April 2020: The World Changed, But Our Lifestyle Hasn’t

April 2020: The World Has Changed, But Our Lifestyle Hasn’t

COVID-19 has turned the world upside down and throughout April 2020, many people have had their lifestyle totally upended and disrupted. Meanwhile, it feels like our lifestyle hasn’t changed a whole lot.

Maybe it just seems that way because my wife and I are already used to the new normal. Or maybe our lifestyle makes it easier for us to adapt to these changes. I’m not sure.

Off the top of my head, I can name four major changes in my life:

1. Being limited to only essential travel
2. Working from home
3. Taking additional precautions at work
4. Not being able to go to the gym

Travel Limitations

I’ve mentioned it before in a previous post, and I’l say it again. It’s a bummer not to be able to travel.

You all know I love traveling. Planning trips is fun. The adventure of exploring a new place excites me. And interacting with people from different parts of the world gives me a better perspective on life.

While I love leisure travel, it’s obviously something I can live without. In fact we’ve already been scaling back leisure travel in recent years because it’s not quite as easy to travel with a baby.

However, what makes the travel limiations particularly difficult is the fact that I can’t really visit my parents. They live in a town just less than two hours away by car. Pre-COVID, we would see them every month or so for special occassions. There’s always a birthday, anniversary, or holiday to celebrate. No matter what, we always find a great reason to see each other. One big reason why they want us to visit is because they want to see their adorable granddaughter!

But I totally get it. Not traveling to visit my parents helps slow and limit the spread of disease plus it helps protect them since they are older and more vulnerable. Sure, there’s face time, but nothing replaces real face to face interaction.

Working From Home

Covid-19 has changed healthcare and will continue to change healthcare in the forseeable future.

Telehealth was already a growing field before the pandemic. With the need to practice social distancing and to help prevent overwhelm for our urgent cares and ER’s, telehealth is becoming more essential than ever.

Most physicians have a love-hate relationship with the electronic medical record (EMR). While it can make some aspects of our work easier, it can also make physicians feel that their work is less gratifying. The EMR can also be a contriubuting cause of physician burnout. Nevertheless, without the EMR, physicians would not be able to do telehealth.

One significant change for me in April was that I was able to work from home doing telehealth pain consultations. It certainly has its limitations. For example, you can’t really diagnose complex regional pain syndrome without a proper physical exam. However, there is still utility in telehealth with screening and triaging patients who may need urgent procedures.

Extra Precautions At Work

This one is pretty obvious.

Because of COVID-19 we have to take extra precautions. Healthcare workers (especially those in the frontline) have a considerably higher incidence of becoming infected with the disease. A big reason is that we are exposed to higher viral loads than the general public who are able to safely stay at home as much as they can.

From proper donning and doffing of PAPRs (powered air purifying respirators) in the ICU to wearing N95 masks and full face shields for routine intubations, our workflow has definitely changed.

No Gym, No Problem

For the most part, my wife and I have ben avoiding the “Quarantine 15” by doing various workouts at home.

I have developed a nice exercise routine. Every day I go for an early morning run shortly after a wake up. It’s a great start to the day. My heart rate gets going and it makes me feel a bit more alert. My wife and I have also been doing various body weight exercises such as pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and air squats. We also watch free workout videos on YouTube to change up the routine. Every evening we take a nice walk after dinner.

It’s not quite the same as pumping iron in the gym, but our home workouts get the job done.

 

What Hasn’t Changed?

Other than the changes mentioned above, life doesn’t seem that different.

Here are some of the things in our life that haven’t changed.

Haircuts

With hair salons and barber shops closed, I’ve seen some bad cases of quarantine hair. Some people are letting their hair grow long and unkempt. Others are attempting to learn how to cut their own hair. The results are not always that pretty.

Meanwhile, this isn’t a problem for me. I’ve been cutting my own hair for the past 25 years. Most people are surprised when they find out because it looks like I get it professionally cut and styled. Nope. Just me.

I don’t necessarily do it for the sake of frugality either. Sounds weird, but cutting my own hair is actually something I really enjoy.

Entertainment

Movie theatres, live music venues, theme parks, and sporting events are all closed.

I know it’s tough for a lot of folks, but it hasn’t really impacted us. Having a young child is a limiting factor. But even before we became parents, we didn’t go to many movies or concerts. In fact, we’ve probably been to the movie theatres only twice in the past five years.

My wife and I really like to enjoy nature and the outdoors. It’s a free source of entertainment. We live pretty close to a lake, some gorgeous beaches, and a few hiking trails all within a 15 minute drive. Luckily, these are places in which we could easily and safely practice social distancing.

Shopping

Shopping malls and retail stores are also closed. I just heard a few days ago that J. Crew has filed for bankruptcy. They are the first to do so and may not be the only one.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that my wife and I are not big-time shoppers. In fact, two years ago, we accepted a challenge of buying nothing for the whole year of 2018. Guess what. We still don’t buy much stuff. Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I bought clothes for myself. My wife hasn’t really bought a much for herself either.

Most of our shopping is done online and we only shop for the essentials. Interestingly, we had just bought a box of Who Gives A Crap toilet paper in late January. The box contains 48 rolls of luxurious 3-ply premium toilet paper made from non-toxic, 100% forest friendly bamboo. Luckily for us, the box contains a year supply. Therefore, we didn’t have to line up and fight the crowds to buy toilet paper during the lockdown panic buying extravagamza.

By the way, 48 rolls doesn’t sound like a lot but it is truly all we need for the whole year. This is because we have a bidet which drastically reduces our need for toilet paper. On average, we go through a roll every 1-2 weeks.

Other than buying the essentials online, we also try to get things that we need for free through our local circular economy community. If you haven’t checked out Buy Nothing Project, I suggest that you do.

It’s perfect for:

1. Getting free stuff you need
2. Decluttering and practicing minimalism
3. Giving away stuff instead of wastefully throwing things away
4. Building community (which is important when you feel isolated in this quarantine lockdown)
5. Fostering kindness, generosity, and gratitude (which is important for building resilience during a tough time like this)

Restaurants

It’s going to be a while before dine-in restuarants and bars start to fully open up. This is very unfortuante because a lot of the country’s economy and workforce depends on the restaurant and hospitality businesses.

Fortunatel, the restaurant closures have a minimal impact on us as well. The last time we went out to eat a restuarant, our daughter was throwing food on the floor and wrestling with us in protest because she didn’t want to sit in the high chair. I suppose it would be easier if we just caved in and busted out an iphone or ipad to entertain her. But we are determined to not have a screen be her baby-sitter. We have a no screen policy.

In general, our daughter is more comfortable eating at home. My wife and I don’t blame her, we’re more comfortable at home too. In fact we have been cooking more than 80% of our meals at home for a while now. Most of the food that we cook at home is just as delicious plus way healthier and cheaper than anything we would be able to find at a restaurant.

Food

COVID-19 has disrupted the food supply and certain foods, especially meat, has become very expensive. Maybe it’s time to consider eating like how we do and eat better than the average American with grocery bill of less than $200 a month ;).

Something that definitely hasn’t changed is our diet and the kinds of delicious foods we have been cooking at home. With the stay-at-home lockdown orders in place, we have had more time to look up delicious vegan and whole food plant based recipes.

One of my favorite aspects of writing these monthly update posts is sharing all of the delicious food we make. I’m also secretly hoping that the food porn pictures inspire you to try making some of these dishes at home :).

Vegan Brazilian Cheese Bread

While I was an anesthesia resident in Los Angeles, one of the hip places we would go to was the L.A. Farmer’s Market. It was fun and conveniently close to my apartment.

One of the places we frequented was Pampa’s Grill. It’s a food stand within the farmer’s market that serves delicious and authentic Brazilian churrascaria. I can clearly remember the first time I had their pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread). It was sooo good. Crispy on the outside, delciously chewy on the inside. After a few bites, it completely melts in your mouth, oozing with a cheesy flavor that is so pleasing to the taste buds.

Fast forward to April 2020, a few days before Easter, my wife saw a vegan recipe of pão de queijo on Instagram. Immedately we thought: We must try it! Now!

And so we did. The recipe was surprisingly simple and all you need is:

• tapioca starch
• nutritional yeast
• cooked potatao
• olive oil
• unsweetened almond milk
• garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, black pepper

If you want the full recipe, check out this Vegan Brazilian Cheese Bread recipe from Salted Plains.

We made them for Easter and shaped some of the cheese breads into Easter bunnies.

It was so delicious my daughter couldn’t stop eating them! (We couldn’t stop eating them too!)

Vegan Banana Bread

I had always liked banana bread growing up. My mom didn’t do a lot of baking, but when she did, the food turned out delicious. One of the things she would bake is banana bread.

In April, we tried a vegan banana bread from one of my favorite vegan recipe bloggers Rainbow Plant Life.

Let me tell you, the banana bread did not disspoint at all. It was the best banana bread I’ve tried.

Just like the Brazilian cheese bread, the banana bread was so deliciously addicting.

It’s a darn good thing we have a regular workout routine. Otherwise, we probalby would have gained the “Quarantine 15” from all of this delcious food!

For the full recipe, check out Best Easy Vegan Banana Bread recipe by Rainbow Plant Life.

You can thank me later.

Dalgona Coffee

Of course, what quarantine post would be complete without a picture of a Instagrammable cup of Dalgona coffee?

Amirite?

For those not in the know, Dalgona coffee was popularized in South Korea as a DIY “quarantine drink” during the country’s social distancing orders. People took pictures of their coffee and shared it on social media (YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, etc.). Soon it became viral (sorry, pun definitely not intended) popular and it seemed like everybody was doing it.

Anyways, I wanted in on this action to see what all the rage was about.

The recipe is pretty simple:

• Mix instant coffee, water, and sugar then whip it up into a foam
• Pour the aboe whipped coffee mixture on ice and milk of choice

That’s basically it.

If you want a full recipe, you can search for one online. It’s easy to find if you search “Dalgona coffee recipe”.

Spaghetti and Beanballs

Spaghetti and meatballs is a classic dish. Almost everybody (adults and children alike) enjoys a great bowl of spaghetti. Who doesn’t?

Usually we make plain spaghetti with marinara sauce. Other times we eat it with a delcious tofu bolognese sauce.

This time, we wanted to make it with bean “meatballs”. It was a lot of fun making them. We made bean balls using a variation of The Vegan 8’s Easy Vegan Meatballs recipe.

 

We enjoyed it with some edamame spaghetti and spinach.

Full disclosure. These bean balls taste nothing like traditional Italian meatballs (or atleast based on what I can remember).

Nevertheless, I thought they tasted good.

Homemade Kimchi

The past few years we have been eating a lot of sauerkraut and kimchi. It gives our meals more flavor and they are a great source of probiotics, prebiotics, and fiber.

Ordinarily, we would buy it at the local organic grocery store. But this time, we wanted to try to make it ourselves.

We used an Easy Vegan Kimchi recipe by Minimalist Baker.

While it wasn’t quite identical in flavor to real authentic kimchi, I really liked it.

Kimchi adds so much spice and flavor to Asian-style dishes.

Healthy Whole Food Plant Based Meals

We don’t eat banana bread and Brazilian cheese bread very often. If we did, we’d probably be overweight or obese. But it’s fine for an occasional treat, though.

In general, we eat healthy, whole food, plant based meals every day. A typical meal is some assortment of a whole grain (like quinoa, barley, etc.), legumes (like beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc.), greens, fats (avocados) and +/- a starchy vegetable like sweet potatoes.

Sure, it’s plain and simple. But it’s not boring. We change up the assortment of plant foods all the time to keep things interesting.

Farm Boxes

Fortunately, we don’t have to visit the grocery store too often in order to get food. We have stockpiled a decent supply of dry grains and beans that we have purchased in bulk.

And we get a lot of our organic fresh fruits and vegetables from farm boxes. It’s covenient because the farm box gets delivered directly to our doorstep.

Right now, we use services from Impefect Foods and Farm Fresh To You.

They are not particularly expensive either.

I like Imperfect Foods because they deliver imperfect (but still good) produce that may have otherwise been thrown away by retail grocery stores. Therefore, they are able to sell food cheaper (about 30% less) as well as reduce food waste.

I like Farm Fresh To You because most of the produce is sourced locally. Supporting local farms feels like the responsible thing to do.

 

Final Thoughts

COVID-19 has definitely changed the world. April 2020 was the first full month in which the whole country was in some form of stay-at-home lockdown quarantine.

While social distancing is necessary, it’s unfortunate that these measures have lead to unfortunate consequences. Chief among them include social isolation, a rise in mental illness and drug use, unemployment, closing of businesses, financial hardship, and an overall disruption of most people’s lifestyle.

Fortunately for us, my family has not been heavily impacted by the pandemic crisis. I still have an great job in which I am able to earn 100% of my salary. Not only that, my work also allows me to safely work from home half of the time. Additionally, I feel adquately protected with our supply of PPE. Likewise, my wife is able to work remotely from home as a lawyer and is earning 100% of her salary too.

The closing of barbershops, malls, theatres, restaurants and other services has had minimal impact on us. We just don’t spend a lot of time or money at these places.

Our home life and overall lifestyle has not changed much at all. My wife and I still work out and manage to still spend quality time with each other. We still eat healthy and delicious meals at home.

Not being able to travel to see my parents is a bummer. But at the same time, I am incredibly grateful that they are alive, safe, and doing very well.

I’m also grateful for our lifstyle.

By being frugal, financially responsible, minimalist, healthy, and conscious consumers, we have adopted a lifestyle that makes us more adaptable and better able to cope with major changes in the world, such as this current COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Admittedly, our lifestlyle is very uncoventional. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. 😀