How to eat healthy during the lockdown
*This is the second blog in our Coronavirus miniseries, where we provide tips and tricks on how to stay healthy during the ongoing lockdown. Keep checking this space for more health and fitness advice.
With your daily routine taking a toll and more and more people experiencing lockdown fatigue, it is more important than ever not to let your nutrition go out of the window. Accessing your usual go-to healthy products may not be as easy as it used to be with disrupted supply chains and reshuffled operating hours, which has left people fumbling to get back into the health zone. But staying home faced with different food choices doesn’t mean you need to give up on your nutritional needs. Follow these 5 simple steps to stay one step ahead in the nutrition game.
Keeping healthy snacks in easy reach could be the difference between a well-rounded mid-afternoon jump start and a useless dump of empty calories.
PLAN AHEAD
There are 3 key ways you can plan ahead to stay on top of your nutritional needs: shop ahead, plan ahead, and cook ahead. It’s so easy to find that an ingredient has run out or expired, and you pop out to the shops to grab a replacement before you start preparing your meal. If only it was 2019 again, but it’s not, so things aren’t that simple anymore. Make sure you always have what you need by looking at your fridge or pantry and staying topped up on some of the essentials, especially the healthy ones. It also helps to plan out what you’re going to be eating a few days in advance so that you can get the ingredients in time or defrost something if you need to take it out of the freezer. Finally, we know just how busy life can get even if you’re trapped inside a tiny apartment all day. If you’re the kind of person who thinks about preparing a meal exactly 1 minute before you’re ready to eat, it may be time to get your meal ready ahead of time so you don’t find yourself reaching for a takeaway menu or a ready meal.
TAKE A MULTIVITAMIN
Vitamins and minerals play a crucial role in how your body functions and, most importantly right now, how effectively your immune system can fight off viruses and other illnesses. Micronutrients can be found across food groups but fruits and vegetables are a key source of a wide range of nutrients. Where possible, keep up your supply of fresh fruit and green leafy vegetables. But in case your access to fresh produce is limited these days, frozen alternatives like spinach, peas, and frozen berries are a great substitute. But the reality is, despite your best efforts, you may still find yourself taking in fewer vitamins and minerals than you would like. A standard off the shelf multivitamin is a great way to stay topped up on a spectrum of essential nutrients so you can rest assured that you’ve got your bases covered.
SNACK SMART
Even after planning your meals and eating wisely you’re inevitably going to feel a bit snacky every now and then. Keeping healthy snacks in easy reach could be the difference between a well-rounded mid-afternoon jump start and a useless dump of empty calories. A handful of mixed nuts or trail mix, yogurt topped with fruit and some shredded coconut, or apple slices topped with nut butter are a few examples of healthy snacks you can count on when you’re at your weakest and in need of a lift-me-up.
SHOP ONLINE
Shops have different opening hours, and some may not be open at all. Rightly so, many stores are prioritizing health workers and the elderly and vulnerable. The upshot of all this is that you may find that shops are busier than usual at the times when you can get to them, and you may need to follow a one-way system or limit your time on the shop floor. To say the least, visiting a supermarket these days isn’t exactly a leisurely stroll while you peruse the latest products on display. Meanwhile, online grocers have blossomed during the lockdown as shoppers across the world have migrated much of their day-to-day living online. Find a retailer that delivers to your area and take the time to plan out a weekly shop in peace, without the frenetic rush of the real world.
STAY HYDRATED
Fluid intake is often missed off most people’s lists when it comes to staying healthy. But just like vitamins and minerals, hydration plays an essential role in how your body functions. As the summer approaches it becomes even more critical, and don’t make the mistake of thinking that staying indoors will stop you from getting dehydrated. To stay hydrated, try to drink at least 8 glasses of water every day, and monitor your overall fluid intake. But water is only one part of hydration: as you lose water through sweat you also lose essential electrolytes, or salts. You can replenish your salts through the food you eat but drinks like coconut water or sports drinks contain both the fluid as well as the electrolytes to keep your hydration up at all times.