I know this one isn’t a new idea but it is the reminder that future self with thank you! Even if you work from home, prep your midday meal and snacks.

What helps me, is to pack my lunch and snacks for the next day BEFORE I sit down to eat my dinner. If I wait until after dinner, lunch packing often gets caught up in the madness of the evening (clean up, bedtimes, sport pickups, homework checks, and everything else that seems to need to get done all of a sudden at the end of the day).

For more tips on this topic, check out these blogs and feel free to share these with your clients: 

🍓 https://www.healthstandnutrition.com/back-to-school-snacks/

🍓 https://www.healthstandnutrition.com/backup-healthy-meal-plans-in-a-crunch/

🍓 https://www.healthstandnutrition.com/self-care-through-food/

💬 Ask yourself and your clients these questions:

• When you are at capacity, totally maxed out for the day, what is the easiest thing you can eat?
• Do you always have the ingredients on hand to make that?

Let us know if you have any nutrition questions personally or for the clients you serve. We’re always happy to help!