Food & Nutrition Tips During Self-Quarantine

COVID-19 is a global pandemic and in such a case it is important to ensure you are taking measures and protecting yourself. Read to know how you can do so!

As this disease spreads, certain stronger measures are being taken to ensure that the spread can be contained. Self-quarantine along with closing of businesses have made it essential for people to finally pay special attention to their own health to make it through this time as healthy individuals. Good nutrition is a crucial part of good health especially when you want your immune system to be in the best possible shape. There is a certain unavailability of certain products in the market which may lead people to go down the path of junk food which is definitely not on the list of encouraged behavior. 

So, what can you do to ensure you remain your healthiest version when you are in self-quarantine?

Do Not Horde 

This is an important one that is a problem across the country. Panic buying is always poised to end with negative consequences. The end result can be increased food prices, overconsumption of food and unequal food distribution across the country. Try and buy only what you need and consider others around you as well. 

Assess what you already know and plan your intake accordingly. You might feel like you want to buy a lot of things but stockpiling does not help anyone as it might end up being spoilt. 

Try Your Hand at Cooking 

During regular life, most individuals do not have the time to prepare and eat home-cooked meals. When it comes to the quarantine, you will end up having a lot of time on your hands. Try to make healthy recipes that you should be able to easily find online. You can even experiment to see what you really enjoy. If you really have to order in, try and get them from local stores around you as they are one of the hardest-hit sectors in the market right now.

Practice Food Handling Practices

Food safety is essential for a healthy diet and food security.  It is important to maintain hygiene especially if you’re preparing food as that is one of the easiest ways to fall sick. Right now is the worst time to fall sick and I’m sure you will agree with me. 

The key principles you should take care of are:

• Keep your kitchen, utensils, and hands clean.
  Keep the raw and cooked food separately. Especially fresh produce and raw meat. 
• Ensure that you cook your food all the way through 
• Keep the food you have at safe temperatures, preferably at either below 5° c or above 60° c 
• Clean vegetables thoroughly before using them 

Limit Your Salt

Fresh foods might become a little tough to come by and in that light one might need to rely more on processed or canned foods. Those foods contain salt as a preservative thus spiking the salt levels to abysmal levels. Prioritize foods that have reduced or low salt if you can. You can even rinse certain canned foods like beans and vegetables to bring the salt and sodium levels down. 

Take Care of Your Sugar Intake 

If you crave something sweet, go for fresh fruit first and then see if you still need something else. You can even try frozen fruits, dried fruits or canned fruit in juice, all of them have a lot less sugar but you still should try and keep the portions small.  IF you still want some dessert try ones that have less sugar. Limiting this amount is important as sugar is as it is not healthy for the system. WHO actually places the ideal amount of sugar intake less than 5% of the total energy intake of the day? 

Safe Food Handling Practices 

Food safety is an essential part of food security and a healthy diet. It is said that safe food is a healthy food. It is crucial to follow good food hygiene practices to avoid food contamination and foodborne diseases.

Following are the rules of good hygiene that includes:

1. keep your hands, kitchen and utensils clean
2. separate raw and cooked food, especially raw meat and fresh produce
3. cook your food thoroughly
4. keep your food at safe temperatures, either below 5 °C or above 60 °C; and
5. Use safe water and raw material.

Know More About Coronavirus!

Ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Cornovirus is a large family of viruses that can cause infections. With the cause of pneumonia such as lung lesions, the virus attacks the respiratory system. 

Whereas, the other ones that cause Middle East Respiratory Syndrome fare more severe and some of the virus types can cause less serious disease. 

Throughout the world, an outbreak of a similar virus, SARS killed more than 900 people in 2003. 

Well, if you are healthy, you need not have a mask but if you feel sick and unwell, it is better you wear your mask wherever you go. There’s no proof in it that wearing masks on healthy people will save them. Wearing them incorrectly can increase infection too as they tend to touch their face more often. 

When should you wear a mask? The time when you feel sick or you leave the house. If you suffer from flu or think you have Covid, that’s when you’d put on a mask to protect the people around you. Also, if you stay at home and you don’t feel good, you should wear a mask to protect your family members. 

There are other experts who have warned that face masks aren’t much use and might signify a “false sense of safety”. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), David Powell, a doctor and medical advisor even stated a warning that face masks do little to stop the spread of the microorganisms on the planes. The professional also told that the air in a plane cabin exists through the filters-the similar kind implemented in the hospital and medical healthcare centres-eliminating upwards of 99.97 per cent of viruses.

One is more likely to catch it through the physical contact with other passengers and since the virus can’t survive long seats and armrest. 

And if you think gloves can save you from such hazardous health situation, you are again falling into the “false sense of security”. Gloves are although the worst culprits for this as you will be touching everything you would normally touch through your hands and you probably won’t think about cleaning them before. Let’s take an example, touching your face, rolling your hands through your hair. 

It creates an even better environment for the microbes to rise and when your hands get hot and you feel sweat inside your hands and palms while doing any physical activity.

The rapid increase of Coronavirus and the illness it causes known as Covid-19 has sparked the alarm worldwide. With a rise in confirmed cases, the countries are grappling and also the WHO (World Health Organisation) has declared a global health emergency. For the disruptions to daily life that will be necessary if the coronavirus spreads amongst the communities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising people to get prepared accordingly. 

It is also said that the virus can spread from one person to the other. It is often likely to spread through droplets of saliva carried in the air for up to six feet or so when an infected person coughs and sneezes.

It is obvious that if a person is not well and suffering through disease, there are cases when people who do not feel sick have the virus and can spread it through.

Coming back to the topic related to nutrition and diet that you must take in such difficult time, we also add up with some more points in the following blog.

• You Must Stay Hydrated These Days

Fluids are helpful in making thin mucus, flush out the germs from the body and keep the digestion and immune system running smoothly. It basically aims for half of the body in ounces of fluid. That is however, 80 ounces of liquid for a 160-pound person.

It is easy and the simplest way that you think to reach the goal. Not only water, broths, smoothies and Greek yogurt count towards your fluid total. You can also add up Sugar-free sports drinks and electrolyte tablets add flavor and minerals just like BODYARMOR Lite and Nuun tablets.

To more addition, you can also squeeze a little lemon, lime or orange into your water or tea for flavor and vitamin C.

• Call for Backup

One is bound to forget or run out of something no matter how well one prepares. Staying home is the only way to protect you from this vulnerable disease and save other lives by not meeting them and maintaining social distancing. The other way you can do is shop and pay online, and then have items dropped-off on your doorstep. But don’t get out or open the door until the coast is clear.

MAKE A PLAN- take only what you require!

Across the WHO European Region, multiple cases of over-purchasing have been observed. The buying behavior of people is creating panic situations that are having negative consequences such as an increase n food prices, overconsumption of food, unequal distribution of foods and other products. However, it is important to mention your own requirements as well as the others. So, in such difficult time, assess what you already have at home and plan your intake. You may feel the need to purchase large amounts of foods but one must make sure to consider and utilize what s already in your pantry and also food with shorter shelf life. Thus, this is the best idea you can avoid food waste and permit others to access the food they require.

Fresh ingredients must be into use at first. You should use fresh ingredients and those that have a shorter shelf life first. Priority can be given to fresh products especially fruits, vegetables and reduced-fat dairy products continue to available and must be chosen over non-perishables. Over a long span of time and often having a same nutrition profile to fresh foods, frozen fruits and vegetables can also conveniently be used accordingly. You should consider freezing any leftovers for another meal to avoid food waste. There are numerous individuals that do not have the time to prepare home-cooked meals during regular daily life. Using much time at home might now offer the possibility to make those recipes you previously did not have time to cook. Various healthy and delicious recipes can be found online. You can also take a guide from various sources such as social media, YouTube videos etc. So, take advantage of the wealth of freely available information and experiment with the ingredients you can access but keep in mind the principles and the rules to eat healthy food that is offered in this guidance.