The Missing Piece to Your Caregiver Routine

Can I ask something super random? Who here is trying to stay healthy through their caregiving journey? I had about 3 of the WW Mint Cookie Crunch Mini Bars for breakfast today, so I would say there is room for improvement. But this is a safe space, so please feel free to ‘fess up! Are you prioritizing healthy eating or is good chocolate what’s keeping you afloat?

I am sharing my top three favorite self-care practices and tips for sticking to eating healthy every day and trust me, these are some goodies - the nourishing kind, I promise!

How it started

I recently discovered that I have been stressed. Yup. All this time going on autopilot who knew. But I was not allowing myself to be present and to process all the things - there were plenty of things. From the global pandemic to my mom progressing to the end stage of Alzheimer’s, my attempts to stick to a healthy diet were failing.

Instead of remaining loyal to my healthy vegan and pescatarian dishes, I was having secret affairs with chocolate snacks and plantain chips. I would tell myself, “Ah, it’s not so bad.” I did drink 8 glasses of water a day but I was most definitely fooling myself. Intervention needed to be held and it came in the form of my regularly scheduled primary doctor's appointment. Boy was that the wakeup call.

Tips for healthy eating as a caregiver

As a full-time caregiver, my life looks different than most but what has been helping me to keep the balance in my relationship with healthy eating has been adding these three practices into my everyday routine.

1. Keeping a food journal. Do you keep a journal? I recently started and must give credit where credit is due because it has become my personal guide and cheerleader on the days when I don’t want to stay on track.
2. Using my Amazon Echo. I cannot do what I do alone and using my Alexa to help me stay on track with my water intake has been the best way to keep me continuing to crush all. The. Things. Not only that, scheduling my echo to send me gentle reminders on the best time to eat my meals, and when to take my medication keeps this caregiver on her A-game.
3. Preparing my snacks ahead of time. True or false: if you wash it, you will snack? Well if you ask me, I would say true, without a doubt! Keeping my fruits and vegetables washed and cleaned ahead of time makes it easier to stay loyal to all my health goals.

PSA on snacking

In case you were wondering, there is nothing wrong with snacking if balanced well with low-frequency consumption, and working out. That said, to the confession made in the earlier portion of this article I would like to share that I have since cycled for 30 minutes on my Peloton bike, ate a huge spinach salad with almonds and cranberries for lunch, and finished my day sipping on a hot cup of tea. Moderation is key!

So hats off to these three practices because, without them, I don’t know where I would be. There is no doubt that they keep my relationship with a healthy diet running smoothly! What three things help to keep your healthy diet running smoothly? Tell us in the comments below, or share your story with the community.