Healthy diet and lifestyle can be helpful in preventing infection

MOSES LAKE — Navigating the past few months has meant changes for everyone in the community in almost all facets of their daily life. While not always easy, keeping up helpful daily routines, like a maintaining a healthy diet, are important in helping to lower your risk of infection.

Natalie Harris, an oncology dietician with Confluence Health in Wenatchee, said there’s really no guaranteed special diet or supplement to prevent getting the coronavirus. Rather, she encourages simply making positive changes to ensure your body’s in good health and functioning properly.

“Now is a really great time to start increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables,” Harris said. “I know that’s a really common thing you’d expect to hear from a dietician, but it’s true. We all need to eat more of them, and now’s a good time because we’ve got our farmers markets starting to open.” If people are interested and have extra time at home now, Harris said this is a great time to start a small garden, even if it’s something simple like herbs and greens.

Keeping up healthy eating schedules and habits may have become more difficult for some people who’ve been stuck at home. Harris suggested a good way to help avoid quick, easy alternatives to healthier options is to plan out meals for the week ahead of time.

A great way to start is just sitting down on Sunday night and mapping out meals for the week, she said.

“You can even get as detailed as when you’re going to eat breakfast, what you’re gonna eat, when you’re going to eat a snack, what that snack’s going to be,” Harris said. “Having that kind of structure can help provide some accountability so you’re not just eating out of boredom.”

Even with a healthy diet, exercise and being active are important in ensuring your body is functioning the best it can. As people might be returning to their exercise routines with gyms reopening, Harris said it’s important to start slow.

“Start slow and gradually work up to the level that you were performing at before,” she said. “Do lots of stretching before and after you start. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water before you start, and again afterwards.”

As temperatures rise, Harris said, it’s important to remain hydrated and be cautious, especially for older community members that may not have been as active in recent months. She said stretching before and after exercise can help your body warm up to being active again.

Even with the dietary pattern she described, Harris said there’s not certainty these tips will boost your immune system, only that it will help ensure your body’s running as it should.

“This is helpful in preventing infections, colds and things like the coronavirus,” she said.

While a healthy diet is extremely important, Harris said, it should really be more of a combined effort of a few things.

“It’s making sure you’re getting plenty of sleep, managing stress properly, drinking plenty of water, and then, of course, following all of those guidelines for good hand hygiene, social distancing and wearing a mask when it’s appropriate,” Harris said. “All of those things combined, I think you have a pretty good shot at staying healthy.”