Three dietary keys for home care of mild illness, understand them in seconds with one table! Nutritionist reveals: High calories, high protein, and high water content are smart supplements

As the number of confirmed cases locally increases, the number of people with mild symptoms who need home care has also increased significantly. If patients with mild symptoms want to use the time to recuperate at home to speed up their recovery, what nutritional supplements do they need to pay attention to? It helps increase the body's ability to fight viruses, and what other precautions should be taken? The three major strategies for home care diet proposed by nutritionists, including "high calories, high protein, and high water content", can also help the body repair after the diagnosis and isolation.

Whether you are a confirmed patient who is recovering or a recovered patient who has been released from isolation and is worried about sequelae, nutritional care in your daily diet is very important and is the key to defeating the virus and recovering health! What are the key nutrients that need to be supplemented? Nutritionist Gao Minmin said that once you get sick, you will lose your vitality. In order to avoid excessive physical exertion, you must increase your calorie intake to counteract the loss in the body. In addition, protein supplementation can help prevent muscle loss and waste, and maintaining adequate water intake can allow normal metabolism and avoid aggravation of discomfort symptoms.

The three key dietary elements, including "high calories, high protein, and high water content", also help with repair.

【Three Keys to Diet for Mild Home Care】

Key 1: Increase high calorie intake

Benefits: Increasing calorie intake provides enough calories to counteract body consumption.

After being infected, you may feel weak, tired, and sick. Because the body is under high pressure, the energy metabolism demand will be greatly increased. So in order to increase the body's energy, the following suggestions are given:

1. Increase 250-500 calories per day:

It is recommended to consume more fresh raw foods in the diet to increase calories to counteract the body's consumption.

2. Eat small and frequent meals:

Even if you are not hungry or have a decreased appetite, you must ensure that you have enough calories to reduce the consumption of your body.

3. Increase energy density of food:

Energy can be increased by consuming fatty foods. Suitable foods include avocados, nut drinks, nut bars, etc.

4. Supplement nutritional health food:

If necessary, you can supplement with B vitamins to help maintain energy metabolism; in addition, supplementing with vitamin C has antioxidant effects and can repair the respiratory mucosa.

Key 2: Supplement protein nutrition

Benefits: Supplementing protein nutrition can prevent muscle loss.

Nutritionist Gao Minmin said that the body will be weak after being infected and needs to increase its recovery ability after recovery. Sufficient protein is one of the key raw materials for repairing lung epithelial cells and upper respiratory tract mucosal cells. Since the virus can trigger the body's immune system and produce inflammatory factors, which in turn can cause inflammation of the body, the elderly who are physically weaker need to pay more attention.

1. Daily protein intake:

The normal protein requirement for an adult is about 0.8 to 1.2 g/day per kilogram of body weight. A piece of meat the size of three fingers can provide about 7 g of protein.

2. Mainly based on prototype high-quality protein:

Eat soy products including fish, eggs, meat, etc., and avoid processed meat products.

3. You can make your own milkshake:

Using soy milk, milk, yogurt with bananas and nuts to make a high-protein, high-energy milkshake is a good choice.

4. Consume high protein drinks:

If you can't eat or when necessary, you can use high-protein drinks or formulated nutritional supplements to supplement your nutrition appropriately.

Key 3: Adequate water intake

Benefits: Avoids worsening of symptoms, including lack of water, dehydration, and electrolyte imbalance (fever and sweating increase the loss of water from the body).

1. Drink water in small sips and multiple times:

Drink water in small sips and multiple times to increase the body's absorption and utilization of water and avoid dehydration or increasingly thick phlegm.

2. You can make your own fruit water:

To avoid taste fatigue, you can add fresh fruits to boiled water to replace the water with different flavors, stimulate the desire to drink water, and increase water intake and vitamin intake. Vitamin C is a nutrient that will be lost due to stress, so you may want to prepare vitamin C foaming tablets at home and add water to supplement it.

3. Drink electrolyte drinks when necessary:

Electrolytes will be lost when you have a fever or sweat. Some patients will have diarrhea, which can easily lead to loss of water and electrolytes. If the electrolytes are unbalanced, it will be accompanied by muscle pain, cramps, muscle weakness, etc. You can supplement it as appropriate.

4. Maintain your weight as much as possible:

Weight is a very direct indicator of the body's water retention and nutritional status. It is recommended to maintain your weight as much as possible.

Nutritionist Gao Minmin finally reminded that in addition to the above three dietary tips and trying to eat a balanced diet, the best way to prevent the epidemic is still to wear a mask and disinfect frequently. If you are accidentally diagnosed, please keep in mind the above nutritional principles and combine them with more activity and rest to help you return to a healthy life faster!