Between constant Zoom calls, homeschooling, endless social media scrolling, and a lack of work-life balance, many people can be left feeling like they can’t catch a break. Especially as we’ve passed the year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people can feel burnt out and fatigued. The prolonged exposure to the stress of the latest year, in addition to regular work and home life stress, can build up over time and leave us feeling overwhelmed.
However, while a lot of us know that stress has a huge effect on our general health and well-being, we sometimes underestimate just how much of a toll it can take on our day to day life. To add to this, many of our go-to comfort foods or stress eating go-to’s can actually hurt us even more, and contribute to burnout.
Identifying the Cause of Your Stress
Whether you’re experiencing short term stress that’s been brought on by specific events, or long term stress that has been building up for a while, it’s important to identify the causes of your stress and what the source of your burnout is.
Managing Stress Through Healthy Eating
Once you’ve identified the causes or source of your burnout or stress, the next time is to find a way to manage and treat this. A great way to tackle this is to manage what you’re eating to ensure that you’re giving your body fuel and nutrition, instead of stress eating junk food that will just make you feel worse. Here are some tips to work nutrition and stress management into your daily routine.
- Start your day with a breakfast that is low in sugar and high in protein. Instead of sugary cereals or heavy foods like pancakes, give yourself a jumpstart with a clean meal that will leave you feeling energized.
- Have a large lunch, and a light dinner. A lot of people tend to have light lunches just to get them through the rest of their workday and stave off hunger, and then eat a large dinner when they get home. However, eating too close to bedtime can mess with your digestion and sleep patterns. Try to eat at around the same time daily, or at regular intervals throughout the day.
- Cut down on caffeine and alcohol. A morning coffee or evening glass of wine can quickly become a habit, or a dependency. Practice moderation with caffeine and alcoholic beverages, as they can make your body often feel worse and more low-energy day to day, rather than taking the edge off or giving you a boost like you’d want them to.
Fitness Kitchen is Here to Support You
Though eating clean and giving your body the nutrition it needs to boost its energy levels naturally won’t solve your feelings of burnout by itself, it can give you some more natural energy and make your body feel a lot better inside. Prioritizing sleep, making conscious decisions to exercise, and practice stress-relieving techniques can also help, but a great starting point is to start tackling your stress through nutrition. Want to make daily nutrition a priority? Check out our latest meal plans to allow us to help you fight burnout through making good meal choices.