For those individuals who have battled COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, whether the infection was mild or severe, it needs a long road to recovery. For COVID long haulers, debilitating after-effects such as headaches, chronic fatigue, problem in breathing, joint pains, changes in taste and smell, medication-induced dry mouth, brain fog, sleep problems, and multiple other symptoms linger for a long time.
Avni Kaul says all those factors affect the quality of your life eventually.
This blog, by India’s eminent Nutritionist and Dietician Avni Kaul, focuses on a post-COVID diet that talks about how eating healthy, staying hydrated, and looking after your gut can help you towards better recovery.
Focus on Wholesome Food
Coronavirus stresses your body extensively and the multiple medicines debilitate the body. Therefore, it is important to include foods that are high in vitamin A, E, and minerals such as zinc and magnesium to help the body to heal better and to build immunity.
Do Not Skip Meals
As stated above, the body feels weaker after the infection. Thus, it is not time to skip meals at all. Allow the body to recover first. At this time more calories will provide more energy to the body to counter off the infections and also help it recover faster and regain strength. Thus, eat nutritious foods.
Eat Protein
Eating a high-protein diet is vital in recovery as protein can help repair the damaged body tissues, make up for the muscle loss that occurred during the infection. Besides, sufficient protein in the diet is absolutely critical to keep the body’s immunity in good shape and save you from infections further.
Include lentils, legumes, nuts, dairy, eggs, white meat, soya, milk, and fish in your diet. Try to have at least 1 gram protein/kg of body weight every day.
For instance, if you weigh 50 kg, then ensure a minimum of 60 grams of protein every day. Make sure you have 1 to 2 portions of protein in each meal and have two protein-rich snacks each day too.
Stay Hydrated
Human body loses lots of fluids during infection so the first priority must be to replace that loss. Drink a lot of water to speed up the recovery. Target drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water every day and also include other hydrating drinks such as nimbu paani, coconut water, soups, green teas, and non-caffeinated drinks in your diet.
Look after your Gut
This virus leaves the gut in a bad shape leading to several gastric issues. The medicines, at times, kill the good bacteria too. So it is necessary to redevelop and rebalance the good against bad bacteria in the gut.
Include probiotic food in your meals daily. Also include some fermented food in your daily diet such as yogurt, kanji, idli, paneer, akhuni.
Eat Easily Digestible Food
It is wise to stick to home-cooked food for quick recovery. Give your digestive system a break by eating easy to digest dishes like khichri, poha, simple vegetables, and raita. Refrain from fried and rich food completely for a some time.
Sharpen your Memory
In an attempt to regain the weakened mental health such as lost attention, cognitive thinking abilities, and concentration, include iron rich foods such as extra-lean red meat, peas, beans dark green leafy vegetables, pomegranate, and dried apricots.
Omega 3 should be included too in the form of walnuts, flaxseeds, and monounsaturated fatty acids mostly available in vegetable oils and specifically, in extra virgin olive oil. You should also opt for B vitamins that are found in dairy, eggs, dark green leafy vegetables.
Enhance your Mood
Coronavirus is a big happiness sucker too. It leaves everyone dealing with sudden anxiety and mood blues. There are some happy nutrients and foods that can have a positive impact on your mood. Include them in your diet. Some of the top choices are turmeric, chickpeas, walnuts, apples, bananas, pumpkin seeds, and dried figs. Eat a minimum of two of these every day.
**This article has been written by team Nutri Activania**
Special Online Diet Program for Weight Loss and Immune Boosting
Staying fit and developing a strong immune system is the top priority for everyone to protect themselves and their families in these globally critical times. Hence maintaining a healthy body weight, defeat obesity, eating healthy immunity-boosting diets has become the call of the day.
To address some of the issues, India’s top therapeutic Nutritionist and Dietician Avni Kaul and her team of trained and qualified dieticians are going to stay connected with you and with your family that will include-
- Nutritionist Avni Kaul will do a detailed study of your test reports (during and post- any health recovery) and based on your current physical conditions – a dedicated customized plan would be developed for you and for your family.
- Regular video diet Counselling with Nutritionist Avni Kaul will monitor your health progress and upgrade your diet will be done.
- Nutritionist Avni Kaul and her team of trained dieticians will be personally in touch with you to motivate, monitor your daily health progress be it includes weight management or immune-boosting.
- Easy homemade and healthy recipes would be shared by the dedicated team of dieticians. These recipes will be developed as per your health improvement for weight loss and immune system development and food culture at home.
In Buenos Aires, 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games Nutritionist Avni Kaul was the Advisor (Nutrition) from India. She is a Gold-medallist master’s science graduate from the University of Delhi in the subject of Food and Nutrition. Avni Kaul is a diet and nutrition columnist in some of India's leading newspapers and magazines like -
Columnist at TimesNow
Columnist at NDTV Food
Columnist at Grazia
Columnist at Deccan Herald
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