The COVID-busting Pantry: Shop & Eat with Purpose

If ever there was a time to eat with purpose, it is now.

COVID is spreading like a bullet train through our communities and…

every bite we take can help us fight this virus or invite it to take hold.

Over the last week, Thrive has been featuring COVID-busting shopping lists & meal ideas.

Today, we are going to look at how to stock your pantry with foods that we can use to effortlessly create meals that optimise our immune system and support our mental health.

Having a well-stocked pantry is KEY during COVID because we don’t want to make more trips than necessary to the supermarket. A “well-stocked” pantry will effortlessly produce nutrient-rich meals which support your immunity and mental health.

The question is:

How do we prioritise our pantry dollars?

By classifying foods into three functional areas:

Foods that help us SLEEP by supporting our stress response and melatonin levels.

Foods that show our body LOVE by protecting our organs & lowering inflammation.

Foods that helps us POOP and detoxify daily.

Once you build a SLEEP LOVE POOP Pantry, it’s super easy to create nutrient dense,deliciously satisfying meals.

Step 1: Pick a food from each category.

Step 2: Possibly add some fresh veggies or fruit from your fridge.

Step 3: Cook / assemble.

It is that easy!

You’ve effortlessly made three healthful, delicious, superfood meals that are helping you & your family build physical and mental resilience.

Now, I know there are a tonne of pantry foods that don’t make the SLEEP LOVE POOP cut.

Breakfast cereal, cookies, crackers, pancake mix, chocolate and pasta are examples that come to mind.

I’m not saying - don’t buy them (except for maybe breakfast cereal. Don’t buy cereal).

I am saying: think about how much space these other foods are taking up on your plate and your cupboard and make an active choice to prioritise SLEEP LOVE POOP foods. That way, if you want to have some chocolate after dinner - you can enjoy it guilt-free, because you’ve already had a super nutrient-rich meal. Similarly, if on the weekend, you want to break out the pancake mix and maple syrup - you can do so with joy because you’ve been filling the immunity and mental health bucket all week.

People ask me all the time:

what should I buy instead of flour? instead of pasta? Should I buy gluten-free?

The truth is there is no WRONG ingredient to have in your pantry. It’s not WRONG to eat pasta. But pasta in and of itself - even gluten free pasta - doesn’t carry a high enough nutrient value to help build your immunity or support your mental health.

So if pasta (for example) is taking up more than 50% of your meal plate and you’re having it 3x a week — and you’re also having cereal or just plain toast for breakfast every morning — then it’s very likely that these foods (as organic, gluten-free and fairtrade as they may be) are crowding out the space for foods that are rich in the nutrients you need to lower inflammation, support organ function, facilitate your sleep cycle, make stress hormones and optimise detoxification.

Don’t give COVID that edge. Shop smart. Eat smart.

Shop with purpose. And eat to SLEEP LOVE & POOP.

Watch my TEDx talk for how SLEEP LOVE POOP changed my health.

Work with me to supercharge your wellness.

COVID-busting Meal Plan on a Budget

If ever there was a time to eat with purpose, it is now.

COVID is spreading like a bullet train through our communities and…

every bite we take can help us fight this virus or invite it to take hold.

Over the last week, Thrive has been featuring COVID-busting shopping lists & meal ideas aimed at boosting your immunity and strengthen your respiratory system.

But with the curve continuing to rise, we have to protect our vulnerable more than ever and STAY HOME.

Moreover, we’ve got to be super economical with how we spend our supermarket dollars because the COVID recession will continue to hit us hard for months, if not years, to come.

So how do we make healthy meals from our non-perishables and pantry items that will support our physical and mental health?

How do we maximise the nutrient content of our meals on a budget?

SHOP SMART

Head to the supermarket with your meal plan for the week in mind. This bit of planning will mean you only buy what you need - not what you want.

As part of that meal plan, make sure you have planned to have a protein, carbohydrate and vegetable with each meal in order to maximise your nutritional bang for buck. Tinned fish (in BPA-free tins) is perfectly fine, as are beans and pulses. And go for the cheaper cuts of meats.

When shopping for veggies - prioritise the ones that keep you full the longest and buy less of the ones that will go bad faster or wilt down to nothing. Swap out your white carbs, e.g. potatoes, pasta & rice for nutrient dense carbs like sweet potato, squash & brown rice.

EAT SMART

In times of crisis, our primal selves switch into survival mode:

FILL THE BELLY. DOESN’T MATTER WITH WHAT. JUST DON’T STARVE.

And so, we binge buy pasta and rice and use these ingredients as the bulk of our meals. Unfortunately, these meals have little nutritional value and do not serve to boost your immune system or lower inflammation in the body. Nor do they support your mental health during this stressful time.

I have a mantra I use a lot in my nutritional practice:

“Don’t give it up. TRADE UP.”

We are so used to applying this mantra to other aspects of our life.

Is this the best phone I can buy? The best university I can go to? The best job I can have? The best relationship I can be in? But we don’t think of food this way. We dream about buying the latest iPhone, whilst eating a zero-value breakfast in real life, like toast and black coffee.

The extent to which you can trade up your meal will depend on your budget, but there are THREE really easy ways to reduce your supermarket bill whilst boosting the nutrition value of your meals:

• Reduce your protein portion to the size of your fist. These days, you’re welcome to even reduce it further and embrace the opportunity for a detox by eating less protein and carbs and more veggies. Veggies are also cheap & will add more nutrtitional value than white carbs, thereby helping you stay healthy. And if you stay healthy, you’ll have less sick days, be more productive and increase your earning potential.

• STOP snacking. Those protein bars, chips, fancy popcorn & lattes are expensive! And they do nothing for your mid-section.

• Finally - CHEW SLOWLY and eat mindfully. Chances are you eat way too much on a daily basis and could reduce your portions by a third if you just took the time to listen to your body and pay attention to when it’s full.

COOK SMART

I hate throwing away food — these days more than ever.

Those broccoli stems you were going to bin - DON’T. That water you used to boil your green beans, cauliflower or broccoli - don’t throw it away. All these scraps of fresh produce - add some bones (or not) & use it to make stock.

When you use this stock to cook your beans or carbs, you then exponentially increase the nutritional value of your meal.

I also make my own tomato sauce and add extra veggies and garlic to boost its nutritional value. You’re welcome to use my superfood tomato sauce recipe, passed down by my grandmother.

That’s a wrap, friends.

Follow Thrive’s “Shop, Eat & Cook Smart Guidelines” to build affordable, healthy meal plans for you & your family.

Let’s outsmart this virus every way we can.

Join Thrive next time where we take a deeper diver into building a healthy, nutrient rich pantry full of ingredients you’ll actually use during and after the COVID crisis.

And of course - I’ll be giving you my top pantry recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Stay safe everyone! xx

COMFORT FOOD TO BOOST MENTAL HEALTH DURING THE COVID CRISIS

If ever there was a time to eat with purpose, it is now.

COVID is spreading like a bullet train through our communities and…

every bite we take can help us fight this virus or invite it to take hold.

Over the last week, Thrive has been featuring COVID-busting shopping lists & meal ideas aimed at boosting your immunity and strengthen your respiratory system.

Today, we’re going to be looking at how to eat to support your mental health & emotional resilience during this anxious time of high stress & uncertainty.

And before you start thinking that nutrition has nothing to do with mental health…

Nutrition is as ESSENTIAL to mental health as mindfulness and exercise. Why?

• Neurotransmitters like serotonin (your happy hormone!) are made in your gut. Unfortunately, a nutrient poor diet that is high in sugar feeds the bad, opportunistic bacteria in your gut, which in turn sabotages your serotonin production. And as a result, we might start to feel our anxiety creep up.  We might start to sleep worse because without a good amount of serotonin, we can’t make melatonin.  We begin to feel less optimistic, and our concentration levels and our patience decreases. And this then feeds in to patterns of stress eating or drinking, which then continue to feed this army of bad bacteria and to compromise serotonin levels.

• Plus, there is clear, clinical evidence that ties nutrient deficiencies (specifically, omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins) to mental health issues like depression & anxiety.

• Finally - and this is a big one: blood sugar! Have you ever wondered why you can’t meditate and why despite going to the gym constantly, you still feel down on yourself? From a nutritional and body chemistry perspective - blood sugar is generally part of that answer.

  If you are snacking between meals or eatings foods high in carbohydrates or sugar - you are forcing your blood sugar to spike too often throughout the day. Continuous blood sugar spikes put you in fight or flight mode and create inflammation - all of which in turn fuel a state of anxiety and keep the body in a constant state of stress.

  It is impossible to detoxify and repair the body in this state - as a result, it is harder to let go of everything from negative emotions to excess weight.

You can eat your way to improved mental health.

Here’s how:

In the supermarkets, the pasta and baking shelves are bare and our wine cupboard is well stocked.

We turn to the fridge or pantry for a mental break and use these long shelf-life, highly processed, carbohydrate heavy, sugar-rich comfort foods as a replacement for the physical interactions and connection we crave.

In parallel, our bedtimes are slipping, our patience is thinning, our exposure to social media and negative news is increasing and our productivity is compromised.

This is the perfect recipe for anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances and outbursts of rage, frustration and temper tantrums. And I hate to break it to you, but no amount of gratitude journaling, exercise or lavender scented pillows can restore your balance -

UNLESS YOU ALSO WORK ON FIXING YOUR NUTRITION.

So, if you are struggling during this time - like most of us are - eat with purpose.

Eat for gut health, eat to de-stress the body.

Eat slowly, mindfully.

Join Thrive next time for COVID-busting meal plans on a budget.

VITAMIN C RICH RECIPES TO KICK COVID'S BUTT

If ever there was a time to eat with purpose, it is now.

COVID is spreading like a bullet train through our communities and…

every bite we take can help us fight this virus or invite it to take hold.

Each day, Thrive will be featuring a COVID-busting nutrient and posting a shopping list with meal ideas that will help you boost your immunity, strengthen your respiratory system and keep you mentally resilient.

Today, we will be featuring:

VITAMIN C

Are you:

STRESSED?

PRONE TO BRONCHITIS & PNEUMONIA?

WORRIED ABOUT FALLING SICK & NOT BEING ABLE TO GO TO WORK?

If you’ve answered YES to any of these questions, then you can’t afford NOT TO have a Vitamin C rich meal plan during this health crisis.

Here’s why:

STRESSED?

Vitamin C is utilized by the adrenal glands all your stress hormones, like cortisol. The more stressed you are, the more Vitamin C your body uses to make these hormones, leaving less and less for boosting your immunity.

That’s why we tend to get sick or get a cold sore when we’re most stressed.

So, show your adrenal glands and your immune system some extra love by eating more Vitamin C rich foods.

PRONE TO BRONCHITIS & PNEUMONIA

There have been many studies showing the benefits of Vitamin C supplementation on the duration and severity of respiratory infections. Three controlled studies recorded a reduction of at least 80% in the incidence of pneumonia in the vitamin C group, and one randomised trial reported substantial treatment benefit from vitamin C in elderly UK patients hospitalized with pneumonia or bronchitis.

WORRIED ABOUT FALLING SICK & NOT BEING ABLE TO WORK?

Multiples studies have shown that regular vitamin C supplementation (> or =1 g/day) has quite consistently reduced the duration of colds. More notably, in two of these studies, absence from school and work was reduced by 14-21% per episode, which has significant benefits for working productivity & earning potential.

Lucky for you - foods like cabbage, broccolli, brussel sprouts, chili peppers, oranges, dried apricots and grapefruits keep two weeks - at least. Items like blueberries and mangos are available frozen for smoothies; and you can even buy coriander and parsley in frozen packs. Leafy greens like kale, spinach and fresh herbs last about a week in the fridge making them perfect for a once a week shop.

Folks - I know you need the pantry stocked with non-perishable goods.

But we are STRESSED, ANXIOUS & more than ever, we need to make sure that a common cold doesn’t turn into a severe respiratory infections that require medical attention. So, don’t forget to load the shopping cart & your plate with Vitamin C rich foods.

Speaking of stressed and anxious -

did you know your DIET directly impacts your anxiety levels and mental health?

Tune in next time to get your shopping list and meal plan to boost your mental health resilience.

And if you need help boosting your immunity, reach out: cristina@thrivenutritionpractice.com

Sending much love to you all.

COPPER RICH RECIPES TO KICK COVID'S BUTT

If ever there was a time to eat with purpose, it is now.

COVID is spreading like a bullet train through our communities and…

every bite we take can help us fight this virus or invite it to take hold.

Each day, Thrive will be featuring a COVID-busting nutrient and posting a shopping list with meal ideas that will help you boost your immunity, strengthen your respiratory system and keep you mentally resilient.

Today, we will be featuring:

COPPER

Copper is an incredibly powerful anti-viral and it is toxic to coronaviruses. Copper breaks the lipid envelope surrounding the coronavirus and as a result, the virus dies and cannot replicate.

Result!

Here’s your copper-rich shopping list and some ideas on how to transform these ingredients into delicious and immune boosting meals.

This meal plan is also rich in other immune boosting nutrients which lower inflammation in the body. For example:

• Eggs are rich omega 3 fatty acids, which are crucial to the proper functioning of our lymphatic system. Our lymphatic system sends out soldier called lymphocites that patrol the body seeking and destroying viruses and bacteria that cause infections.

• Veggies, like tomatoes are rich in folate and VitC - crucial nutrients for immunity.

• Chicken is rich in zinc — a nutrient which inhibits the replication of the coronavirus.

And eating a diet rich in vegtables and whole foods is going to nourish your gut with plenty of wholesome fbre. This fibre is going to help you poop and detoxify daily, which in turn in going to improve your body’s natural defenses.

Remember - 70% of your immunity comes from your gut health!

Stay tuned for Thrive’s next post on how to build a shopping list and meal plan rich in VITAMIN C - the ultimate antioxidant for optimal immune function.

In the meantime, stay home, practice social distancing and wash your hands.

Let’s plank that curve!

VITAMIN A RICH MEALS TO KICK COVID’S BUTT

If ever there was a time to eat with purpose, it is now.

COVID is spreading like a bullet train through our communities and…

every bite we take can help us fight this virus or invite it to take hold.

Each day, Thrive will be featuring a COVID-busting nutrient and posting a shopping list with meal ideas that will help you boost your immunity, strengthen your respiratory system and keep you mentally resilient.

Today, we will be featuring:

VITAMIN A

We all know that a carrot a day keeps our eyes healthy.

But did you know that Vitamin A is crucial for maintaining a healthy epithelium lining – which basically functions as the “front line” of defense against viruses and other pathogens?  

VitA is also an integral part of the mucus layer of both the respiratory tract and the intestine. (And remember folks, our intestine is home to 70% of our immunity so keeping your guts healthy is just as important as protecting your lungs!)

This mighty vitamin helps to improve the defense mechanism of our mucosa and the integrity of our intestinal barrier. 

So anyone out there with seasonal allergies, frequent respiratory infections, chronic rhinitis, leaky gut or frequent digestive upsets – Vitamin A is your friend. 

Here’s how you can easily build a Vitamin A-rich meal at home:

Thrive Nutrition Practice’s Vitamin-A rich, COVID-busting meal plan

These items are all easy to find in your local grocery store because lucky for you - everyone is buying pasta and rice!

For an extra COVID fighting boost - why not combine this meal plan with Thrive’s ZINC-rich meal plan?

Stay tuned for Thrive’s next post on how to build a shopping list and meal plan rich in COPPER - a critical mineral for killing viral pathogens.

In the meantime, stay home, practice social distancing and wash your hands.

We got this.

ZINC RICH MEALS TO KICK COVID’S BUTT

If ever there was a time to eat with purpose, it is now.

COVID is spreading like a bullet train through our communities and every bite we take can help us fight this virus or invite it to take hold.

This is the first of a series to feature a COVID-busting vitamin or mineral, together with a shopping list and meal ideas that will help you boost your immunity, strengthen your respiratory system and keep you mentally resilient.

Today, Thrive is featuring the critical immune-boosting mineral:

ZINC

Zinc has been shown to be effective against COVID’s cousin SARS - (the original coronavirus from 2003). Zinc has also been shown to inhibit the replication of the common cold virus.

Here’s how you can easily build a zinc-rich meal at home.

Thrive’s ZINC-rich, COVID-busting meal plan

These items are all easy to find in your local grocery store because lucky for you - everyone is buying pasta and rice! Plus, many of these items can be found frozen (.e. chicken, pork chops, beef, spinach, kale) or in tins (i.e. oysters, crab, beans) or already fit for the pantry (i.e. oats, nuts & seeds, chocolate).

Stay tuned for Thrive’s next post on how to build a shopping list and meal plan rich in VITAMIN A - a critical vitamin for strengthening your respiratory system.

In the meantime, stay home, practice social distancing and wash your hands.

We got this.