Staying on Track When Life Changes Drastically

By , Julie Fagan, guest blogger from pbfingers.com
A lot of changes have occurred in my life in the past two months.

I quit my full-time job to become a freelance writer and healthy living blogger at Peanut Butter Fingers. Then my husband accepted a new job and we moved--into a hotel. We couldn’t find a house to rent in our new hometown right away, which led us to living in a hotel on weekdays and living at my parents’ house (two hours away) on the weekends.

Needless to say, all of these big life changes affected my normal eating habits.
I no longer had access to a real kitchen. No stove. No oven.

In the beginning I was tempted to throw in the towel and rely solely on microwaveable meals to get me though the transitional time until we moved into our rental home.  

Three days of frozen burritos later, I felt lethargic and knew I needed to introduce fresh produce, whole grains and unprocessed foods back into my diet.

I made an action plan.

The first obstacle?

Breakfast at the hotel’s complimentary breakfast buffet. My plan? Eat protein and whole grains. Instead of the sugar-laden scones, I opted for oatmeal with peanut butter and a sliced banana or scrambled eggs with whole wheat toast.

Then came lunchtime. I made sure every lunch included vegetables and lean proteins. I quickly fell in love with arugula, feta cheese and watermelon salad drizzled with olive oil and found my energy returning, allowing me to plow through the rest of the day without feeling tired or grumpy.

At dinner, my husband and I agreed not to rely on fast food or take out and made meals using frozen homemade vegetable lasagna that my mother made and sent with us to the hotel, along with side salads, snow peas, carrot sticks and bell pepper slices. Any vegetable we liked that didn’t require roasting or sautéing became game. Healthy sandwiches were a frequent favorite.

Once I acknowledged that my eating habits needed work, my action plan and commitment to staying away from convenience foods in favor of wholesome meals made me feel better both physically and mentally.

I knew I couldn’t use the big changes in my life as an excuse to neglect my commitment to healthy living and rededicated myself to finding healthy meals and snacks to get me through the day. And I instantly felt better.

I’m counting down the days until we can move into our new rental house, but until then, I’m going to do my best to continue to maintain a diet rich in nutritious foods.

Have you ever gone through some serious life changes that have affected the way you eat? How did you adjust?