Opportunities COVID-19 can give us

For some of us COVID -19 can give us a lot of positive aspects if we take advantage of this isolation time. One step we could do is to make some changes to support our immune system. The foundation of our immune system is in fact our digestion.

One of the initial steps you could do to help improve your digestion, and in turn support your immune system, is to practice food combining, that is, eating protein foods at separate times to carbohydrate based foods. On average it takes 2 hours for complex carbohydrates to leave your stomach, 3 hours for protein based meals to leave your stomach and 6 hours if protein is eaten at the same time as carbohydrates. So if you ensure you eat protein away from carbohydrates this can improve your digestion, reduce the possible build up of pathogens in your digestive track (taking a burden off your immune system) and provides you with more energy (as you are not using as much energy just to digest the food).

People often report feeling lighter after a good food combined meal, this in turn may help them be more inclined to go out and do some exercise too. What does this mean in practice? Well, if you have say chicken and rice with vegetables, just have the chicken and vegetables at one meal and then the rice with vegetables at another meal. You can then see how you feel afterwards. Or if you are a vegan eat your pulses at one meal and grains at another meal. If you are worried about getting all your essential amino acids try quinoa, it is a complete protein and is very easily