During Covid or omicron, it is important to take proper nutrition and hydration. People who take a proper balanced diet tend to be healthier with strong immune systems and lower the risk of infectious diseases. To become healthier, you have to eat a variety of fresh and unprocessed food every day to get vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, protein and antioxidants that your body needs. Drink plenty of water. Avoid taking sugar, fat and salt to make your body away from overweight, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and different types of cancer.
Eat fresh and balanced food everyday
- Include fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes like lentils and beans, nuts and whole grains for example unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat, brown rice or starchy tubers and you can also include roots such as potato, yam, taro or cassava.
- Take food from animal sources like meat, fish, eggs and milk.
- If you like snacks then, choose raw vegetables, and fresh fruit rather than food in high sugar, fat or salt.
- Remember one thing, don’t overcook vegetables and fruits as this can lead to the loss of important vitamins.
- When you use dried vegetables and fruits, choose varieties without excessive sugar or salt.
Drink plenty of water everyday
- Water is important for life. It delivers the nutrients and compounds in blood and regulates your body temperature. It gets rid of waste, and lubricates and cushions joints.
- Drink 8-10 cups of water everyday.
- It is not necessary to drink only water, you can consume other drinks also which contain fruits and vegetables for example lemon juice, tea and coffee.
- Remember not to consume too much caffeine and avoid sweetened fruit juices, syrups, and fizzy.
Eat adequate amount of fat and oil
- Take unsaturated fat for example fish, avocado, nuts, olive oil, soy, sunflower and corn oils rather than saturated fat.
- Select white meat, for example poultry and fish, which are basically low in fat as compared to red meat.
- Ignore processed meat, as it is high in fat and salt.
Eat very low amount of salt and sugar
- When cooking and preparing food, use less amount of salt or sugar.
- Use less of your daily salt intake to lease than 5g and also use iodized salt.
- Take a limited number of soft drinks or sodas and other drinks that are high in sugar.
- Select fresh fruits instead of sweet snacks such as cookies, cakes, and chocolate.
Don’t eat outside
- Avoid eating outside to reduce the rate of contact to the other people and lower the chance of becoming a patient of COVID-19.
- Maintain a distance of at least one metre between yourself and other people specially who are sneezing or coughing.
- You don’t know how many people are being washed their hands regularly, and surfaces are being cleaned and disinfected fast.
Moral and psychological support
As proper diet and hydration improve health and immunity. People need support who are confirmed COVID-19 and living with chronic illness, diet to ensure they keep in good health. Look for counselling and psychological support from professional health care and also community based co-equal counsellors.