Tips for Staying Healthy at Home

These days, most of us are forced to significantly reduce physical activity. Sitting at home, we entertain ourselves by preparing and then eating a variety of and often high-calorie dishes. Low mobility coupled with an unbalanced diet can be detrimental to your health, and weight gain is far from the worst thing that can happen. Decreased immunity, metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders, exacerbation of chronic diseases, insomnia, irritability – this is an incomplete list of potential health problems that await people locked in apartments. We have prepared detailed instructions on how to eat properly during home quarantine.

1. Make up the diet

The lack of habitual physical activity must be taken into account when drawing up your menu. It is impossible to get better if you forget about the basic needs of the body for basic nutrients. Your diet should contain a sufficient amount of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. They are needed in order to support the body’s defenses.

During quarantine, any restrictive diets, other than those recommended by a doctor (for example, for diabetes, diseases of the digestive system, etc.), are unacceptable. Do not take this time as an opportunity to try all diets for fear that we are limited in energy expenditure at home. The diet at home should meet all the basic needs of the body. Then the person will be full but will not add extra pounds.

Main dish

Protein meals should be on our plate 3 times a day. Protein is essential as a plastic material, including for cells of the immune system. It can be meat, fish, poultry, egg white, cottage cheese. Canned meat or fish will work, but it is best to prefer canned food in your own juice or tomato sauce rather than oil. The more oil and fat, the more excess calories. One serving of a protein meal should be 100 – 150 grams.

The calorie content of the daily diet for women should be within 1800 kcal – 2000 kcal; for men, 2000-2500 kcal.

Garnish

A protein dish is the main component but not a complete meal. It needs a side dish. If you do not want to gain weight, then the side dishes should mainly be vegetables. You should eat cereals, pasta, potatoes no more than one serving a day. Fresh vegetables (salad or just slicing), stewed vegetables are perfect as a side dish.

Soups

In order for food to be complete, satisfying, but without extra calories, soups are definitely needed. They are quite satisfying, you can eat a lot of them, and do not contain extra calories. You can eat soups with pleasure and stay fit. It is good to add fresh herbs to soups, especially since it can be grown on a windowsill, garlic and onions.

Hot liquid meals improve the digestive system. Since their main component is most often vegetables, it is a source of nutrients, fiber and antioxidants. Part can be destroyed during processing. But carotenoids and other pigments in carrots and beets do not break down, have antioxidant properties and help our body maintain its defenses.

Cellulose

Fiber has amazing properties: on the one hand, it suppresses increased appetite, on the other hand, it does not contain extra calories, on the third, it is food for the beneficial intestinal microflora. And our immunity largely depends on this. The main sources of fiber are fruits, vegetables, berries, and grains. Another important source of fiber is seaweed, which contains dietary fiber, as well as iodine and other trace elements that we need. Stewing, boiling and baking are the priority methods for preparing vegetable side dishes and protein dishes.

Dairy products

Don’t forget about fermented milk products. It is not only a source of calcium and phosphorus. Milk contains live cultures of lacto- and bifidobacteria. They improve the composition and create favorable conditions for the life of our microflora, which has a positive effect on immunity.

Snack

Fruit is the best snack between meals. Eating at least 3 fruits a day between meals will help prevent hunger and overeat. Apples, citrus fruits, kiwi, berries, apple and carrot salads, fruit puree made from any fruits, vegetables and berries are suitable. Vegetables and fruits are low in calories.

2. Strengthen the immune system

It is important to fill your diet with foods that strengthen immunity as much as possible. What can be classified in this category?

• Onions, garlic contain phytoncides, have an antimicrobial effect, are a means of preventing seasonal colds and even viral diseases;
• Many spices have antiseptic properties, support the body’s defenses. It is very good to add ginger to hot drinks – it relieves sore throats with a cold;
• Berries are an excellent addition to tea as a healthy dessert, they are rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants due to the fact that they have been frozen, and this is the most gentle way of storage, it preserves the most useful properties of the product;
• Fruits and vegetables are an important source of vitamins and fiber.

3. Exclude “unnecessary” staff

Quick food and low mobility are prohibited. All kinds of snacks, sandwiches are high in calories, contain a lot of excess fat, while we eat them without even noticing. Confectionery, sweets, chocolate, cookies should also be excluded. Prepare desserts from low-fat cottage cheese, berries, fruits and yogurt. This is both healthy and tasty.

We recover when we cease to control food and eat a lot on the go, on the run, when there is only an opportunity to drink tea with a sandwich or with something sweet and rich. If you exclude such snacks and make all meals complete, you will stay in a shape. And you will not have a feeling of hunger either.

4. Observe the drinking regime

Our body is designed in such a way that it will not allow you to starve yourself with thirst. The total amount of liquid on average should be 1.5 liters per day. This includes all drinks and liquid meals throughout the day. Remember that some drinks remove more liquid than they give. For example, this is coffee, green tea.

In order to compensate for these possible losses, it is recommended to additionally drink 1-2 glasses of regular drinking water per day. Focus on the feeling of thirst. If you have expended more energy than usual or are simply thirsty, drink water.

5. Give up alcohol

Alcoholic drinks are sometimes considered a universal remedy for all diseases and viruses. However, we have to disappoint you. Alcohol is a toxic substance that has a destructive effect on the liver and brain, it dulls vigilance, distorts the perception of reality. It is undesirable to consume alcoholic beverages since they create an additional toxic load, which undermines the body’s defenses.

6. Train at home

If it’s impossible to go jogging to a nearby park, you can find an hour or two for daily exercise at home. You can work out with or without various sports accessories. There are a huge number of online courses and applications that can help you find the optimal exercise and calculate the load.

7. Don’t panic

One of the reasons many of us gain weight is because of stress seizures, and we have plenty of it right now. Being isolated, working from home, people experience anxiety, a sense of loss of control, all feelings and problems are exacerbated. Isolation makes it difficult for most people to relieve themselves – going out with friends, having fun, shopping. Do not give in to panic – you are not alone in this situation, most of the world is experiencing it with you. Try to limit yourself from unnecessary information, take the necessary measures, do not look for imaginary symptoms, and if necessary, remember that you can always ask for help in Vaughan.