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Coach Anika’s Top Tips for Healthy Eating at Home

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Woman washing greens in a kitchen sink.

Season 1, Episode 12 | April 15, 2020


A lot of people are struggling to maintain their healthy eating habits while at home, but it doesn’t have to be so hard. Our guest, Life Time registered dietitian Anika Christ — a.k.a. Coach Anika — offers straightforward, practical tips that can make healthy eating a little easier, as well as some mindfulness practices to help shift our mindsets as we navigate these obstacles and make healthy eating choices despite them.


02:28

Our guest today is Anika Christ. Many in the Life Time community know her by the name “Coach Anika.” She’s a registered dietitian, personal trainer, and the director of client optimization at Life Time. She leads a number of virtual programs at Life Time, including the D.TOX program.

03:06

The majority of us have been taken out of our normal routines. How does being housebound create obstacles around healthy eating?

05:30

Even with added stress, an increase in mindless snacking, and other challenges that are affecting our eating habits right now, there are things we can do to set ourselves up to make healthier choices.

08:24

It can be challenging yet sticking to some aspects of a routine can be really beneficial right now. It’s important to give yourself some grace when things aren’t achievable.

09:03

There’s no such thing as perfect in any aspect of our lives in this moment. When it comes to healthy eating, Christ encourages her clients to look at what they have control over and to do their best with what’s feasible and what foods are available.

11:57

Aside from the challenges, there are benefits to being able to eat at home for all or most of our meals and having access to our own kitchen tools and gadgets.

15:54

Christ’s tips for grocery shopping during this time.

18:39

What Christ reaches for when she wants a snack.

20:37

How to get your kids to desire healthier food options.

23:46

Cravings often arise not just when we’re hungry, but when we’re thirsty, stressed, or bored. Christ offers suggestions for what to do when cravings strike.

25:41

Christ talks about what has inspired her most in spite of our current circumstances.

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Transcript: Coach Anika’s Top Tips for Healthy Eating at Home

Season 1, Episode 12  | April 15, 2020

Jamie Martin

Welcome to Life Time Talks, the healthy living podcast that’s aimed at helping you achieve your health, fitness, and life goals. I’m Jamie Martin, editor-in-chief of Experience Life, Life Time’s whole life health and fitness magazine.

David Freeman

And I’m David Freeman, the signature program lead for Life Time’s Alpha program. We’re all in different places along our health and fitness journey, but no matter what we are working towards, there are some essential things we can do to keep moving in the direction of a healthy, purpose-driven life.

Jamie Martin

In each episode we’ll cover the foundational elements of healthy living, including fitness and nutrition, health issues like sleep and stress management, and mindfulness and community.

David Freeman

And we’ll be talking to experts from Life Time and beyond who’ll share their insights and knowledge, so you’ll have the tools and information you need to take charge of your next steps. Here we go.

[Music]

Jamie Martin

Hey everyone, David and I are so glad to be back with you, even though it’s a little sooner than we were planning. In early March, we were just starting to finalize details of Season 2 for Life Time Talks, and then all of our lives were turned upside down by coronavirus.

David Freeman

So, we decided to extend Season 1 and bring you some additional episodes on coping with this new normal. With all the worries, the changes, the challenges, and the opportunities.

Jamie Martin

Like many of you, we’re in our respective homes. I’m in Minnesota . . .

David Freeman

And I’m in Texas . . .

Jamie Martin

And we’re recording in the quietest rooms we could find. I’m in my home office and there’s a good chance my daughters will come knocking sooner than later.

David Freeman

And I’m in my man cave. My kids are probably thinking I’m playing hide and seek, and they’re “it.”

Jamie Martin

We know that a lot of people are concerned and worried about coronavirus and its effects on our family and friends, our communities, our world. We are too. It’s impacting every aspect of our lives.

David Freeman

And while we’ll be leaving it to the local and state officials, along with public health experts and the CDC, to revive the latest information about the illness, we’re here with the intent of offering some ideas, information, and inspiration that we hope helps you navigate the days ahead.

[Music]

David Freeman

Super excited about today’s episode — healthy eating at home. And we got a very special guest that we’re going to introduce you guys to in a few minutes. So right now, so many struggles around eating at home right now. We’re having to cook way more than usual, less options available at the grocery store, and who the heck wants to go to the grocery store right now. So, with us today we have a very special guest, and we’re going to give you a little background on miss Anika right now from miss Jamie Martin.

Jamie Martin

We have Anika Christ with us today. Anika, welcome to Life Time Talks.

Anika Christ

Thank you.

Jamie Martin

Anika is a registered dietitian and personal trainer and the director of client optimization at Life Time. You may also know her as “Coach Anika.” She leads the virtual D.TOX program that runs several times a year at Life Time among other programs. So, Anika, thanks for coming on.

Anika Christ

Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited.

Jamie Martin

So, I’m going to make a confession real quick here. It’s about 3 o’clock on the day we’re recording and I just had my lunch.

Anika Christ

Oh my gosh.

Jamie Martin

So, I need this episode just as much as everybody else out there. As we’re trying to figure out this whole new thing when we’re at home, some of us are working, some of us aren’t, but how to balance all of these things. So, where do we start? First off, why and how does being at home create so many challenges when it comes to healthy eating?

Anika Christ

Yeah, and I think for a lot of people being at home is kind of a big surprise. We weren’t really prepared for this. I think when I talk to clients­ —  and just a lot of people in general — everyday a lot of stuff was changing. Some of us aren’t as prepared as others whereas others went shopping months ago it feels like. But sometimes I think when you’re at home and kind of in a place where you are used to eating some meals, just not all meals, you’ve been completely taken out of your typical day-to-day routine.

So, I’m like you, I’m usually at work during the day, so I’m pretty consistently doing regular things — bringing food from home for my lunch. So, a lot of just being taken out of that normal routine I think is shocking. But then we’re also trying to figure out and navigate how to work at home. I think of myself day one, day two, I was working from the island in my kitchen because it’s beautiful, there’s light down there, and then all of a sudden I’m going in my pantry and I’m like, “No! What are you doing? You’re not hungry. What are you doing?”

So, I think for a lot of us that mindless snacking has kind of crept in. And some of us realize it right out of the gates and others a few days in are like, “Oh my gosh, what has happened? What am I doing? I’m kind of getting into these bad habits that I know aren’t the best.”

Or, like you, Jamie, so busy with work, not taking a break to eat. And then all of a sudden, you’re probably going to catch up now, and for some people that can be really hard to navigate because they’re so hungry and then they’re just grabbing whatever, not really thinking about what to prepare, what to eat. So, I think mindless snacking just in general because we’re in this scenario where there’s so much uncertainty, a lot of us are stressed out, whether it’s due to finances or not knowing what the next day is going to look like. When stress is high, your cortisol level — which is your stress hormone — elevates as well, and so does cravings for sugar. And so I think those two together can create a lot of chaos and I find that I’m helping clients more than ever navigate that specifically.

Jamie Martin

I have felt all of those things.

Anika Christ

Same, right here, too.

David Freeman

Speaking about that — Anika, the big thing is so much of our health relies within our gut, so everything that you just kind of hit on — mindless snacking, increased stress, and all these different healthy options and non-healthy options that we might be having — what could you provide to us, within these challenges, to make sure that we are on point. I know we can meal prep and do things of that nature, but now that we have a little bit more time on our hands, what are suggestions you would have to make sure we’re making healthier choices?

Anika Christ

For a lot of us, we’re kind of into a couple weeks of this thing. So, I always think like the first week, it probably felt like chaos — and that’s OK, give yourself grace there — where it was just a lot of change happening at once. Now we can be more planful. And you said it: having a plan is super helpful. And I think the first thing that I would do is think back to the first week, the first two weeks: What worked? And what didn’t?

And I get really excited just seeing people post on social media because I think a lot of people are already getting and grasping certain things that they’re not going to let go of — they’re still going to do their morning workout because that’s what works for them, they’ve done that their whole lives, and they’re still going to meal prep on Sunday. So, I think, thinking of those things, of, “Hey, what was already working in my routine that I want to continue during this new normal for the unforeseeable future?” And also think quickly, where can I pivot? What are the things I just need to get over and let it go?

I was talking to a couple of moms the other day, and I didn’t even think about this, but every day for the last, I don’t know, several months, I’ve made my kid lunch for school. And then at home, it started, you know, we weren’t doing that. And she’s like, “Oh I still pack a lunch every morning, and then they eat out of their lunchbox at lunch.” I’m like, that is brilliant! I’m going to totally start doing that. So like, thinking a lot of times parents do that with kids and we forget about ourselves, but think of those things. But again, if your morning routine is completely changed and you don’t have a bus picking up your kids, you don’t have time to do your morning workout, you’re just going to have to pivot and figure out where is it going to make the most sense right now so that you can still stick to your routine, not increase more stress. The last thing you want to do is add more stress to your plate right now and try to hit a perfect routine that was working really well before. So, that would be my first step, is to assess what happened, what worked, what didn’t, move on on the things that aren’t going to work in this new normal. Now, I don’t know if you have anything specifically, David, that you’ve kind of let go in the last couple weeks that’s just not going to work anymore?

David Freeman

Yeah, I mean I can see specifically too what you were just talking about, too, like actually packing my son and daughter’s lunch. We kind of just got out of routine because now we’re at home and we’re just like, OK, you can just eat when you need to eat. But the kids, you already know, they want to go straight for the sugar and they go straight into the snack cupboard and, boom, you see them eating all the things they don’t need to be eating. So, I think the mindset shift, like you just said, you got to asses first exactly kind of what’s working and what’s not working and then create a game plan around that.

Jamie Martin

Yeah you got to avoid that grazing piece. I mean, I feel like grazing is the risk for parents and kids, you know, because, you know, kids are at school, they normally have snack time, and they have times when they’re typically eating lunch. And those things I’ve found that if we can kind of stick with that timing, that seems to help with the kids as well, and they’re not expecting that they can just go grab anything they want at any time even though we’re all here. You know?

Anika Christ

Right.

Jamie Martin

It’s challenging, but I think sticking with their routines as well as our own as much as possible, again, with some level of grace, is important. I love that tip.

Anika Christ

I think with that, with the eating specifically, too, at least you can have bearings there, and then that way the in-between you can have flex with. But if it’s like, no, snack time is at this time — and it’s hard because it’s so different than how we teach adults. We’re like no, listen to hunger ques, and that’s super important too, but I think right now sticking to the clock could actually benefits most of us.

Jamie Martin

You mentioned being willing to pivot, but there’s something about mindset here. You mentioned having grace with ourselves around this time because, again, we are going through a stressful time, so there’s no such thing as perfect when it comes to any aspect of our lives in this moment. How do you encourage your clients in that aspect of their healthy eating?

Anika Christ

You know, I think eating is so personal, right? And so a lot of times when I’m discussing stuff with our clients, sometimes eating habits just go so much more deeper to an emotional level. So, what I’m always trying to get people to a level is just a level of acceptance and just a level of, “Hey, what do you actually have control of right now?

A couple weeks ago the grocery stores were not as plentiful as normal, so maybe you’ve been shopping for a specific brand of protein or chicken for years and now it’s not there. I think for a lot of people it became a shock so they’re like, “I don’t know another way. I don’t know how to navigate this.” So, it is sometimes not lowering your standards, but in a tone of thinking like, “Hey, I’m doing the best that I can right now.” That’s better than perfect, and it’s also better than completely deviating and saying you know what? I’m just not even going to care anymore.

And I think sometimes we’re all just programmed a little bit differently. So, some of us are a programmed to through in the towel. And I think if you know that about yourself, and can at least identify when that’s happening and figure out, OK, what are some other things I can do right now to change that. That’s going to keep your head afloat. That’s going to keep your mind in the right direction. And then reminding yourself that this is kind of in the world of things we can’t control — we can’t control this, really. We’re doing things that we can control to help kind of the state of our population and everything right now, but in general, it’s not going to be what it was a few weeks ago in our lifestyle. So, hang on to the things that are working.

You know, a lot of people bring up gratitude journaling, I like to just call it positive journaling. What is going well? And find the new things every day. I’ve absolutely found that with mindsets, specifically, a lot of people don’t even want to go there because they assume that doesn’t work for me, I’ve tried gratitude journaling. And I think what happens is we all are grateful and it’s kind of the same thing — I’m grateful for my job, my family, my spouse. But it’s finding the magic in those little things. That’s what brings it to life more and makes it actually really exciting to write down and kind of look back at.

I was talking to a client the other day and I brought up that my daughter brought picture day out of her homework folder and was like, “Oh mom! I forgot to show you, it’s picture day.” And I was kind of like, “Oh shoot, picture day is probably canceled, honey.” She’s like, “No! We can do it here.” And she has this whole plan set up for picture day in my kitchen and it’s on Friday, April 3rd, and I just was like gosh, I’m so grateful for a kid’s mindset because they are naturally so positive and magical and exciting. And here I am, I’m pretty positive, but naturally I went to, “Oh, it’s probably, I’m going to have to talk to her about this. It’s not happening.” And again, I wrote that down, and that’s what I’m going to remember next picture day, that we did it in our house last time because of what was going on. So again, do your best, give it a shot, but know that kind of context because that’s where it can actually really work and be really gratifying.

Jamie Martin

There are some benefits to being able to eat at home right now. So, what are some of the advantages of having this time here at home in our own spaces with our own tools and kitchen gear? Can you speak to that a little bit? Like, how can we make the most of this and make the most of that silver lining? That’s a word that just keeps coming up in our episodes as we’re recording.

Anika Christ

Yeah, I always tell, you know, this is where, Minnesota, or I was going to say, the United States, we’re kind of known to not have a food culture. Where in so many other societies they spend so much time cooking and preparing, the kitchen is the heart of the home, you know, there are generations of families living together that pride so much on what we’re eating. And there’s so much good just science and gratification around when you’re making your own food. So, I think what is exciting for me from what I’ve seen on social media is that people are really trying to come up with stuff and really try those recipes they’ve never tried.

I am like slow to this space but I pulled out my pressure cooker, I have not used it once since someone bought it for me for Christmas, and I’m just old-school, I love the oven, I love the pan-fry, so I was like, “You know what? Maybe I’ll get this thing out and give it a try.” And we made homemade meatballs and now I’m like, I would never make these any other way without this pressure cooker. So, I think it could get really exciting and, you know, a lot of my clients are parents, so they’re navigating homeschooling. And they’re talking about math and stuff and we were talking about how math can be in the kitchen and like learning measuring cups and like bringing your kids in there to actually have the time to do that.

I think of every family in America that has working parents, they’re rushed that 5 p.m. hour into the night is like the most stressful period of time because everyone’s rushing, everyone’s starving, bedtimes, baths, homework ­— it’s not that fun usually. And I feel like everyone’s just like pausing and they don’t have to rush, they can actually just make dinner. So, I would say, you know, getting those old kitchen gadgets, or if you have old stuff like me that you got for Christmas and you haven’t opened yet, like use it. Find some peace there. But then also, it’s a really great time to really just bring the whole family in there and like really enjoy it. And it’s not my words, it’s really tacky, but when you put love into your cooking, I always think it really tastes better. Someone said that at some point. It really does because it’s us, you know, feeding and nurturing ourselves. So, that’s probably been my favorite thing is just seeing people try stuff. And like make mistakes but like at least you have the time to do that versus rushing and making a bad decision with convenience food or restaurant or take-out food.

David Freeman

100 percent. I think the other thing that we can kind of piggy back with the benefits and advantages of being home, right now we talked about how as a high level of stress in the state of mind for a lot of people, so therefore that promotes a lot of inflammation within the body. And then we also need to think of not only stress creates inflammation, but the foods that we’re putting in our body also create inflammation, so if we can have that plan and reset button in, like you said already, change the mindset, we actually take our health back during this time, as far as resetting with a lot of the foods that we are shopping for and bringing into the house.

Anika Christ

Bingo. I absolutely believe and I think with stress management, I mean that’s we’re talking about, eating, but exercise is therapeutic, right? It’s like the best drug in the world where even if you’re just moving — and I feel for a lot of people that just lost all motivation — it’s like just move. Just go outside, you know, that might be where we need to pivot. It’s not a perfect routine, what you’re used to, but I swear as soon as you move, you’re going to want to do it more. That’s what’s so, I don’t know, miraculous about exercise, is just getting that. So, circulating around that, giving yourself grace, when you know eating might not be perfect, but at the same point, if you have a plan, if you’re focusing on making your meals and optimizing that time you do now have at home to make food, you’ll be so much better off, and then you’ll probably be able to deal better with the stress and the uncertainty that’s going on. You hit it on the head.

David Freeman

Being aware of that, and understanding that we can take our health back with the healthy food choices to reduce that inflammation in our body. What advice would you give as far as going grocery shopping at this time? What people should look for? You know, kind hear people say stay at the perimeter of the grocery store, usually all your healthy options. But, what would you suggest during this time when they go grocery shopping?

Anika Christ

Yeah, so, I think there’s really good advice given of, you know, buy essentials right now. And I think what happened a few weeks ago is people went, it was chaos, and people went over buying a lot of things. So. if you were late to the game, you probably had low inventory on some of the stuff you’d usually be picking up. But for most part, most of the supply side behind the food is OK. So, there’s really niche or unique things that are hard to find that might be coming from other countries, but you should be able to stick to the basics. Which, I would say, as best as you’re able to find sustainable or high-quality meats, produce that’s in season is going to be more available to you right now then what’s out of season or coming from other places. So, that is around the perimeter of the store. I would say there’s still really great shelf-stable or pantry items to choose, so like nut butters, dried beans, tuna. I was joking with a client the other day, she was like, “I haven’t had tuna since college, I thought tuna was cheap.” And sometimes we have that mindset where it’s like yeah, the stuff in the pantry, but it can go a long way and that’s kind of fun, and I don’t know, it brings some new variety to probably what you’ve been eating.

But if you stick to kind of your natural foods those should always be your place holders, especially as best as possible. And I would say now might be a really good time because you’re going to be at home for meal delivery foods. So, I know for me, I get my meat from a company called ButcherBox and that’s easy for me. And I would say right now, I don’t have to worry that it’s going to heat up on my front door step, not that it would because it has dry ice in it, but that might be something to think about like, hey, I’ve never tried something like that, maybe I could buy direct from companies. And that’s a really great way to support smaller companies, but also just you usually get a little more bang for your buck. It’s a great time to just try stuff like that.

But then it’s also just giving you more variety. So, if you feel like you’ve gone to the store and you’re not finding the stuff that you want, that’s OK. I was telling some other clients the other day, too, like organic produce seems to be, it kind of goes back and forth where they had gone a few times but they felt like they couldn’t buy anything organic and then other times it was OK, so maybe just really making your own veggie wash right now, knowing you’re not going to get organic as often as you can because you just get regular and then wash it a little bit better. So, that could be with baking soda, a little vinegar, a little lemon — there’s all sorts of really good recipes online. Just to have your own pesticide or produce wash spray right now. Again, giving yourself grace, but trying to find foods that you can is the best choice that you can make at the time right now.

Jamie Martin

What do you reach for, for snacks?

Anika Christ

I am a big fan of fats for snacks. And I always think, when we’re talking fats, I’m talking the macronutrients, like proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. We tend to want the carbs because they sound good and they give us that nice dopamine effect. So, they taste really good, but they usually don’t do a really good job of getting you to the next meal. So, I always say snacks are . . . there’s a reason for snacks. It’s usually to get you to the next meal so that your blood sugar is maintained, your energy, and your hunger is maintained. So, one of my favorite ones is just like a handful of olives. I think olives are kind of a forgotten essential fat. A lot of us don’t get those essential fats throughout our day or throughout our foods because we tend to eat a lot of lean meats or maybe opt into more oils.

A handful of raw nuts or seeds is great as well, too, or even using a nut butter. So, if I am going to do, let’s say a piece of fruit, which apples are easy to find right now and really good and taste well, a little bit of nut butter with that is a really good snack as well. So, it kind of depends on your timing with snacks. If it’s that in-between lunch and dinner, anything that I just suggested is great. But you could also opt into just like fresh cut up veggies with a little bit of hummus, a little bit of guac — that’s usually a go-to for my kids. I try to include them with my snacks. That’s usually what I would pack for their schools, so that’s what we’re doing at home right now. And we obviously have a little bit more time to prep those vegetables on the weekends and stuff, so that’s kind of fun to grab and go. And then, again, if you feel like, hey I just need something portable, drinkable, protein powder is always going to be my go-to just cause it’s very shelf-stable, it tastes great with water, I just love our chocolate vegan protein powder at Life Time, so that’s always an absolute go-to for me. But, if you don’t need a snack and you can get from lunch to dinner just fine, that’s OK too. You don’t have to snack. But I would say go for fats first. Proteins are just as well, they’re more satisfying and satiating than carbohydrates.

David Freeman

So, Anika, so many great things that you just hit on. The one thing that a lot of parents are struggling, maybe even us right now, the three of us on the call, is providing these healthy options for kids. So, we might figure it out for ourselves —  how do we actually get our kids to want to desire more of these healthy options and get them to kind of turn that curve on that.

Anika Christ

Yeah, that’s a great question. And it’s a struggle for most families. I think, you know, some of the best and worst practitioners would be like, “Well, why’d you introduce them to that stuff?” So, it’s always so easy to like say if I never did, they would eat the way I eat. But I think it’s hard for most parents. I think hearing that or reassuring that even people that are nutrition professionals, sugar is a common thing — I’m always looking at with my children, too. So, I do think that with kids, reintroduction of stuff over and over and over, although it seems exhausting, it does help. We see that with vegetables all the time, even meats where, you know, they might be really resistant because they know what they want. But the more often you introduce it, the times they see you eating those foods, the better off the easier it’s going to be.

But I would say first asses what’s going on. So, is it boredom? Are they just going to the pantry whenever they want to? Like, I do think like first assess because it’s going to be a little bit different in every household. And if you feel like, oh yeah, you know, I just think because they’re at home and maybe on the weekends it’s OK to be casual that way, but now that we’re home all the time, it’s like, oh, OK, no, we have to have a little bit more routine there and less snacking.

And I do think with some of my parent clients, they’ve found really great success by just having a certain allotment. If it is kind of a sugary snacky food it’s like, hey, yep that comes after mealtime, that’s the rule in this house, you can have that after you eat lunch, after you eat dinner. For the snacks in between, I do think start by serving. Like, you can provide the food and then they can take as much as they want. So, I will say like cutting up veggies and hummus or guac, things that kids are going to want to dip in, kids like dips a lot. Or they like . . . it’s all in the preparation of it. If it feels like really special and you could get out your charcuterie board and make it really fun right now because you have time, I always say like, have as much as you want. I’ll be the provider, you decide your portion and how much you’re going to need to fill you up. And then a non-negotiable is always water. You have to drink water too because sometimes we’re just thirsty. And even though were not moving as much, we may be a little bit more sedentary, no matter what, water bottle with every snack, with every meal, and fill up on that fluid first.

But I would say, if you feel like, first assess if you’ve got a scenario where you have to insert yourself. I did this with one of my clients last week, I go, go put the chips in the basement at this point. Like, go hide it if you feel like it’s hard to tell them no. And I don’t like to call foods good or bad because then why is it in the house, you know, I don’t think kids need to create will power and stuff. But at the same point, if you’ve got a lot of that stuff right now, you know, limit the amount. And if it’s there, I would say call out that there’s certain snack times and mom or dad is going to prepare it and have it out and you can go to town. If it’s something that’s more in the treat category, or that higher sugar category, after you eat your meal is kind of my hard rule with my kids.

Jamie Martin

You just touched on something want to talk about before we get to the power minute, David, that’s coming up next — cravings. You know, I think you mentioned the boredom, the drinking water, the same tricks are true for adults as they are for kids. You know, maybe you think you’re hungry, are you really? What should be do in those instances?

Anika Christ

I would say, dehydration is the number one reason for fatigue or hunger. And a lot of people don’t know that, that thirst is almost the same feeling as hunger in your body. So, I do do that with my adult clients, where like, well, first, check yourself, are you really just thirsty? Which most of us are nowhere near getting enough water, so that’s number one.

If you are craving, like true craving, that’s where it’s like, it could be just stress, so that’s where you know your stress tactics that work for everyone, they might be a little bit different for each person, where meditation work really well for others, going for a walk, or just gratitude like we were talking about before, just positive mindset. That can be a starting point. But if you feel like, ah, you know what, like I, it’s out the door. First, check what your food is like throughout the day. So, are your food, are your meals balanced with macronutrients? Because if they’re not, if you don’t have enough protein or fat in that’s satiating your hunger, that’s helping your energy levels, your blood sugar is going to be going up and down anyway, so that can be causing your cravings.

If you absolutely have a true craving, there’s, I always tell people, eat the fat because that’s going to help that right there. But it could be chronic stress, it could be you need the real thing. Maybe you have a really high, I always think of David’s workouts, those high-intensity workouts, you actually might need the fuel of more carbohydrates. So, check, I would say, first balance out your meals first, and if you need a little bit more to be added there that’s a great strategy, but for those snacks when you train, make sure you’re getting enough water first, you’re eating fat and protein at every meal, and if all that checks out, you actually might be due for some additional carbohydrates or sweets, honestly.

David Freeman

Here we go, the power minute. Within this power minute, we want to obviously leave our listeners with something to take away, bring a smile to their face, bring joy to their lives, whatever it may be. So, we want to know, in spite of everything going on right now, what has inspired you about our current circumstances?

Anika Christ

We keep talking about being a parent, and I always think we don’t get enough time with our kids when we work. You know, and I think that’s a balance that I think a lot of parents have to often face and as stressful as it is right now, for me, just having more time at home with family. I’ll give you a quick little snippet of like usually my morning workouts are interrupted by my 6-year-old because she just wakes up early. She always interrupts it downstairs and its fine, and in the last three weeks she hasn’t done it once. And I finally was like, “Why aren’t you waking up and coming downstairs anymore?” And she said, “Well you don’t leave for work anymore.” Like she sees more of me, so she just doesn’t feel like she has to get so much out of me, so I feel like that has been just like . . . I’ll have a hard time going back to work now because I’m like, I love being at home as crazy as it is, like just the time, I think, and just taking as much opportunity with that as much as possible with the people that you love.

Jamie Martin

Well, Anika, thank you so much for sharing all your tips with us. We hope to have you back when we’re hopefully in some sort of normal circumstances down the road to talk about all things healthy living with you.

Anika Christ

Awesome, this is great. Thanks, guys.

[Music]

David Freeman

Thanks for joining us for this episode. As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on our conversation today and how you approach this aspect of healthy living in your own life, what works for you, where do you run into challenges, where do you need help.

Jamie Martin

And if you have topics for future episodes, you can share those with us too. Email us at lttalks@lt.life or reach out to us on Instagram @lifetime.life, @jamiemartinel, or @freezy30 and use the hashtag #LifeTimeTalks. You can also learn more about the podcast at experiencelife.com/podcast.

David Freeman

And if you’re enjoying Life Time Talks, please subscribe on iTunes or wherever you get your podcast. Feel free to write a review and also let others know about it, too. Take a screenshot of this episode and share it on social or share it with your friends, family, work buddies, life coach, you get the gist.

Jamie Martin

Thanks for listening. We’ll talk to you next time on Life Time Talks.

[Music]

Jamie Martin

Life Time Talks is a production of Life Time — Healthy Way of Life. It is produced by Molly Schelper with audio engineering by Peter Perkins and sound consulting by Coy Larson. A big thank you to the team who pulls together each episode and everyone who provided feedback.

We’d Love to Hear From You

Have thoughts you’d like to share or topic ideas for future episodes? Email us at lttalks@lt.life.

The information in this podcast is intended to provide broad understanding and knowledge of healthcare topics. This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered complete and should not be used in place of advice from your physician or healthcare provider. We recommend you consult your physician or healthcare professional before beginning or altering your personal exercise, diet or supplementation program.

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