HOW NOT TO EAT YOUR WAY THRU A PANDEMIC
In all the information out there being bombarded at us concerning staying safe during the Covid-19 crisis, the same themes persist. Wash hands, maintain appropriate social distancing, try to manage your stress levels. Oh sure, that’s an easy one! All good advice, but it is a really rare day to see what I feel should be one of the most basic and common sense ideas out there….building up your immune system through a healthy diet! Try to think back on the last article or news clip you read about staying safe and try to recall the glorification of eating fresh vegetables and fruit. Pretty unlikely. Is there food talk out there right now? Yes. Unholy amounts of cheesy and rich comfort food, cocktails for lunch and oh-what-the-hell-I’m-stuck-home-anyway screens full of gooey caramel Oreo dripping brownies to drown your anxiety in. But all that endless pajama clad fun baking comes at a price when we can ill afford to pay it.
Truth is, up to 80% of our immune system foundation starts in our gut biome, and excess sugar consumption creates a rich diet for inflammation to feast on. Inflammation, which can also be exasperated by excessive gluten, meat and dairy consumption, is the core of almost all dysfunction in our body. When our bodies get invaded by a virus, our liver and other organs go on the attack to protect us but when they are already stressed and functioning below par, we are at an immediate disadvantage. An apple a day may not forever keep Covid-19 away, but wouldn’t it be comforting to know when we eat whole foods we are providing extra armies working overtime to keep our health intact?
So what can you do when all the stressors we are suddenly dealing with sheltering at home, possibly losing income and having our lives turned upside down are tempting you to jump head first into a giant martini and 4 slices of Monster Meat Deep Dish Pizza? Stop, breathe, and realize you are living thru this scary time with millions of others and allow yourself to actually feel your feelings. Then with a sense of humor, think about your new daily eating habits and see if you are mindlessly eating your way thru the days with no structure out of boredom, because of bickering kids stuck inside, nervous energy or if you are truly hungry. Seriously, I have chowed my way thru a bag of honey mustard pretzels while scrolling thru a bunch of coronavirus updates on my laptop and having no recollection of chewing all that food!
Next time you head to the grocery store with face wrap in place for your weekly shopping outing, make a list. No, really, it sounds silly, but make a list with veggies and fruit you and your family will eat and put those in your cart first. Intention is the first step. (If you spent any time in a grocery store during the early panic shopping weeks, you saw cases of soda, ramen noodles, canned spaghettios, and every form of junk food heaped in carts. No real thought put into that but rather old habits or grab what everyone else is hoarding!) Create a week of menus with set meals and dishes to make instead of planning to “wing it”. Grab a trusted cookbook, look up some favorite healthier food blogs or go on Pinterest and stop typing in cinnamon rolls and instead type in Quick Healthy Meals. Bloggers are going out of their way right now to post a zillion easy and cheap meals you can whip up from pantry ingredients or that old package of chicken thighs you unearthed from the freezer. There are so many great ideas out there using beans, grains, pasta, basic veggies in the fridge like carrots and cauliflower, and even frozen veggies. Any combo of fruits in the blender or a green smoothie of cucumber, spinach, celery and orange or mango will give you several servings of fresh produce in one tasty glassful. Got a box of mixed greens languishing because your family doesn’t dig salad? Set up a salad bar with toppers like sunflower or pumpkin seeds, grapes, cheese crumbles, olives, cucumber and carrot strips (use a veggie peeler), or drag out that spiralizer and make oodles of zoodles and other curly produce. Just about any veggie minced up can happily sneak into a lasagna and you don’t even need the greasy hamburger in there. Clean out the fridge veggie trays with dip, stir fries, soups and omelets are all fast simple ways to push the whole food agenda and not let anything go to waste. There is no better time to try your hand at some healthier recipes with the added gift of time in our days (and a captive audience to test them!) and never a better time to reduce our dependence on highly processed toxic food that never served us well.
I challenge you to invite this incredible team of hard working food warriors, fresh fruit and vegetables full of vitamins and antioxidants, into your family’s routine. We need every health advantage we can get these days in the shadow of a pandemic. And tho you may struggle to find a package of toilet paper, I promise you nobody will be arm wrestling you for the last bag of carrots!
Healthy Chef Shell
