In Sickness and in Health

Have you ever considered the effect of being sick on trying to be healthy? I don't mean chronic sickness, just the everyday icks or a cold. We talk about how being healthy makes us feel better, but I've noticed that being noticeably sick makes me forget about trying to be healthy.

For the last week, I've been battling some annoying bug. I thought at first that it was just my allergies misbehaving after a day out in the country (which was fabulous and so fun), but that wouldn't have lasted this long. I've been at least three of the seven dwarfs when all I really need right now is Doc.

Also, I've reverted to some very bad eating habits. Instead of making time to fix eggs for breakfast, I've opted for PopTarts. Rather than cooking up some of the potatoes and broccoli I've enjoyed in the past few weeks, I've been grabbing quick, unhealthy snacks, like potato chips and plain Easy Mac.

I used to make these cute little bentos to take for lunch. I don't normally get into kyaraben (character bento), but I do enjoy finding creative ways to showcase my food. The brilliant thing about bento is that you have to focus on portion control and nutritional content. Because the containers are generally small, you can't just toss in a bag of chips and a PB&J sandwich. My mom even bought me a set of Pampered Chef Creative Cutters, which are perfect for making cute shapes from veggies and solid blocks of cheese. They would work for meat, as well, but my meals tend to be meat-light. Can't you imagine how adorable it would be to cut a sandwich into bite-size stars?

The difference between grabbing a Lunchable and making a bento is the time and effort required. The same goes for breakfast and dinner. When you're feeling so low that you can barely manage to get to work (or can't get out at all), you don't want to slice, dice, boil, or bake your way to a healthy meal. I can't stress the importance of having easy, ready-to-go snacks!

Tomorrow I intend to do some grocery shopping. I'll buy some blocks of cheese and veggies to cut into cute shapes to keep in containers in the fridge for quick snacking/meal-making. I'll buy some food to go with the Greek yogurt I bought last week. Whatever I have to do to make sure that I can have healthy snacks on hand, I'll do.