Know About A Simple Post-COVID Diet Care Plan

The Immunity Diet: Fight off Infections and Live Your Best Life by Kavita Devgan talks about the importance of immune system and how your lifestyle can nurture your biggest shield. An excerpt from the chapter A Simple Post-COVID Diet Care Plan:

COVID-19 has unfortunately touched the lives of many people. Even for those who have shaken off this virus after a miserable two weeks or so, the misery is slated to continue in many forms. Many COVID-19 survivors have been reeling under after-effects like headaches, chronic fatigue, difficulty breathing, joint pains, changes in taste and smell, medication-induced dry mouth, brain fog, sleep issues and multiple more such symptoms which have been lingering for a long time, sometimes as long as five to six months. Any of these issues suffered for a certain amount of time can severely impact our quality of life.

Here is a post-COVID-19 diet care plan that can help you.

Hydrate Yourself

Our body loses a lot of fluids during infection, so your priority should be to replace that loss. Drink plenty of water to speed up your recovery. Target drinking eight to 10 glasses of water every day. Try to include other hydrating drinks like flavoured water, soups, broths, green teas and non-caffeinated beverages in your daily diet.

Focus on Protein

A high-protein diet is essential as protein can help repair the damaged body tissues and make up for the lost muscle mass during the infection. Also, enough protein in the diet is important to keep the immunity in good shape and save you from further diseases. Focus on lentils, legumes, nuts, dairy, eggs, white meat, soy and fish. Try to score at least 1 gram protein per kilogram of body weight every day. For example, if you weigh 60 kilograms, ensure that you consume at least 60 grams of protein every day. You can even increase it to 1.5 gram protein per kilogram of body weight for a few days. Make sure you include one to two portions of protein in every meal and have two protein-rich snacks every day. Besides quantity, it is important to focus on the quality of protein too. Try to eat complete proteins that deliver all
the essential amino acids. Most non-vegetarian sources are complete proteins, but if you are a vegetarian, then a judicious combination like, dal and rice or roti and dal can give you complete protein.

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 Focus on the Gut

COVID-19 tends to leave the gut in a terrible shape, leading to multiple gastric issues. The medicines also play havoc with the gut microbiome, killing the good bacteria. So, it’s our responsibility to rebuild and rebalance the bacteria in the gut painstakingly. Focus on eating probiotic food daily. Include at least one fermented food in your daily diet—homemade yoghurt, sprouts, dhokla, sourdough bread, kanji, kimchi, etc.
If the gut is in bad shape, a course of probiotic tablets will help restore the balance of good and bad bacteria.

Eat Easily Digestible Food

It is best to stick to home-cooked food to recover fast. !is will give your digestive system a break and let the body speed up the recovery process. Eat dishes like khichri, poha, simple subzis, raita, etc., and avoid fried, rich fare entirely for a few weeks.

Skip Dieting

!is is not the time to try and lose weight or go for a calorie deficit. Let the body recover first. More calories will deliver more energy to the body to fight off the infections and help it heal faster and regain strength. So, opt for healthy but calorie dense foods.

Focus on Wholesome Nutrition

COVID-19 stresses the body extensively and the multiple medicines debilitate your body. Consciously include foods rich in vitamin A, E and minerals like zinc and magnesium to help the body heal better and build immunity.

Work on Your Memory

The virus is known to damage the memory cells, which is why brain fog is a symptom of COVID-19. In order to regain the lost attention, cognitive thinking abilities and memory, focus on iron which you can get from extra-lean red meat, beans, peas, dark green leafy vegetables, pomegranate and dried apricots; omega-3, in fatty fish, walnuts, flaxseeds; monounsaturated fatty acids, primarily present in vegetable oils and particularly extra virgin olive oil; vitamin B which is found in dairy, eggs, dark green leafy vegetables; and astaxanthin, a form of microalgae. To score astaxanthin, eat plenty of salmon, algae (seaweeds, spirulina) and shellfish (shrimp, prawn, crab, lobster). There is, unfortunately, no known vegetarian source yet.

Boost Your Mood

COVID-19 is a major happiness sucker too. It leaves everyone dealing with anxiety and blues. So, it helps to tailor the diet accordingly. There are clearly some happy nutrients and happy foods that can positively affect our mood and should be included in your diet. My top seven picks are: turmeric, chickpeas, walnuts, apples, pumpkin seeds, dried figs and bananas as they all are loaded with compounds that boost happiness. Eat at least two of these every day.

Excerpted with permission from The Immunity Diet: Fight off Infections and Live Your Best Life by Kavita Devgan.

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