What foods to buy with Corona virus?
Some thoughts to keep up the spirits and immune system in a practical way.
The rules and regulations and quarantine of the Coronavirus are getting stricter and nobody know where it all ends: I have spoken to many friends who are depressed and anxious about the future, what will happen? Will the world be the same once we come out of this? Well, we don’t know and if you find someone who knows, you may safely presume that they are anxious too, they are just hiding it under a surface of knowledge.
I would like to offer words of consolation to everyone but unfortunately I as ill prepared as the next person: the only thing I can advise is that it is a good idea to breathe in the good stuff and breathe out the bad stuff.
Apart from the philosophical and emotional confusion, there is also a good practical question of what to buy: it may be that we can’t go to the shops soon and it is good to be prepared. Fortunately, with my lifelong background as a food obsessed person, I have gained some knowledge in that area so I will be making some suggestions below with the hope that it will help someone.
It is important that you keep all the required nutrients in stock as it might not be possible to pop over to the shops to get something you may have forgotten, dried foods, rice, pasta, noodles, couscous etc. are the stable thing to stock. Go for the wholegrain variety as they keep your system going better and do not transform to sugars that quickly. I will talk about sugars more below.
Dried and canned beans may be a good idea as the dried ones can be easily transformed to a good dish with overnight soaking and they have a lot of protein in them. Also nuts work well in this respect and it is good to soak them overnight too to release their nutrients. Of course, those pastasauces are good to get too but make sure that they do not contain any sugar.
Protein is good to have in stock as this keeps you feeling full and thus alleviates stress and anxiety. However, protein contains a lot of calories so use it consciously: exercise may be limited now and putting on weight is unnecessary worry. One good and nutritious food is sesame seed pasta, tahini, that contains a lot of Calcium and Magnesium, both good nutrients to keep anxiety at bay.
Green is the colour of hope and growth, add that as much as you can in any form that, lettuce, broccoli, fresh beans etc.
Sugars and all sweets are foods that give a good amount of dopamine in a short period of time so they are tempting food to go for. However, they should be avoided now for many reasons:
1. Viruses LOVE sugar: if you have any in your body at the moment, sweetness gives them a good breeding ground.
2. Sugary foods occupy the digestive system and the all-important immune function (which mainly comes from the gut) doesn’t get the room it needs right now.
3. Sugar feeds the feelings of high and low so you may have more mood swings due to that.
4. Sugary foods are full of additives, E-numbers, preservatives etc and they can cause imbalance in the system too. Not something you would want when you are spending your time indoors!
Of course, sweet treats are favourite with the kids but might be also fun to bake with them: it doesn’t get done that often nowadays with our busy schedules and it all being readily available. I will try to find good, sugar free easy recipe for kids and post them here soon.
Stay healthy, wash hands and express your love and support to one another, we all could use more of that in our lives.
