How Quarantine Changed My Diet Habits for the Better

Earlier this year, the Covid-19 Pandemic put the country in a social distancing lockdown that completely changed everything I knew about routine and normalcy. It was only a matter of time before I was destined to gain the Quarantine 15. And a drinking problem.

How It All Began

It was the week after Spring Break, and my family and I came home from a salvaged vacation where we tried to enjoy the beach as much as we possibly could as we felt the gigantic waves of isolation, remote work and distance learning start to wash over us. And we were not prepared for what was to come.

The coming days were long and completely unpredictable. I was helping my daughter finish out the first grade, while teaching the first grade, working full-time, and trying to keep my preschooler entertained all while stuck in the house with nowhere to go to escape.

Recess was playing outside with the neighborhood kids who live on either side of us—we called them the Quarantine Crew. We set boundaries for Rylee to be able to play safely outside on her own and help watch over Reece—who in another time I would have never let run around the neighborhood streets like a barefoot banshee. He was four years old and a rule-breaker. But what were my other options?

The stress was piling up, checking on them every 15 minutes in between calls. There was also that one time when I couldn’t find Reece anywhere in our boundary zone and went running frantically through the neighborhood to find him. When I did, he was outside the neighborhood, hiding in the landscaping by our entry gate with his buddy. Hence why the drinking.

My Health Was on the Back Burner

Needless to say, my health went to absolute crap. My husband and I were so stressed at the end of the workday, posted up at either end of the kitchen table with our daughter on Teams calls in the middle. So we’d have a glass of wine, or three, at the end of the night. It became such a habit for me to reach for the wine, at literally 5 o’clock on the dot, that eventually I was drinking an entire bottle a night without realizing it, just to get a buzz.

And when that wasn’t enough I was craving a dirty martini. Like who drinks a dirty martini at home on a Tuesday?

Working out was an afterthought; my energy was low from the long days—and bad hangovers—and with the gyms closed I had no motivation. At home workouts were an adjustment. I didn’t have the energy or time to think about planning them and when I did I was bombarded with kids who either wanted something from me, or hogged all the space to do the workouts on their own.

My eating habits started getting out of control and I would indulge in anything my kids were snacking on. And for dinners, we’d order whatever we wanted from UberEats. We were already two glasses of wine deep, exhausted, and it sounded like a great idea every time.

It was a vicious, miserable cycle of working, schooling, parenting, drinking, sleeping and repeating. We went so mad at one point that we completely converted our guest bedroom into a home office, just so we could create a space and separate ourselves from work and home.

The Beginning of a New Health Journey

I think that may have been the turning point for me.

We were getting the hang of the school schedule, for the most part, I had a place to “go” to work, we were learning how to give our kids freedom and boundaries in a whole new way, and things actually started to feel more like a doable routine.

My attitude shifted and I decided I didn’t like how I was feeling anymore. I remembered on one of the new podcasts I found in the beginning of the year, The Adulting Podcast, that they interviewed Kelly Leveque, a holistic nutritionist who works with celebrities like Jennifer Garner and Emmy Rossum.

She was so smart and talked so straightforward about the science behind food and why it is important to understand what we are putting in our bodies. They talked about her new book Body Love Every Day and it had been on my Amazon wishlist for weeks. And one fine quarantine day, I decided I had nothing better to do than to order it and start reading.

It changed everything for me. This is her second book, but she still explained the science behind blood sugar and why it is so important to maintain balance. She broke down The Fab 4, what they mean and how to get them at every meal—fat, fiber, protein and greens.

I started to understand food more and my body went through a complete transformation. I decided to stop drinking and really hone in on eating fresh, whole foods. After a month or two, my cravings for alcohol, sugar, and starchy carbs were completely gone. I felt full on natural, non-processed foods and recipes like her Fab 4 Smoothies. And I have not had even one beloved goldfish or kid snack food since I made the switch.

After reading her book, I started cooking more for myself instead of eating out. And I understood recipes in the healthy cookbooks I had on the shelf like Made Whole by Cristina Curp. Cristina is a chef who overcame her own health challenges and created anti-inflammatory recipes based off of the Whole3o, Keto, Paleo and AIP diets that are absolutely delicious. I knew these recipes were healthy when I got the book, but I never actually made them because they included strange ingredients like Coconut Aminos. After reading Kelly’s book I understood more fully why these ingredients make a difference, and it made cooking these dishes so much more inspiring.

After making changes to my diet, I had so much more energy and started working out again. I could feel that my body was becoming leaner from losing fat and started focusing on toning up.

I am so glad that I took this step in my health journey. I love it because it isn’t a diet. It’s a way of life and everyday can be what I decide to make it. Kelly talks about making choices, and that you don’t need to live such a restrictive life of eating in order to be healthy. I can indulge in my favorite foods when I want to and then make my next choice a healthier one. And that is exactly how I plan to continue my journey and how quarantine changed my diet habits for the better.

If anything good can come out of this pandemic, I hope this inspires you to take the next step in your health journey and come out on the other side happier and healthier than you ever thought you could be.