Cebu City – As COVID-19 continues to make strides in headlines all over the world as the surge of Omicron variant cases rise especially in the Philippines, we also look at how this pandemic is affecting every aspect of our daily lives not to mention our eating habits. Personally, I think a lot of people are missing out on the opportunity to support the body’s immune system through good nutrition but instead individuals right away resort to medication as a cure. This is your chance to right your actions with the means to battle COVID-19 with Nutrition.

Here are 5 tips to take note to support your body against COVID-19:

• Eat fruits daily – Eating fruits daily ensures a nutrient-dense and healthful means to boost your immune system. Since fruits typically contain a lot of vitamins and minerals, they are up on the list of options in supporting the body against COVID-19. Guava, apple, banana, strawberry, cantaloupe melon, grapefruit, pineapple, papaya, orange are your good sources. However, it’s a different story with diabetics so just observe caution.

• Don’t overcook vegetables – Vegetables are a rich source of vitamins and minerals, and they usually are stored in the water content of vegetables. And as water is heated it evaporates so the longer the cooking time, the more you will lose nutrients. We need to be mindful of maximizing the nutrient quality of our meals.

• Introduce fermented food – Fermented foods contain a lot of “good bacteria”, nutritionally speaking “probiotics”, and these are good for your gut health in turn is good for your immune system. Fermented food like kimchi, yogurt, pickled onions, etc.

• Stick to choosing whole fresh foods – You always have the opportunity every day to take advantage of using fresh produce and minimize the consumption of processed food as they compromise your immune system.

• Drink more water – Preventing dehydration is not the only reason why we need to drink water, supporting your body by ridding it of toxins with the help of drinking more water should also be the case. Plus, water is the medium for our immune system so a little extra hydration will help. // NO I Gab Flores, RND