Fear of Unknown– since the start it is something that has affected mankind in many ways. Naturally, we feel content and relax when we know the outcomes of our actions or work. Considering this the sudden outbreak of coronavirus was a huge blow for everyone. Not only it has shifted the paradigm of everything from temporary and transforming sectors but our lifestyle and eating habits as well.

In fact, the changing trends post-pandemic are important more than ever as not only are they providing an elaborate peek into the future of healthcare but of general well-being. Currently, the sound strategies and informed decisions are essential and way more than good business.

In a particular moment, amidst of pandemic, you might have noticed how lightly we have taken our health. While most of us were quarantined during the pandemic, our lives took a dramatic change.

No one was under such home-struck as in this pandemic. This situation led to strong mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, isolation and fear of the unknown. When we suffer from these emotions, we tend to develop poor eating food choices and eating habits and that’s what happened during the pandemic.

Food For You Body and Soul

Now, wait for a second, the sources of food is not just what we eat. There are two sources of food i.e. primary food source and secondary food source.

Primary food sources include our physical activity, relationships, career, creativity, spirituality etc. Secondary food sources are our diet and what we choose to eat. During the lockdown, both of these sources of food were immensely disturbed and hit. People did whatever they could even misuse of energy drinks and multivitamins without considering the myths regarding vitamins such as quick immunity booster. 

Normally, if we have observed that we work hard all day and only eat junk food or ready to make food just to save time. These eating habits greatly affect our immunity and mental health. The time of the pandemic had given us the opportunity to not only be in touch with ourselves but with our nutritional habits.

Opt Nutritional Habits For Healthy Life

Nutritional habits are essential, and this is due to the fact that during the early start of pandemic and no cure of COVID-19 was there, so people started panicking and Boost Your Immunity Naturally was trending. People took the wrong idea from this and from energy drinks to natural remedies to multivitamins, people took everything they could against it without even thinking about the myths related to multivitamins and other immune-boosting drinks. Immunity is not developed or is better in just a few days rather it’s a process and then people have strong immunity. 

While things would still take time to resume normally due to the pandemic, so if you haven’t had the chance to take care of your diet, you can do it now. Here are some life-changing simple tips that you can opt to build a strong immunity but is equally good for your mental well-being as well.

Monitor What You Crave!

Your cravings play a major role in having strong security against pathogens. Your strong emotions and the need to be alert or active may trigger the unhealthy eating habits that can further lower your mood. So you need to monitor your cravings.

Here are 8 triggers or factors that are related to your strong cravings for food:

1. Food and Mood Connection

Your mood is one of the key factors or triggers for this. Look out for your current emotion or mood. Are you excited? Are you stressed? Or do you feel happy or sad? In either case, the first thing that you will crave will be food. As either you will be craving for eating or listening to music or any spiritual exercise to calm yourself when you are stressed.

2. Hydration

When you are thirsty or there is dehydration (lack of water) in your body, then your body will start giving you signals that you are hungry and you need to eat more. So, it is very important that you drink sufficient water but avoid drinking water right before bedtime.

3. Balanced Diet

Are you someone who eats a particular type of food more than the other? If you are consuming sugar a lot in your diet then you need to be careful as it leads to an increased craving for the meat. And if you are eating too many raw foods then again you would have an increased craving of the extremely cooked food and vice versa as well.

4. Season’s Effect

You might have noticed that as the season changes, we crave for certain food more than the previous season, for example in summer you might crave for fruits and juices more while in winter, you crave for foods that are heat-producing such as hot chocolate, meat, dried fruits or other fatty foods. You can easily explore which is your favourite food that you love to enjoy eating.

5. Tame and Control Your Inner Child

We often crave foods that we loved as a child, that’s why some people can’t get over with the sweet dishes, boxed macaroni or anything that was comforting for you during childhood. But, as you age, certain foods aren’t good for your body, so instead you go and eat what makes you happy, you need to be more mindful of the eating habits for your healthy life. 

6. Hormones

Your hormones not only play with your emotions but also trigger unhealthy eating habits. During the time of menstruation, pregnancy, menopause or other hormonal imbalance, then the level of estrogen and testosterone is fluctuating more than you’d be craving for different kinds of foods, especially women.

7. Your Body Speaks

You need to be very attentive and listen to your body, as your body gives you signals and can tell when you are lacking any nutrient. You will have odd food cravings when your body lacks any nutrient. For example craving for ice indicates lack of iron and even craving for salt highlights the deficiency of the mineral in your body.

8. Are You Eating Healthy and Enough Food?

Last, but not least, You become what you eat so you need to eat right and enough. You’ll have more mood swings if you are on a low sugar level. Your body needs a balanced diet for you to function properly.

Nutritional Care Tips for You

Due to the pandemic, not only decreasing the cost of effective and sustainable healthcare is quite appealing, but before that maintaining a balanced and healthy diet is more important to keep your immune system strong to fight against the infections. So here are some general tips and healthy foods to maintain a balanced diet.

• Add veggies and fruits in your Diet
• Have small but frequent meals 
• Stay hydrated and drink plenty of fluids
• Vitamin A-rich foods (sweet potato, carrots, cantaloupe, beef liver, red peppers, eggs, mango)
• Vitamin C rich foods (orange, red pepper, kiwi, broccoli, grapefruit, strawberries, Brussels sprout, cauliflower, cabbage etc.)
• Vitamin D rich foods (mushrooms, eggs, tuna fish, milk, whole grain cereals, cod liver oil, sardines, salmon, yoghurt)
• Vitamin E rich foods (almonds, sunflower seeds, spinach, peanuts, peanut butter, sunflower oil, tomato and wheat germ)
• When you feel unwell here are some foods that will make you feel good and better (banana, brown rice, peppermint, herbal or ginger tea, unsweetened apple sauce, yoghurt, cream of wheat or oatmeal, smoothies)

TakeAway Note,

It’s difficult to change the eating habits readily but it is equally important so you need to be firm on your eating habits this year. You need to make such changes that are sustainable and that you need to need to incorporate daily in your life so that you live a healthy life. The year 2020 was a challenge both for your health and healthcare services but, since we all are in the year 2021, so we need to make the most out of it.