Diet and Corona virus Tip 7: Are we recommended to take any nutrition supplements during this time?

For most of us, our diet can provide us with pretty much everything our body needs. However, Vitamin C, Zinc, probiotics and Vitamin D supplements may have a role to play for some people.

Vitamin C

Our daily requirements for Vitamin C are about 40mg a day.  If you were eating your 5 fruits and veggies a day, its likely that you will easily get up to 200mg a day already! And its not just citrus fruits like oranges that give us vitamin C! Red peppers for example are some of the best sources of vitamin C. Only ½ a cup of chopped red pepper provides us with almost 100mg of vitamin C (4)! That’s more than double your requirements already!

However, there has been a lot of research into vitamin C supplements and their effect on the chances of catching a cold and the duration and severity of colds. Firstly, there is no clear benefit seen of taking vitamin C supplements every day to prevent a cold, except if you are doing “severe physical exercise” on a regular basis. However, there may be some benefit to taking a vitamin C supplement just when you are starting to have a cold. There is some evidence to say that it might then help to slightly reduce the duration and severity of your cold (5).

Zinc

Zinc supplements also have a large body of research done for them, and it was found that a zinc supplement may shorten the duration of the common cold, however they found that more research needs to be done to see if there are any risks associated with taking a supplement (6). I guess general recommendation again here is to only consider taking a zinc supplement when you have a cold, rather than taking it on a daily basis.

Probiotics

Another supplement group that has shown links to helping keep our immune system well are the probiotics. There is a small amount of evidence to show that taking a probiotic may reduce the incidence and during of respiratory tract infections (7). However, there is more research needed before we can make this a firmer recommendation. Again this highlights that our gut does play a large role in our immune system, and including a good variety and plenty of fruits and veg can also help to keep our gut in good shape.

Vitamin D

And lastly, if you have low vitamin D levels, then a vitamin D supplement may be useful to help keep your immune system healthy. Research shows that vitamin supplements may help protect against respiratory tract infections, especially for people who have very low vitamin D levels (8). As Vitamin D is difficult to find in our diet alone, we mostly rely on our summer sunshine to build up our vitamin D stores. It is possible that your vitamin d levels are lower after winter, so some people may indeed benefit from taking a small vitamin D supplement daily until they can get back into the summer sun!

And what can I do with my diet if I do fall ill with COVID-19, or a cold or flu?

If your appetite is reduced, I would recommend to continue trying to eat variety where possible. If you don’t have an appetite for your 3 big meals a day, consider having three smaller meals and three substantial snacks between your meals to catch up. We call this pattern “little and often”. For your snacks, try to include a bit of carbohydrate such as bread, pasta, rice, crackers, fruit or starchy veg and a portion of protein such as eggs, meat, poultry, dairy foods, beans or nuts. Ideas might be toast and peanut butter, crackers and cheese or pasta salad with eggs.

If your appetite is significantly reduced, then typical “healthy eating” recommendations may have to go on the back burner. You may then need to focus on getting in enough calories and protein to help you fuel your body through the infection using more “nutrient dense” foods. Consider including some high calorie foods more regularly, such as oils, fats and sugars if needed. You may not have an appetite for wholegrain rice and veggie salads, but you may feel more able to get your calories from a slice of apple pie and custard.

And of course, stay hydrated through it all! If you have a fever, you will need to increase your fluids to balance out the fluids you lose from sweating. People often find warmer drinks more comforting but do consider colder drinks also to refresh and cool you. Again, more nutrient-dense drinks may be useful if your appetite is poor, so consider soups, juice, milk, milk shakes and milky teas/coffees if this is the case!

Of course guys, there are plenty of non-food habits that can help keep us feeling well. Getting enough sleep and exercise, minding our mental health, washing our hands and keeping our social distance are all part of it. However, there are people with far more expertise in these areas out there, so do seek out the experts for more info on these.

Now as promised, lets consider some ways that we can help to keep our minds immune to the madness using food! I know there are countless foodies out there, so please do add to this list by commenting down below!

Here are my top foodie things to do while staying at home!

Foodie home fun tip 1: Get your bake on!

Those brown bananas in the back of the press are finally getting to shine in your banana bread! And dig out those cookie cutters at the back of the press for some shortbread shapes.

Foodie home fun tip 2: Bulk cook and freeze.

Why not spend a spare afternoon bulk cooking some meals and freezing them! They may come in handy for a time when you do not feel up for cooking!

Foodie home fun tip 3: Try out some new recipes.

Have a go at cooking a new recipe. Take out those cooking books, or check out one of the millions of recipe websites out there! Or get intuitive with a recipe you know and love. See if you can swap around ingredients, make a veggie version of it, or introduce a new flavor! You can see my recent post on “Intuitive cooking” here for some great ideas!

Foodie home fun tip 4: Prepare and serve a meal in a restaurant-worthy style.

This might be a fun one for the kids. Put them in charge with coming up with a menu (using ingredients in the cupboard), and get them involved in whichever steps of the prep/cooking/serving of the dishes you feel comfortable! If we cannot attend restaurants right now, bring the restaurant into your home!

Foodie home fun tip 5: Refresh your cupboards, fridge and freezer.

Mandatory time at home may be a perfect opportunity to clear our heads by clearing our food storage spaces. Those baking presses, back of fridge shelves and frozen-over freezers may be hiding some real gems, and possibly also some horrors! Fored spring cleaning is definitely on the cards here in my house!

Foodie home fun tip 6: Plant stalks/onions/sprouting potatoes.

Did you know that there are several food scraps that can be replanted or regrown! Most things that come with a root system (for example spring onions and heads of lettuce with roots) can be planted and regrow to an extent? I personally sit my batch of spring onions in a tall glass jar with some water, and rarely have to buy new stalks as they continue producing new fresh green shoots to eat. Another fun activity could be to plant a sprouting onion in a pot with soil – chances are that it may grow into a fresh onion plant, which can have gorgeous white flowers!

Please do comment below with some of your very own foodie fun ideas to do while staying home during this time!

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