Nowadays, whenever I enter into the hospital, the wave of swine flu automatically occupy my mind. With the H1N1being in the air, everyone in the hospital is wearing mask all the time. All are curious about the progression of already affected swine flu patients. Oh Heat of swine flu is on. Lot of people are coming to me daily, asking about how to prevent one from getting it. In view of the greater public interest, I have started writing this article about swine flu. WHO has recently stated that "Healthy people who catch mild to moderate cases of swine flu do not need the drug, but children less than 5year old, pregnant women, people over age 65 and those with other health problems like heart disease, HIV, or diabetes should definitely get the drug. So one way to dispel your fear of swine flu is to boost your immunity. Here are some dietary tips to help you do that.
Remember if you are suffering from fever, your requirement for calorie and protein also goes up to meet the high metabolic demand of your body. Always have good quality protein like fish, egg whites. And if you are vegetarian, conscious effort should be made to include paneer, cheese, soya and its products, mushroom etc.
Increase intake of vegetables and fruits. One green leafy and one other vegetable should certainly be a part of your daily diet as well as you should include variety of fruits also. Opt for more of whole grain cereals like ragi.oats, whole wheat flour etc. rather than polished one.
Include a handful of nuts everyday into your daily diet like walnuts,almonds,pista,dry figs etc.
Drink plenty of fluid either in the form of vegetable juice,soup,coconut water throughout the day. Increase intake of antioxidants by proper selection of fruits and vegetable. Add variety of color to your diet like green, red yellow,purple,orange etc.
Increase intake of vitamin c through amla, guava, cabbage, capsicum and all the citrus juices. Get the lycopene,a powerful antioxidant from tomato.
Add magnesium Magnesium can help you to cope better with respiratory problems like those caused by swine flu. For that, you can add coarse cereals, pulses like rajmah, whole Channa, soybean, whole mung etc., nuts and oil seeds, fruits like mango, plum, banana, vegetables like radish pink, lotus stem etc.
De-stress yourself by increasing the amount of food rich in serotonin. (Ref my previous article tips to become happy through diet). Get omega 3 fatty acid through consuming walnuts (5-10 nos.), flax seeds (one tablespoon daily), fatty fish etc.
