How Should Our Diet Be While Working At Home?

21.04.2020News From Ford

Merve Yavuz Diyetisyen

Many employers have transformed into the "home office" system with the increasing prevalence of COVID-19 in our country along with the world. It is vital for us and the health of the individuals around us that we pay attention to adequate and balanced nutrition to maintain a strong immune system.

If we look at the other side of the coin, it will be inevitable to create a positive energy balance in our body due to the decrease in our physical activity, that is, if the energy we receive is higher than the energy we spend, we would gain weight. We should remember that trying to maintain a strong immunity does not mean increasing the consumption of food that has no nutritional value and discontinuing healthy diets. On the contrary, we should pay more attention to adequate and balanced nutrition in this period. Eating healthy and nutritious food at the rate of our body's needs will always strengthen our immune system. So, let's look at the things we can do while working at home to avoid getting extra calories and continue a healthy diet:

• First, you should definitely start the day with breakfast. A healthy and protein-rich breakfast will both enable you to start the day spryly and prevent you from having unnecessary snacks by keeping you full for a long time.

• Limiting the consumption of tea or coffee and instead preferring herbal teas such as linden, garden sage, Echinacea, thyme, lemon balm, daisy and green tea (except pregnancy-lactation-chronic disease situations) provides protection against infections. Especially in order to protect your sleep order which is one of the keystones of the immune system, it is important to stop caffeine intake by 6 pm.

• Consume at least 5-6 servings of vegetables and fruits during the day. To ensure that you are consuming enough greenery, make sure you eat tomatoes, cucumbers and plenty of greenery at breakfast; plenty of salad with your main meal and have a vegetable dish with olive oil in at least one main meal. You can place your fruit preferences as snacks for refreshments. If you are suffering iron deficiency, you can choose greenery (parsley, arugula, green pepper) or kiwi, orange, fruits, etc. to make more use of the iron in the egg that you eat at breakfast. Because foods rich in vitamin C increase the absorption of iron, making it possible to make better use of the iron in foods.

• Pay attention to fibrous food to avoid digestive system problems (constipation-indigestion-bloating, etc.) due to decreased physical activity. Replace items such as white bread, white rice and white pasta with wholegrain-brown pasta, bulgur and oat cereals to achieve this. Consume dried legumes such as green lentils, chickpeas, and haricot beans at least two days a week. Try to consume the fruits and vegetables themselves instead of drinking their juice.

• In order to increase intestinal motility, do not forget to consume plenty of water besides fibrous food. Drink at least 8-10 glasses of water a day.

• Increase your probiotic consumption. Consume dairy products such as yogurt and kefir at main meals and refreshments. Daily consumption of a glass of kefir will both help your digestive system to work regularly and contribute to the immunity strength particularly during this period.

• Do not bring unhealthy supermarket foods such as chocolate, biscuits, crackers, muffins, cookies, pastries, donuts, buns, etc. to your home if possible. Try making your own snacks at home by yourself. This will prevent you from consuming unnecessary calories in emotional eating situations and will encourage you to produce healthy options.

• Add oily seeds rich in vitamin E, such as walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, and peanuts to your refreshments.

• Pay attention to avoid sitting constantly during the day. Try stretching or exercises that you can perform with your own bodyweight at home.