Superfoods for Immunity: As India braves the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to understand just how much health matters now more than ever. While it is a stressful time for everyone, it is extremely trying to cook for the Covid positive patients.
Filling your cart with the basics might make you feel secure in the short term. It’s a different ballgame when you get these items home. Can you make healthy meals with shelf-stable foods? Will the family eat your creation? And does food really boost our immunity? Yes, yes, and yes – over time.
Quarantine is the perfect time to build a healthier relationship with food and discover ways to make easy, affordable, nutritious, and delicious meals with shelf-stable products at home.
- Eat the rainbow: 5 to 6 servings a day of different colored fruits and vegetables. Each color provides unique nutrients and immune-supporting antioxidants. Frozen or canned is fine if the food is packed in natural juice or water.
- Millets For The Win (Bajra): Millets have been proven to help with immunity and gut health. Little millet coconut rice, millet khichdi, Bajra parantha are good and wholesome options to enjoy an immune treat because nothing can replace the joy of comfort meals.
- Beetroot amla soup: A warm treat for your taste buds and for a dose of vitamin C and many other essential nutrients. What better than that to boost your recovery?
- Snack on nuts and seeds: These “healthy fats” also provide micronutrients. Nuts/seeds to about a handful daily.
- Swap white grains: Swap rice, flour, pasta, refined sugar, and cereals for whole-grain options, such as oats, whole wheat bread, quinoa, and brown rice. Aim for five to six servings a day.
Eat legumes such as beans, lentils, and peanuts to get more fiber and minerals. Try to get one serving a day.
As a reminder, we can overcome Covid with the right food choices.
— Written by Apoorva Girdhar