Tips for Covid-19: Maintaining a Healthy Diet: In Quarantine, and After

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For many across the country, the experience of quarantine and social distancing has gone on for several weeks. Even at SBRC, we are scratching our heads at dinner time, trying to think of new, creative ideas for what to eat! Many families are making all their meals at home, while others are using curbside pickup and delivery options from their favorite local restaurants. Coupled with what for many has resulted in reduced physical activity, we thought it would be a good idea to review some tips for maintaining healthy eating habits during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this article we will focus on nutrition; advice on food safety can be found here.

It is important to consider your personal health conditions (or those of the people you prepare food for) when making food choices. One should carefully consider levels of sodium, sugars and cholesterol in foods; this should be considered across all meals consumed in a day to reduce risk, and is especially the case for patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, autoimmune diseases and other diagnoses. Think carefully especially when ordering out, where there is less control over ingredients. Alcohol consumption should be carefully monitored as well. The United States Department of Agriculture has released a useful phone app on it’s website called the MyPlateApp to help families design a plan that meets their food preferences, health goals, and budget.
MyPlateApp

And don’t forget to drink plenty of water!

One final note: Smoking is well known to be significantly associated with many negative outcomes, including respiratory disease and cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that indoor smoking poses significant health risks, especially for young children and people with asthma:

2ndHandSmoke

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