Quarantine Eating

Hi there. How is everyone doing? Hope you are staying safe and healthy and enjoying the summer solstice as well as some of the fun summer holidays that have already come and gone (also how is it already mid July?!)

While many areas of the country are returning back to more “normal programming”, and things are beginning to open, I do want to touch base on something that I have seen floating around during the entire pandemic/shelter in place orders. This problematic quote of “quarantine calories don’t count”.

I have several qualms about this statement. First being during a gosh darn pandemic, why are we belittling our food decisions to this kind of mindless sentiment? Adequate and consistent nutrition helps your immunity! Many different nutrients help to reduce inflammation, boost the immune system and immune response as well as help defend against viruses.

Also, calories=energy. Calories are very simply put, a unit of energy. You may recall seeing this on an Instagram post I put up a few months ago, but it still stands true - it sounds simple but often goes forgotten. If you want energy all day, you must eat all day. So thinking about “quarantine calories don’t count”, you really want to have all of the calories you eat not count towards your energy levels or do their job? Thus preventing you from doing the things you love and your body from functioning to its best potential? Kind of silly when you think about it that way.

Plus there are so many other factors to take into account for eating decisions and experiences versus calories. What is going to be satisfying to you? Do you want sweet or savory? Crunchy or soft? Making food decisions based on the satisfaction factor and your innate wisdom regarding hunger and satiety is so much more important than the calories of a meal or snack. And anyways, if they don’t count then let’s just stop using them as a criterion!

Last but certainly not least - whether or not you’re eating a bit differently these days or moving your body differently, adequate and consistent nutrition is a non-negotiable day to day. So yeah, quarantine (and all) calories do count. And that’s a good thing.