In this brief guide, we will discuss the question “can you eat regular food with covid?”. We will also talk about what covid is, the safety of eating regular food with covid, the nutrients required with covid, the foods and how much to eat wid covid, what drinks to have with covid and those to avoid.
Can you eat regular food with covid?
Yes, you can eat regular food with covid. However, it is crucial to ensure that your meal is balanced and contains all the food nutrients to help build your immunity and fight the infection. Depending on the symptoms you are experiencing and your personal preference, choose fresh foods as opposed to highly processed for maximum nutrition.
What is covid?
COVID-19 is the condition produced by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The full name of the virus is Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. The new coronavirus was labelled a pandemic by the World Health Organisation in March 2020.
COVID-19 harms your nutritional status because it suppresses your appetite and may limit your access to nutritious foods while you are confined, while also increasing your body’s requirement for nutrients.
When you are down with COVID-19, diet and nutrition can help you maintain your immunological health, especially if you eat foods that are high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds.
Is it safe to eat regular food with covid?
It is practically safe to eat regular foods with covid. Proper nutrition and hydration are essential during covid. Thus it is important to eat your regular foods which contain the correct proportions of food nutrients.
People who consume a well-balanced diet have stronger immune systems and are less likely to get chronic illnesses and infectious diseases. Covid usually affects people with an immunocompromised system, thus when you eat well, you build a strong immunity that fights covid.
What nutrients does the body need when you have covid?
When you are down with covid, your body needs all the food nutrients that can help boost its immunity and fight the infection. Thus, there is not a single food that appears to be effective in treating flu-like symptoms.
To be able to fight an infection, your body requires energy from calories, protein, vitamins A, C, D, and E, as well as zinc, which are all foods that can assist your immune system.
What foods should you eat with covid?
It is important to eat balanced meals with covid, thus you will be needing to eat carbohydrate foods, proteins, fat and oils, fruits and vegetables in their correct amounts to reap all the nutrients you can get from your meals.
To acquire the vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre, protein, and antioxidants your body needs, you should consume a variety of fresh and unprocessed foods every day.
- Fruits such as watermelon, apples, oranges and many others
- Vegetables include carrots
- Legumes include lentils, beans and others
- Nuts which include almond, peanut and more
- Whole grains which are unprocessed including maize, millet, oats, wheat, brown rice
- Starchy tubers or roots like potato, yam, taro, or cassava among others
- Animal-derived foods include meat, fish, eggs and milk.
How much food should you consume with covid?
As long as you have an appetite for food, you should eat from the food groups in their correct proportions. On a daily basis, you should eat
- 2 cups fruit for 4 servings
- 2.5 cups of vegetables for 5 servings
- 180 grams of grains
- 160 grams of meat and beans comprising red meat, 1 to 2 times per week and poultry, 2 to 3 times per week.
Snack on raw vegetables and fresh fruit rather than high-sugar, high-fat, or high-salt items.
Alternatively, you can choose canned or dried veggies and fruit that hasn’t been salted or sugared. It is important not to overcook vegetables and fruit which can result in the loss of essential vitamins.
What drinks to take with covid?
When you have covid, hydration is very important to keep you safe. If you are sick, you should drink plenty of water, especially if you have a fever and are sweating a lot of water, or if you have diarrhoea.
Drink plenty of water from these good sources such as water, tea with honey, broth, juice, seltzer, coconut water, maple water, sports drink, Pedialyte and electrolyte drinks.
What food should you avoid with covid?
Although several varieties of foods are allowed with covid to boost your immune strength. Some foods should be avoided, not to worsen the situation:
- Alcohol: Alcohol dehydrates you and may suppress your immune system. If you start to feel ill, it is important to skip alcohol and substitute it with liquids that hydrate your body.
- Limit hard-to-digest foods including cruciferous vegetables, legumes, and whole grains if you experience gastrointestinal issues. These need more energy to digest and may cause stomach and gastrointestinal tract discomfort. Replace them with simple-to-digest foods from similar sources.
- If you have a sore throat, crackers and other crunchy, hard meals, spicy foods, and anything particularly acidic like lemon or vinegar may irritate your throat. However, depending on your symptoms, you may be able to handle certain items.
- It is equally important to avoid too sugary, salty or fatty foods as they increase your risk of certain chronic diseases which will weaken your immunity and allow covid persist for long or get worse.
Conclusion
In this brief guide, we have discussed the question “can you eat regular food with covid?”. We have also talked about what covid is, the safety of eating regular food with covid, the nutrients required with covid, the foods and how much to eat wid covid, what drinks to have with covid and those to avoid.
Citation
http://www.emro.who.int/nutrition/news/nutrition-advice-for-adults-during-the-covid-19-outbreak.html
