2020 was not an easy year. The Covid-19 pandemic was devastating, and very frustrating for all of us. We were all mostly stuck at home and while that was inconvenient, there is no doubt that it was absolutely necessary at that point. The year is behind us now. That said things are not really in the clear still, as the scare and the threat are both strong. So going forward we must hold on to some valuable lessons that 2020 has taught us and learn to navigate life keeping those close.

Lesson one: Continue eating more home-cooked food

Instead of relying on highly processed foods that are stripped of nutrients, traditional diets celebrate eating home cooked food. With home cooked food we rarely go wrong as everything right from the ingredients to the seasonings to the method of cooking are under our control — so we can make sure to put just nutrients rich food on our plates and in our body. Lockdown proved to be the perfect opportunity for us to begin emulating the way our ancestors ate — home cooked food — and also take a good look at our grandparents’ cookbooks and begin making and eating those recipes that have been handed down to us over the years. Lack of nutrients is often a big reason for people feeling hollow and unhappy. Our forced captivity made us realise that we felt happier and healthier eating this way and this actually proved to be a blessing in disguise. We got used to, eating like this. This must continue.

Lesson two: Keep concentrated, unrelenting focus on immunity

One thing is clear: good immunity is a lifesaver. Even though we can’t feel or see our immunity, we can’t take its pulse or its temperature. But we all know that it is working 24/7 to keep us safe and prevent sickness. The aim for all of us all though the pandemic was to get an immunity system as tough as nails — a real fighting machine! And we kept on its case all the time. Going forward too, we must boost it on a daily basis taking help from both tried and tested modern as well as Ayurvedic principles. Continued chasing of immunity should now become a part of our DNA and lifestyle. And that’s just how we must live and eat. (See box 1)

Lesson three: Stick to age old, traditional remedies

I am a big fan of the cliche: ‘Old is gold’ and during the pandemic we all realised that a lot of solutions lie in our past, in our age old traditions, and that focussing on the old, traditional rules of eating can actually save not just our body but our soul too. In the absence of conventional remedies we all depended on alternate, time tested and proven methods to keep us safe and healthy. And they stood us in good stead. Be it turmeric for busting the inflammation, amla for scoring immunity boosting vitamin C, lemon water to keep the body alkaline and free form disease, giloy for detoxification, or ashwagandha to stay sane and happy… This was specially good for our children, as captive at home, this turned out the right time for them to get them used to our old habits and way of living and make them a part of their habit system. Going forward too, I hope this way of living is hopefully here to stay and we will continue our faith in it. (See box 2)

Lesson four: Adopt food minimalism

2020 quickly spiralled into multiple entwined crises — public health, economic, food crises — worldwide. It also brought forth with even more emergency the fact that we are worldwide, in the midst of a climate emergency too. In anything this pandemic (where most of us faced shortages for the first time in our life) reminded us that we need to take sustainability seriously, do more conscious eating for the good of the planet, and waste less food and other resources.

Also for a good part of last year we all managed with less — less food, less variety, less options, and learnt, even if the hard way that we ‘can’ manage with less. Our reliance on highly processed, packaged foods came down substantially too. Most importantly we learnt that eating this way is actually good for us. So a lot many of us will hopefully will not go back to the ‘eat max’ (read more and more junk) way of living we followed earlier and continue to eat in a way that is good not just for us but also for the planet.

Lesson five: Keep family time in vogue

This lesson is actually in tandem with the greatest gift of the pandemic: the gift of realising the benefits of slowing down. With literally nowhere to go, for either work or fun, home became the centre (in fact the only) point of our being and this delivered lots of fabulous paybacks.

Instead of succumbing to mindless eating of heat-and-eat foods, or munching takeaways in front of the television, a lot many families embraced the community aspect of traditional diets where people used to eat with each other and really enjoyed their food. This one step alone can help us lead a healthier, happier, disease free life. And hopefully we will continue with it.

Lesson Six: Lets all slow down please

Imagine this scenario: you are sitting in the sun on a lazy Sunday afternoon, chomping guavas smeared with rock salt leisurely, letting your mind wander, minus any agenda, minus any pressing next pending job weighing, stressing you down. And while you are eating this vitamin C packed, immunity boosting fruit, and feeling good about life generally, unknown to you, all this time your subconscious mind is at work too — it is keying in signals to your mind that life’s good and that you are eating healthy and taking care of your health. So basically there is an autonomous autosuggestion (all good, all good) happening here, which is releasing good hormones, and strengthening you from inside, both physiologically as well as mentally. We all were privileged to experience many such beautiful days and moments during the pandemic when we were stuck at home. (See box 3)

(The writer is a Delhi-based weight management consultant, nutritionist and author of Don’t Diet! 50 Habits of Thin People, Ultimate Grandmother Hacks and Fix it with food)

7 simple steps to boost our immunity

1.            Our immune system cannot function without vitamin C. Get it via amla or oranges, bell-peppers, pineapple, guava

2.            Stay close to your optimum weight. Antibodies that fight such viruses are also not produced effectively if the person is obese.

3.            Sit in the sun for minimum 30 minutes every day. Vitamin D

4.            Avoid excess sugar — it lowers the immunity by disabling your natural disease-fighting cells, allowing viruses to take hold.

5.            Stay hydrated. Drink a lot of liquids. About 2-3 litres per day. Include coconut water, buttermilk, turmeric water, lemon water, green tea and mineral water in your diet

6.            Eat more quercetin rich foods — platelet booster. More platelets = better immunity. Eat cocoa, onions, cranberry juice, lemon juice, spinach, apple, prunes, peppers, red grapes, broccoli, sprouts and citrus fruits.

7.            Probiotics help keep the gut healthy, thus help boost the immunity immensely. Have: fermented foods, probiotic milk, ice creams, home made dahi, kimchi, miso soup, buttermilk, idli, dosa, appam, dhokla, uttapam, kanji, homemade pickles and chutneys.

 Simple tips that help

Mix one part powdered turmeric to three parts raw honey. When you feel a cold coming on, eat a teaspoon of the mixture every two hours to boost immunity and lower inflammation.

Have 1 tsp pure cow ghee, with a pinch of pepper and a pinch of turmeric empty stomach every morning.

Learn to slow down

Three steps to focus on to learn to continue to live mindfully and slowly

Eat slowly! Eat mindfully!

I have forgotten the number of times while growing up I was asked to stop gulping and eat slowly. The instructions were clear: slow down. Please eat mindfully. Take time to chew and enjoy your vegetables.

Now the new age science has also mandated chewing each bite 20 times as the right way. So if you did not listen to your dad or dadaji, maybe it’s time to listen to what the researchers are saying and slow down a bit… Because, now we know that the more you chew, the more you will break down the food in the mouth itself, resulting in better absorption of nutrients in the gut.

Re-learning this habit can help us big time as it helps ease up the digestion process immensely. After all this (in the mouth) is where chemical and mechanical digestion begins. Plus chewing properly also alkalises the food thanks to the bicarbonate ions present in saliva, besides activating another enzyme cellulose, which begins the breakdown of the fiber present in food. There! A perfect way to max what we can derive out of our food.

Ponder on how you exercise

Now translate this same scenario to our exercise regimen and ponder a bit. Agreed vigorous exercise is needed for burning calories and losing weight and taking care of our heart and all that. We can’t escape that. But have you ever tasted the fruits of a lazy, relaxed stroll, where you put every step mindfully after the one before it, observing each step and each breath. A walk where the point is not to burn calories alone, but to actually enjoy the process. This way you enjoy the walking, unconcerned about reaching somewhere, arriving someplace and meeting a fitness goal.

Try it, because when you walk like this — unhurriedly, peacefully, and with great ease, it quietens the mind and unleashes the bust stress hormones in the body. And this one benefit I place at a higher premium than meeting any number of calorie busting goals your aggressive exercise can deliver. So every now and then, slow down your exercise too. Think mind specifically, and not just body all the time.

Quit being busy

Basically I feel we need to cut down our busyness… because trust me when I say that much of our busyness is self-created. We put so many unnecessary things on our to do lists and they overwhelm us so much that there is no time left to do things that really matter. Don’t we wonder how simple the lives of our grandparents and that generation was, no unnecessary tasks — and how they always had the time to sit in the sun on Sunday afternoons and simply bask in the benefits of not having to do anything else… Why can’t we too simplify our lives a bit, cut the self inflicted unnecessary busyness, change our priorities and put the critical stuff (like our health) at the top. Half our troubles, will get sorted just by doing this

(Excerpted from Ultimate Grandmother Hacks)