Lisa Corbett, Senior Community Nutritionist, Health Promotion, HSE Galway spoke with Keith on Galway Talks about how making healthy choices to support our mental and physical health and immune system is important now more than ever.
Listen back to Lisa’s advice here:
There are many ways that foods can affect how we feel, just as how we feel has an influence on what foods we choose.
There’s no specific food or supplement guaranteed to protect you from the coronavirus. Eating a variety of foods helps our body to get all the nutrients it needs to support a healthy immune system and general wellbeing.
1. Ask yourself – Are you hungry?
The challenges of being at home more, along with thinking about the uncertainties of the future, mean that we’re all potentially snacking more than normal. Try having a drink first – we often mistake hunger for being thirsty, so have a large glass of water and if you are still hungry after ten minutes, then choose a healthy snack.
2. Snacks
While many of us have been at home more recently, the temptation for treats is stronger for both ourselves and our children. Don’t cut out treat foods completely, a little now and then is okay.
Follow the simple tips below to make this process a bit easier:
- Try not to keep a large supply of treats at home, this just adds to the temptation. The shops will remain open so you don’t need to stockpile.
- Make sure there are plenty of healthy snacks available, have a bowl of fruit on display on the kitchen counter and reduced-fat and sugar yogurts in the front of the fridge and cut up sticks of vegetables, so you notice the healthy options quicker. Keep less healthy treats out of sight.
- Avoid comfort eating – sometimes we think that eating the chocolate/crisps/biscuits etc. will make us feel better. Unfortunately, however, we often regret eating it once it’s gone! Try to be mindful of that we are treating ourselves to. It’s ok to have a high sugar/fat food but we need to be aware of the portions we are eating.
- Don’t be afraid to say no, to giving your kids treats. Find other ways of rewarding them, such as playing a game with them, allowing them to call a friend, or allowing them to choose a movie to watch
3. Healthy eating routine
Keeping to some sort of schedule each day will help stave off boredom which may have you grazing on easily accessible foods all day. Such structures are also good for children who may be out of their usual routine.
- Try to keep to regular times for 3 meals and 2-3 snack breaks a day
- Try to pick healthier foods if you can. Use the food pyramid as a guide
- Put a reminder or note on the fridge and treats cupboard to make you think twice before eating outside of mealtimes
- Make a list of the meals you’re going to make so it can help you plan for the week
- Make sure to drink plenty of water, keeping hydrated is so important
4. Plan ahead
The key to healthy eating is to plan ahead, choose snacks carefully and watch how much of them you eat. Snacks can be a healthy part of your diet. If you wait until you’re hungry to eat, you’re likely to make less healthy choices. Try to take 5 minutes in the morning to prepare healthy snacks for the day ahead, for example chopping up vegetable sticks or fruit slices.
5. Stay hydrated
Make sure to drink plenty of water, keeping hydrated is so important. Poor hydration can put extra stress on the body. Try to drink at least 8 glasses of water each day.
Drinking lots of tea and coffee every day may mean that you are having too much caffeine. This can lead to irritability and headaches. Try to reduce your caffeine intake and switch to decaffeinated options instead.
6. Limit alcohol intake
With most people being at home more recently, it might be more tempting to have an alcoholic beverage in the evening. However, it’s still important to keep your alcohol consumption within government guidelines. Try to minimise the amount of alcohol you drink. For more information on how alcohol affects your health and wellbeing visit askaboutalcohol.ie.
7. Mealtimes
Families who eat together tend to have stronger and more open relationships, with children enjoying an increased sense of wellbeing. For families with kids, eating together can be an important part of making lockdown more normal, allaying fears and chatting about concerns. Where you can, try to encourage the whole family to sit down together away from devices and distractions at least for one meal per day.
8. Quick meals
Many people are now finding themselves juggling childcare, full-time work and other competing responsibilities. Some are having to cook for themselves for the first time. Whatever your circumstances, figuring out “What’s for dinner?” can be a daily challenge.
Safefood have lots of recipes for really simple nutritious meals. For absolute beginners, find some videos on basic kitchen skills here.
There are also many easy to make meals/snacks and desserts in the “101 Square Meals” free recipe book, which can be downloaded here or ordered here.
9. Food Safety
It is very unlikely that you can catch coronavirus from food. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness. It is not known to be transmitted by exposure to food or food packaging. At this time, please continue to follow general food safety advice; washing hands thoroughly, cleaning surfaces and separating raw meat/fish from other foods when preparing food.
Here are some tips for safe food shopping:
- When you go food shopping, you should wash your hands before you leave the house, avoid touching your face when you’re out and follow social distancing.
- When you come home, you should wash your hands straight away. Wash them again once you have unpacked and put away your shopping.
- Use up your fresh ingredients first. You don’t want any food to go to waste, so use up perishable ingredients before foods with a longer shelf life.
- Know what keeps longest. Fresh foods with relatively long shelf life includes root vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions
- Carefully wash, rinse and drain salad leaves and fresh herbs and spin dry in a salad spinner, place into a suitable plastic storage tray, cover and keep refrigerated. By following this procedure your salads and fresh herbs will last for several more days than if just stored in the fridge un-covered.
- It might seem obvious but make sure you aren’t storing things in your fridge that don’t need to be in there. For example, fresh tomatoes, un-peeled onions, un-peeled jacket potatoes, whole butternut squashes don’t need to be stored refrigerated. Removing these items from your fridge and storing them in a cool dark place will free up fridge space for more perishable items.
- If you are stuck at home, take the opportunity to tidy and de-clutter your kitchen cupboards to free up space for ambient food products. This is a great opportunity to get rid of those unused & unwanted items that end up “living” in your valuable storage space. Remember to re-cycle as many of the items you are discarding as possible.
- If you do get sick, it is worth having a few easy to cook and prepare foods in the house on standby. Canned soups, microwavable rice and frozen ready meals are easy options that you can keep in stock in reasonable quantities if you don’t have the energy to prepare more complex recipes.
10. Key Healthy eating messages
- Eat more vegetables, salad and fruit – Up to seven servings a day. Half the plate should be filled with vegetables, at least at lunch and dinner, to give us a chance of reaching our daily portions.
- Limit intake of high fat, sugar, salt food and drinks
- Size matters: Use the food pyramid as a guide for serving sizes
- Increase your physical activity levels
- Small changes can make a big difference. Start TODAY!
Lisa Corbett, Senior Community Nutritionist- Health Promotion, HSE Galway, [email protected]
Links for trusted sources of healthy eating information:
