Eating Right: Maintaining an Ideal Body Weight During a Pandemic

“We are fighting an invisible enemy”. Health experts and scientists around the world are at loss of words when they speak or write of the COVID-19 virus because most of its crucial details are still unknown. Together with the health front-liners, they are working double-time to help end this international crisis. 

But while they are taking care of the sick and trying to produce a cure or a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus, the rest of the population is at a standstill. Governments from different countries have imposed strict quarantines and lockdowns among their constituents, classes and work went digital with almost everyone trying to work or study from home, and public spaces and restaurants temporarily closing down. 

Everyone is advised to stay at home and limit themselves from going out and interacting with another person. Aside from home isolation, one must also keep a healthy lifestyle in order for the immune system to get strong enough to combat the coronavirus symptoms or any virus. 

The first step in strengthening the immune system is by maintaining a normal body weight. Eating right by not eating less or more is the key in achieving this. But the goal of getting the ideal or normal body weight is a very challenging idea during this time. 

This daunting task requires a checklist of steps that you can do on a daily basis while being quarantined in your home. Here’s how you can eat right and get to your ideal body weight:

1)  Improve your eating habit 

When we were in grade school, we were all taught that one should only eat three meals a day. We have them labelled as breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But as we got older and as our lifestyle changed, we have taught ourselves to eat every time we’re hungry.

Now it’s time to redefine our perspective and belief on this. According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD, the best way to keep your energy levels up and metabolism revving is to eat 5 times a day, every 3-4 hours. To do this, you can plot a daily schedule and set up an alarm on your phone to be reminded of the rightful hours of eating a meal.

2) A balanced mix of vitamins and nutrients

Of course it’s not just enough to plot and schedule the rightful hours of eating, the first step would go to waste if you don’t eat a balanced meal. Nutritionists and doctors recommend a balanced mix of high fiber starchy carbohydrates (that we get from wheat-based products), fruits with Vitamin C, Davao leafy greens or vegetables, and fish. You should also cut down intake of food with a lot saturated fat and sugar that are found in junk and other processed foods.  You should also avoid too much salt. The average salt intake for adults is only at 6g per day.

With the limitations that are set in our communities right now, you’re probably wondering “how am I going to eat right when I can’t go out to buy my needs?”. Good thing there are plenty of farmers’ market who are now selling produce online and delivering your orders right at your doorsteps. One of the Davao online fresh veggies grocery stores is the Malagos Homegrown Produce which sells a variety of vegetables, fruits, meat, and other healthy homegrown produce like artisanal cheese and single-origin chocolates straight from the Malagos farm. You can check them out at https://www.facebook.com/malagoshomegrownproduce or learn more at https://www.malagos.com/promotions.