When your regular diet and schedule have been disrupted, it can easy to get thrown off course and overlook proper nutrition. However, now more than ever, it’s critically important to look after your physical health. In order to feel your best and keep your body’s different systems at their top strength, you need to make a serious effort to eat healthily. Here are some easy but effective ways to help stay on top of your nutritional intake.
Don’t Skip Meals
When your regular schedule has changed, it’s likely that your energy levels, sleep cycle, and mealtimes have also changed. If you find that you’re getting up later and staying awake later, it can be especially difficult to keep your mealtimes balanced, and you may be eating too much late in the day. Eating a lot right before bed can prevent you from getting to sleep at a reasonable hour. Also, your body doesn’t digest food when you’re asleep the same way that it does when you’re awake. Consequently, you may wake up feeling totally full of undigested food. If you’re not eating enough in the daytime and the middle of the day, however, your body won’t stay properly fueled. Make a dedicated effort to stick with your regular mealtimes, and don’t skip meals. Simple meals such as soups, sandwiches, and microwavable meals can help you consume three meals per day.
Eat Vitamin-Rich Foods
Eating foods that are rich in vitamin content can help your mind and body to feel good. Raw foods like fruits and vegetables are an excellent source of essential vitamins. Cereals, granola bars, and breakfast drinks are typically enriched with a high concentration of vitamins. Working with a dietician can help impart fueling and nourishing tips that can help you plan meals to optimize your natural intake of vitamins. Of course, taking a multivitamin is the best way to ensure that you get your daily recommended daily value of specific vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A, iron, and folate. However, it’s optimal to get as much nutritional intake as possible from your regular diet.
Establish Safeguards Against Deficiencies
It’s important to establish a nourishment safety net to prevent dangerously low nutritional and caloric intake. Stocking up on non-perishable items with high nutritional content can help you maintain continuity during times when you can’t regularly access the foods that you’re accustomed to. Dried foods such as fruits or beans, canned foods, and frozen foods can help you to stay stocked up on essential foods. Supplements and meal shakes can also be a good way to promote that your caloric and nutritional intake stay up to par. Try to avoid stocking up on nonperishable sweets and snacks that only offer calories and sugar and don’t provide any nutritional value.
Increase Your Intake of Dietary Fiber
If you’ve become less active, you may find that your digestive system has become somewhat imbalanced. Increasing fiber in your diet can help you counter this problem and maintain digestive regularity. Fiber will help you to feel full throughout the day, and it will improve your body’s ability to derive nutritional content from food as it is digested. A fiber supplement made from natural sources such as flax or chicory root can help you to meet your recommended daily value of fiber.
If you’re concerned about how a change in your lifestyle is impacting your dietary health, you may want to consider working with a professional to devise a controlled plan. Help with planning for shopping and meal preparation can help remove stress from the equation and help you to stay focused on staying healthy.
