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Have You Gained Weight During Quarantine?

Have You Gained Weight During Quarantine?

Your search for a wellness retreat rather than a weight loss retreat may have brought you to Balance for Life but maintaining a healthy weight can be an important element of holistic health. 

Don’t worry, though. If you have put on a few pounds while you’ve been staying safe by staying home, you are not alone. You don’t have to look far on social media to find references to the “Quarantine 15.” 

As the health experts at WebMD say, “Life in lockdown has disrupted all our lives, creating the perfect setup for putting on pounds.” 

Why Is Comfort Food So Fattening? 

Unfortunately, there aren’t too many of us who turn to a juicy apple or fresh salad for comfort when we’re stressed out. Comfort foods tend to have high levels of sugar, fat or carbohydrates. 

WebMD reported that, “Website Lose It! reported a 266% increase in candy eating in the last 2 weeks of March, compared to February, among its 1.4 million monthly active members, along with an increase in eating carb-heavy foods like bread (54%) and noodles (36%). Data provided by WW (formerly Weight Watchers) shows their members are using the app to record they’re using and consuming almost 40% more baking ingredients like flour than they did before the lockdown.”

And WebMD’s own data might explain why: “Among readers, 70% in the U.S. and 35% internationally cited ‘stress eating’ as a cause of their weight gain.”

Even if you’ve been maintaining a healthy diet (relatively speaking!), you might have managed to gain a bit of weight if your regular workout routine has been disrupted. With gyms closed, you might want to try to get out for a walk or bike ride (bike sales have been through the roof lately!) or take advantage of some of the online exercise resources that are currently available at no cost. 

Even though most of the country is gradually re-opening or planning to, the stress involved in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic continues. And that’s what is driving most of the unhealthy eating. When we are able to safely  re-open, we will be happy to help you get back to taking care of yourself with the vegetarian weight loss plan at our Florida health retreats.

What Is Holistic Wellness?

What Is Holistic Wellness?

At Balance for Life health retreats in Florida, we believe intaking an holistic approach to wellness at our retreats. We don’t think it’s enough to focus on one issue, ache or challenge. In order to achieve lasting change and overall wellbeing, you must embrace and engage the whole person – body, mind and spirit. 

What Does Holistic Mean?

The dictionary defines holistic as an adjective meaning: 

PHILOSOPHY

characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.

  • MEDICINE

characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the symptoms of a disease.

 

As the Covid-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated, there are times when medicine can and absolutely should focus on a specific ailment. But, while it is wonderful and we should celebrate every time a Covid-19 patient leaves the hospital, successfully treating a disease does not produce overall wellbeing. 

On the flip side, a holistic health retreat can promote the kind of overall wellbeing that will not only enhance your immune system but also engender the kind of resilient emotional and mental health that will help you cope with the challenges of living through a pandemic.  

It’s easy to get excited about the idea of overall health and wellbeing, but simply talking about the importance of the connection between physical, emotional and mental health isn’t going to help you recharge and rejuvenate. Holistic health is the goal. But you need tools and clear-cut objectives to help you attain that goal. 

You need practical tools to In order to help you achieve holistic health, we structure our wellness retreats around four core components:

  • Nutrition
  • Fitness
  • Mindfulness and 
  • Natural Treatments 

If you would like to know more about our unique approach to holistic health and our Balance for Life wellness retreats in Florida, please contact us.