Processed foods and COVID-19 are in a twisted relationship, here’s how:

Lockdown 1:

During the first weeks of this deathly pandemic, people turned to panic buying a wide range of products as they feared running out of necessities like food. In India during lockdown 1.0, although a lot of basic food necessities like fruits, vegetables, flour and butter were hoarded by consumers, 42% people purchased processed foods from the supermarket shelves.

Lockdown 2:

Nevertheless as the second stage began, people started buying even more non essential food items that include frozen desserts, cakes, biscuits, breakfast cereal, ready meals like instant noodles and packaged meats. In fact at this point there was a limit on the supply of such goods as production had been withheld in order to combat the virus. Even though some popular branded products weren’t available in the stores, people switched to buying other alternative processed foods hence the intake of processed foods didn’t decrease. However, people have stopped buying these products impulsively as they trust and have gained confidence in the fact that they will be available at a further date.

The undesirable impact

Since the pandemic commenced, people have been extremely anxious while trying to adjust to this new lifestyle which led to increased snacking on processed foods, also known as “binge eating”, all in order to relieve stress. Relying relentlessly like this is likely to have generic and extreme impacts on the immune system, overall physical and mental health, and the personal image one has about themselves in the long run.

Encouraging healthier habits

Undoubtedly, there are countless “tips” to prevent yourself from binge-eating online, but they somehow end up affecting your diet in strange ways that don’t necessarily suit oneself. However, we’ve compiled a couple of generic changes to your eating styles without really affecting your usual patterns so as to make it a subconscious habit. Firstly, you could log what you eat along with quantities on a regular basis in order to figure out what products you need to limit purchasing. Secondly, try substituting junk with healthier alternatives, for instance milk/white chocolate with dark chocolate chips and/or sweets with dried fruits and raw, juicy fruits. Also, you could air fry meat like bacon and sweet potato among other things rather than indulging in packaged chips and fried meat saturated with oil. Lastly, in order to kill time you could make home cooked meals and desserts while spending quality time with your family at home, as it is proven that homemade food is a lot fresher and nutritious than preserved, shelved foods.

Thank you for reading!

By Zeanne Martis