Have you ever been through such a difficult life circumstance that food seems to be the last thing on your mind? You try to eat something but you feel sick to your stomach? Well, we can relate! These are coach Lisa’s top 10 strategies to get you back into an eating routine even while going through stressful life events.

1. New stress management techniques: yoga, meditation, grounding, journaling, turning the shower cold 5 mins before getting out.

2. Set an alarm to eat: Yes, 3 alarms a day.

3. Meal Prep: This makes it one less thing you have to think about when meal time comes around and gets you one step closer to staying consistent with meals.

4. Make your meal an experience: Sit down preferably at a table to eat. Start by smelling my meal, take 10 deep breathes to get out of fight or flight before eating. No devices, just sit and enjoy the meal without rushing.

5. Focus on things you can control: bad sleep habits can add stress to your body so that was one of the quickest ways to lower my stress. Journaling before bed or doing what many call a “brain dump” can really help slow the racing thoughts right before sleep. Exercise was something else I cut back on. Exercise although it is a good stress, is still a stressor nonetheless. So in this season you may need to cut back on the amount of days you are working out, decreasing the training volume or the intensity of your workouts.

6. Remove toxic products and people from your life: This again goes back to removing all stressors we can control. We may not be able to control what is causing the stress but we can control other things around us as well as how we handle our emotions. Toxic products removal can look like switching to more natural hair care and make up products, switching to stainless steel cookware, switching out plastic for glass etc. If you are in a toxic relationship of any kind, end it! If you’re not able to get out of that relationship or job etc. you can control your thoughts, emotions and you can set boundaries.

7. Deal with the trauma: go to therapy, read self help books, get new supportive friends, do what empowers you to heal.

8. Be ready to heal: Sometimes we have been in such a chronic stressful situation we accept it and even worse identify with it and unconsciously hold on to the situations that keep us stuck in the same dysfunctional patterns. Bring awareness to this, and then get ready to heal!

9. Be your own cheerleader: Tell yourself you can do it

10. Believe it’s possible! What we think, we believe!

Remember, breaking the cycle of these chronic high stress patterns takes time and patience. Be kind to yourself throughout the process and celebrate small victories along the way. If you find it challenging to implement these strategies on your own, reach out to us for help here! We have coaches on staff who can provide personalized guidance and support. You do not have to do this alone.