After seven weeks in Covid-19 lockdown, people have either upped their exercise and made a shift to nutritious home-cooked food, or have been consuming a larger-than-usual share of treats.
But nutritionist Claire Turnbull from Mission Nutrition shared some healthy eating tips on TVNZ 1’s Breakfast today.
Ms Turnbull said now was a good time to address these eating habits before Alert Level 2 means more food options will be available.
She said there were various reasons for people adopting bad eating habits during lockdown.
“We have been in a stressful situation, and often food and alcohol are really good coping strategies. But, they obviously have negative effects."
Other reasons included hunger, emotional responses and access to food, she said.
To combat this, she encouraged people to write down what they were eating for the next week or two “without judgement”.
“Look back and say, was I eating because I was hungry? Was it a habit? Was it in response to emotion?
“Because you cannot change anything to do with the way that you eat until you are aware of what it is.”
Ms Turnbull said snacking could also contribute to weight gain.
“We need to make them less accessible,” she said as some snacking was driven by subconscious habits.
“If you have a barrier between you and it, it gives you an extra couple of seconds to get away from it.”
She said Kiwis also needed to look at their alcohol intake during lockdown as it could also play a part in piling on the kilos because it was high in calories.
Finally, she encouraged good sleeping habits.
“Good quality sleep regulates your appetite. When you’re tired, you are more likely to want to eat more.”
Ms Turnbull said keeping a routine, getting some light and not eating too close to bedtime would help.
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