Clean Food for Stressful Times

Here’s a fairly universal human foible that I’ve observed: the more stressed out we are, the more poorly we eat. We think, “I don’t have time to shop, cook, and clean up…it’s easier to just pick something up on the way home, or even skip a meal.”

If you recognize yourself in this logic, I don’t have to tell you its most serious flaw–making bad (or non-) food choices makes our bodies unhappy. When our bodies are unhappy, we’re more susceptible to the physical effects of stress. When we expereince heightened stress, we make more poor food choices. And wheeeee! Around and around we go.

The stress of my home staging and moving process is definitely having this effect on me. I’m not eating right, I’m off my usual routine of whole grains, fresh, seasonal produce, lean meats, and simple snacks. And right on cue, I notice myself feeling either sluggish or jittery, brain-foggy, extra-sore after my exercise classes (when I make it), and just generally “off.”

So the other night, I declared a return to clean food. I told my husband what I was feeling, and he agreed that we’re off our routine and should figure out what it takes to get back on it, even during this high-stress time.

The problem is that we’re in home-selling limbo and have no desire to make elaborate meals that require messing–and cleaning–up the kitchen that we’ve so carefully cleared of clutter.

So here are 4 simple return-to-clean-eating solutions that we’ve come up with to get our good habits back online without causing more stress than we already have.