Will coronavirus times set back healthy trends?

Supermarket shelves can’t be stocked fast enough as we’re hunkering down and getting ready to depend on the food in our kitchen.

A few reports interpret the booming sales of processed and packaged foods as the reversal of  healthy eating trends –people grabbing canned meat and soup, boxed mac & cheese and Oreos, rather than kale and quinoa.

This is unlikely. People’s shopping during stressful times is a very poor predictor of eating trends. The ridiculous depletion of toilet paper doesn’t signify that something has changed in our bowel movements. We’re irrational beings, and in stress, we hoard weird things. Stocking on shelf-stable products – even some that you hope you’ll never get to use – isn’t even irrational in these uncertain times.

I predict that eating habits will improve. Here’s why:

Best time to look at what you eat

A health scare often motivates the most reluctant of people to change their ways. Covid-19 is a shared transformational health threat, and it seems like suddenly we’re all focused on wellness. We are now one unit, trying our best to reduce the burden on the medical system by staying healthy.

And besides excellent hand hygiene and social distancing, our best defense against Covid-19 is to nurture our immune system. The way to do that is by eating well, getting enough sleep, keeping calm and exercising.

In time we’ll have research about the interaction between certain nutrition elements and the new coronavirus. For now, we can safely assume that what’s true for other infectious diseases is true for Covid-19. Malnutrition is a known immunosuppressant and a risk factor for infectious disease. Caloric overload can also make you less resistant to infections: During the H1N1 flu pandemic obesity was found to predict worse outcomes.

Healthy diets and exercise protect and mitigate other diseases – type 2 diabetes and heart disease to name a few – and chronic diseases are a major risk factor for complicated and severe Covid-19. The metabolic health of our population is alarming: only about 12 percent of US adults have no metabolic risk factors – metabolic health is highly influenced by lifestyle. Our public health grade is nothing to brag about, and if we previously believed that there’ll always be a pill for anything thrown at us, Covid-19 is a stark awakening; brilliant scientists and health professionals will eventually find some solutions, but we must do our share and take better care of ourselves.

These difficult times are an opportunity to boost our health by improving our diet.

Home cooking will improve your health

In ordinary times many meals are outsourced. People don’t have the time, don’t have the skills, and also, just don’t feel like cooking. Many used to believe they could live happily ever after without even the most basic cooking skills.

These scary times prove otherwise.

This is the time to realize that cooking isn’t hard, it isn’t necessarily time consuming, it’s satisfying, and if you have kids at home, they’ll be happy to learn and to help. Kids are very happy to have important jobs, and very proud of their kitchen creations.

If you’re new to ways of the kitchen there’s never been a better time for basic cooking. We’re not entertaining, and your household knows that you can’t get any exotic ingredient on your wish list. Start simply and build on your successes. Like any other skill, practice and gradual learning will make it better and better.

Home cooked meals are usually healthier. You won’t be adding as much salt, fat and sugar when you’re cooking for yourself, and you likely don’t have artificial ingredients and preservatives in your pantry.

Cook from your pantry paying special attention to pulses (such as beans, lentils, chickpeas and dried peas) and whole grains (such as rice, quinoa, farro), add as many fresh vegetables and fruit as you can procure (there are luckily no shortages in the markets), indulge every once in a while but try to limit added sugar, boredom- and stress-eating.

Food gratitude

For those of us who are food secure, the robust food supply chain has been such a constant, that we almost stopped noticing its parts and its whole.

Now that some shelves are empty, now that we have to go without some of the items that we need or like, now that we need to think about every trip to the grocery store, we’re realizing how lucky we were.

Now that food workers are named essential workers, now that we have to imagine our lives without the people who make our food, now’s the time to say thank you, to support them, and to never again take any of them for granted.

This is the time to reach out and express our gratitude to farmers, producers, grocers, delivery people, cashiers and the people stocking our shelves. They are working especially hard right now; they are part of the front-line in the struggle against the pandemic. They continue to show up to work – for us – despite the risk.

I have a feeling we’ll emerge from this with a renewed respect for health, for good food, and for the very many people who feed us.

We are social beings, staying away from each other is very hard; I’m confident that when this all ends we will share healthy meals together once again.

Stay strong and connected,

Dr. Ayala