Fighting Covid With Nutrition

There's been an upward surge in Covid-19🦠 cases in the recent past and many of the outcomes have been fatal and the situations dire. This time around, Covid-19🦠 isn't only threatening the livelihoods of the aged and those with underlying health conditions as young people with no known health conditions are quickly finding themselves hooked onto ventilators. It's time to wise up and protect yourself in the best way possible and it starts with nutrition🥘. Covid-19🦠 will expose any vulnerabilities detected in your immune system so it's prudent to eat in a way that supports your immunity. I will outline my recommendations for healthy eating during this second wave of the pandemic.

General food and hydration guidelines for enhanced immunity:
There's many different options available to help improve immunity, however, I wish to focus on a core group of easily accessible foods from any of your local supermarkets.

• Incorporate ginger, turmeric, and garlic into your meals. Make them a staple and use them as often as possible in as many meals as possible. Another great way to get them in is through smoothies. Just blend them in and drink up. They tend to give smoothies an extra kick.
• Try to eat more citrus fruits such as oranges🍊, clementines, grapefruit, tangerines as a dessert option or lemons🍋 perhaps with your tea in the morning or in your smoothie for a little 'zing'.
• Eat your vegetables, especially the green leafy kind. Spinach🥬 (your favorite cartoon character ‘Popeye’ consumed it for a reason), broccoli🥦, kale🥬, rape, cabbage plus any and all other green leafy vegetables that you find are great options to consider. Embrace vegetables and make them a regular fixture in your meals.
• Fry your meals with olive oil if you must but where possible opt to steam, grill or boil your meals. Don't start counting coins when it comes to what you put in your mouth; invest in your nutrition.
• Eat more fiber and yoghurt for optimal digestive health. Approximately 70% of your immune system can be found in your gut so if you improve your digestive system, you improve your health. This means more weetabix, oats (preferably steel cut or rolled and unflavored), brown rice, brown pasta🍝, roller meal, whole grain bread🍞. When it comes to cereals like weetabix or oats try to substitute the sugar you like for fruit. For example, instead of using sugar reach out for a banana🍌 or berries🍓 instead and mix it in your cereal. They'll give it the same sweetness that you want.
• Avoid processed food. Don't get your food from a tin or a plastic container. Always look to eat foods in their most natural form e.g. fruits straight off the tree and not 'mixed fruit' in a metal tin.
• Drink only warm and room temperature fluids💦 to protect your throat and keep it warm. Aim to consume 30-40mls of water for every kilogram of bodyweight. For example, if you weigh 100kgs, then you should target to drink 3-4 liters of water per day.

Health supplements to consider:
If you have the pocket for it then a small investment in certain supplements may be beneficial to your health.

• Zinc. It is most commonly taken to reduce the frequency of illness and to support optimal levels of testosterone. It is something to be considered especially for individuals that continue to remain active during this pandemic because you are losing a lot of zinc through sweat. Be sure to get a zinc supplement in picolinate, gluconate, citrate or methionine form due to higher bioavailability. This simply means that it is more readily absorbed by the body, with other forms less so. There's no point in consuming something that you body won't fully absorb. Look at the label of the supplement for this information. Recommended dosage for adults is 15-30 milligrams per day. For those averse to supplements, zinc can be found in oysters, beans, meat and eggs.
• Vitamin C. This is a vitamin jam packed with antioxidant properties commonly used to fight off the common cold due to it's immunity boosting capability. Individuals that are training during this period may benefit from this supplement and cut the risk of getting a common cold in half. The daily recommend dosage for the general population is 200 - 300 milligrams and 1, 000 - 2, 000 milligrams for hard training athletes. For those averse to supplements, Vitamin C can be found in a whole host of citrus fruits such as oranges🍊 and lemons🍋 and vegetables such as broccoli🥦 and kale🥬.

Sample Meal Plan for enhanced immunity:
Breakfast - 1-2 slices of whole grain bread🍞 with peanut butter, 1 boiled egg🥚, 1 cup of natural yoghurt with berries (strawberries🍓, blueberries) + a cup of warm water💦 or tea☕

Lunch - Roller meal, grilled fish🐟, spinach, beans, African eggplant aka 'impwa' + a cup of room temperature water💦

Supper - Brown rice, chicken breast🐓, broccoli🥦, carrots🥕, red bell peppers + a cup of room temperature water💦

Snack: Immunity boost smoothie (must include a handful of ginger, a small cup of chopped of celery, a small cup of chopped spinach or kale🥬, 1 cup of natural yoghurt, 1 handful of berries🍓, 1 green apple🍏, 1/2 lemon🍋, 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, 1 tablespoon of honey🍯)

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Remember to always mask up😷, maintain the social distance, and don’t move about chimbwi no plan unnecessarily. Stay safe!