The life of nearly every citizen in the world has been affected by COVID-19. Yet the long-term consequences of the pandemic will be felt most acutely by women and girls, as women have seen their workload increase both in and out of the home. School closures have left women to take on the role of educators and full-time caregivers, on top of the other roles they occupy.
While restrictions and social distancing guidelines have temporarily put a stop to or delayed some interventions, including weekly iron and folic acid supplementation (WIFAS) distributed through school systems and prenatal activities disrupted, the country is finding new and innovative opportunities to continue delivering quality nutrition and health services as possible to mitigate the impacts of the current health crisis and ensure it doesn’t leave women and girls further behind.
Along with the country’s efforts of ensuring delivery of quality health and nutrition services, it is also important that women and girls be informed of the things that they can do to ensure their own nutritional well-being even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Understandably, women’s lives have changed dramatically since COVID-19 stay at home policies. This has led to feelings of strong emotions like anxiety, isolation, and depression. These emotions can trigger poor eating habits and food choices. Keep in mind that adequate nutrition may include two sources of foods, primary and secondary foods. Primary foods might include our relationships, physical activity, career, spirituality, creativity, and others. Secondary foods are the foods we choose to eat. The time we are spending at home creates an opportunity to get in touch with many important aspects of nutrition including our food choices, how certain foods affect our body, and how much food we are consuming.
Here are some tips for women to stay healthy and strong during this time:
- Create a well-crafted grocery list that includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds, eggs and other healthy sources of protein and fats.
- Healthy daytime snacking food ideas: slices of fruits, yogurt, nuts and seeds, boiled sweetcorn and sweet potato
- Return to breakfast. Spending more time at home may provide an opportunity to become reacquainted with the most important meal of the day. Be mindful of breakfast options that make you feel your best.
- Ensure more physical activities at home. Doing some regular family activities like gardening together or general cleaning and organizing in your home not only promote physical activity but also result to quality time spent with your family.
- Create an easy to follow schedule. In between online classes and work from home set up, it is easy to get lost within that workload alone. This can sometimes lead to skipping meals and unhealthy snacking.
- Pay attention to key nutrients such as folic acid (folate), B vitamins, Vitamins D and E, calcium and iron. Supplements for these nutrients might be needed because women’s high requirements for the said nutrients may not be met by diet alone, especially during the quarantine period.
/AET
Reference:
- Nutrition International.Org
- https://www.emro.who.int
- https://www.helpguide.org
