These days the only thought that comes to my mind is what all foods can boost immunity. Well I believe I am not alone. Covid fear has been affecting us deeply and perhaps we are doing our best to stay safe. Now more so as in several states the lockdown is almost lifted. Life with Covid has taken a sudden turn and we may have to lead life by leap of faith. We were busy in our lives doing jobs, managing kids, elders, partying, shopping and then we get stuck at home and really stuck and bound to do household tasks without any pampering outside food. Some of you find it tough as its been long and you dont enjoy doing household tasks or some feel they are bored. If you ask from me, I am chilled out. With several other issues around, I just love to be at home. I dont have lot of vegetables and fruits around me with loads of work, yet I have absolutely not an ounce of complaint to be at home as I really cant take the risk of going out. I have responsibility of a child and an elder and right now my duty ‘to be safe’ is only priority. Most of us had been exploring the chef skills and now even that phase seems to be over. People are done with that and now they need another change. Mine is same routine: Get up in morning, Do yoga, Household tasks, making meals and if meal is special then shooting it and posting on blog. Giving time to my daughter and deciding some activities for her and then asking her what does she really want to do. You would be amazed to know that she loves to chit-chat… We have “gappe” time where in I share my childhood stories. I tell her that how the world feels stuck but years back, we used to have this as our basic lifestyle. I remember my mom doing all work by herself and making so many chapatis and 3 vegetables in one meal. We barely used to have outside food. Fruits and vegetables had a altogether different taste and I could eat 4-5 mangoes at one go. She cant believe it because she cany have even 1!!

Foods for Immunity during Covid

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Lets get started with the immunity thing. There are several foods that can help us gain immunity and as most of us know that citrus fruits are a great choice as they are rich in Vitamin C. Procuring vegetables and fruits is also an issue in Covid times. A bigger question is a thin line between taking the risk of going out for buying vegetables and choosing not to buy and hence not able to eat foods that boost immunity. Its really a tough call. If we will not buy veggies, how would we maintain the immunity levels and if we choose to go out, we may run the risk of catching the widely spread Covid…

Here is what I am trying to do. To begin, I must introduce Immunity Booster Recipes that I have started recently. In lockdown phase 1, we used to procure lots of vegetables so that the visits for buying were minimized. I tried to procure the vegetables rich in Vitamin C like Lemon, Sweet Lime, Amla (Gooseberry), Capsicum(Bell Peppers), other citrus fruits, Ginger, Ambi (Raw Mango). Since summers had started around that time, I made few things in the form of Achar/ Chutney so that they have better shelf life. Like I made Amla Achar. You may follow the simple recipe of Amla Achar that I had posted a while back. This can be easily made and kept in fridge for around 10 days. It goes well with paranthas and pooris. Not many people know that amla is an amazing source of Vitamin C and so is capsicum. I also made Ambi Chutney/ raw mango chutney / Aam ki Launji. Those who cant have sweet, may make Tomato soup. Its rich in Vitamin C and in my recipe I have added beetroot and carrots along with amla. Now for past few weeks, we avoid going out and order vegetables and fruits from Big Basket. They are just of Ok quality. Mostly they are old stock. But who can argue now. So we keep them in kitchen sink under running water and then in balcony under direct sun. Since its peak summers, so once they dried up, I keep them in kitchen and then refrigerate. While doing this whole process (which is taken care by my husband), he covers his face with a mask and several hand-wash occurs and post that he takes the bath. The important precaution is keep your hands off the face mostly : A fact of during & after Covid life. Infection is spreading through different objects (perishable or non-perishable) and if we are in contact of an external object, we must ensure hand-wash and no touching of any-other object till that.

The other things you may try on a daily basis as suggested by Ministry of AYUSH are:

• Having warm water with lemon (try it empty stomach).
• Make Haldi Doodh. Have it at bedtime.
• Make a Kadha using Indian spices like Cinnamon (Dalchini), Dry Ginger (Sundh/ Shunthi), Tulsi leaves(fresh), Black pepper(Kali Mirch), Raisns (Munaaka), Jaggery and lemon. People who have high BP and pregnant women shall consult their doctors before having it as its very heated in nature. Try to consume it in morning time and half a cup is sufficient.
• Take Chyavanprash.
• Be active at home by doing Yoga, breathing exercises and Pranyam

This is a precise list of foods that may help you boost immunity:

• Citrus fruits like Lemons, Sweet Limes, oranges, Kinnow, Galgal or citron, Bel fruit.
• Amla (Gooseberry)
• Capsicum (Bell Pepper)
• Broccoli
• Ginger
• Kacchi Haldi (Raw Turmeric)
• Tomato
• Garlic
• Include Indian spices like Jeera, Ajwain, Cinnamon (dalchini), Kali mirch (Black pepper), Haldi in vegetables and curries
• Water-melon, Raw Mango, Mango, Apple, Guava, Anar, Papaya
• Include desi ghee in your diet and avoid refined oils.
• Nuts Almonds, raisins(Munakka)
• Homemade dahi and lassi
• Sweet potatoes
• Spinach
• Green Tea

Pls dont expect that by having any of these for a day, can boost your immunity. The idea is to include them in proper proportions in your meals throughout the day and gradually with time, you would feel that you are not getting tired soon and you dont feel lethargic. You dont catch cold very often now. Also there are a few people who think by having lemon water, they have a sore throat. Its a myth. Lemon would always help you gain strength so that you dont have sore throat. If you have a weak throat, dont have chilled or iced lemon water. Have room temperature water or Ghade(earthen pot) ka Pani. Its not lemon, its chilled water that hurts the throat.

I would be glad to know if I missed anything here and welcome your suggestions in this context. Also, I would like to remind you that we shall remain calm in this pandemic situation. Every one has their own bit of struggle. If we are tired of doing household work, please think of our elders who might be living without any support system of their children. Aren’t we better off in much more ways than we could think of?

If you sneeze and have a sore throat, Hold on…… You are not covid positive. It can be normal flu as well. Having said so, it makes sense to me that still you may self-quarantine at home for at least 15 days. (specially if you think you may have contacted a person or an object external to your home recently). During this time, you may restrict your movements to a separate room and maintain distance with others in family. Lets take this tough time in a positive light. Now we have lots of time to do what we always cribbed about not being able to do. Involve in a passion that you were postponing for different reasons. Give more time to kids and family. Lift a leg and help the ladies of your family as they might doing their work from home and work of home both. Play a soothing music or bhajan in low volume in the lobby and maintain positivity. Trust me upon this, we still need to stay at home (though lockdown is lifted) and maintain social distancing. No more walks, no more chit chats in societies,No outside food. Just because your neighbour does daily walks and moves out more frequently doesnt mean you have to take pressure and move out. Dont feel bad about it. Dont overthink about when it will be over. Dont trust all the stats of positive cases you see on media as no one really knows the fact and who is changing the facts we cant say about that either. Lets take it as a long vacation at home. Immunity is not just obtained from foods. We need to be stress-free too.

I have made a huge list of things to do…Amongst them, the most important is to upload the Kadha recipe suggested by Ministry of Ayush. I have made it and must say its really amazing. Very Soon I shall be uploading its recipe on this blog!! Why dont you begin with your To-Dos?

Waiting for suggestions to pour!!

Stay Home. Stay Safe. Stay Healthy.