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My WFPB Lifestyle Helped Me Sail Through Covid-19
Shalini Kocha shares how she felt in control during Covid and thanks her diet for the same.
I’ve been plant-based for 6 years and an active member of the SHARAN family since. Covid-19 hasn’t been easy for anyone, especially because it feels so out of our control. But the one thing that has made me feel most in control of how I react to Covid, is how I treated my body – during the time of the pandemic and during my time of being isolated with Covid.
Just like many of you, I have no idea how I contracted it but once I did, I didn’t hesitate a moment. I continued having smoothies and doubled my fruit intake, increased my consumption of raw foods and greens and kept my calm. I had a mild fever and not too many other symptoms and didn’t take even one medicine to fight it off, not even a paracetamol. My diet supplemented the work my body was doing to fight the virus. At some moments I felt like I was fighting fatigue, but I reminded myself that I needed to be strong for my family so they don’t have to worry about me. The biggest indicator of a plant-based diet having worked for me was how positive I felt. I learnt from friends and doctors alike that ongoing fatigue was a common feeling after the virus had passed. However, I thought if I gave my body the strong immune system a healthy diet promised, it would heal faster and feel stronger quicker. And it did! Now, more than ever, I feel like having a diet full of green smoothies and vegetables and fruits which keep me away from a stomach full of medicines.
In addition to this, this diet has kept my family too free from medicines and doctor visits. After over a decade of medications and not much improvement, my older daughter then reversed her hypothyroidism by changing her diet. My husband lowered his borderline blood pressure, cholesterol and thyroid medication within a few months of his diet change and my younger daughter’s menstrual cramps have reduced dramatically. The boons of this plant-based diet are truly unfathomable and unlimited!
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Tomato Mint Soup
A light and wholesome soup is ideal to have when unwell. It’s easy to digest and satiating too.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
- 2 tsp chopped garlic
- 2 tsp chopped fresh red/green chillies
- 2 tsp chopped mint
- 4 cups roughly chopped tomatoes
- 4 cups vegetable stock or dal water
- Unrefined salt to taste
- 2 tbsp roasted seeds (watermelon, sunflower, etc.) for the garnish
Method
In a heated pan, add cumin seeds and let them crackle. Add chopped garlic and sauté until light brown. Add the chopped red/green chillies and sauté. Add roughly chopped tomatoes and sauté. Add vegetable stock or dal water and bring to a boil. Add salt. Simmer until tomatoes are cooked. Check for taste. Add seasoning, if needed. Garnish with roasted seeds and chopped mint. Serve hot.
Serves 4
Food For The Mind
FACEBOOK SUPPORT GROUP
If you love Facebook, then join us to be supported on your plant based journey. We are offering two possibilities
1. SHARAN India is SHARAN’s main Facebook page which you can like and follow for getting useful daily updates and news from the plant based health world. You will also get news about the latest SHARAN events, see testimonials, and more.
2. SHARAN’s Vegan Support Group is an open support group to know more about vegan/plant-based lifestyle. Here you can ask questions and share inspiring stories, tips, recipes, etc.
All our doctors and presenters will be here to answer your questions and give you tips. If you have attended our events join this group to be a part of our family.
Please like the main SHARAN page and join the group(s) applicable to you.
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Dos and Don’ts For Fevers
Our conditioning has made us believe that a fever is bad. Instead, we need to thank our body for having the energy to build up a temperature so that the invading organism cannot multiply rampantly. We also need to be aware that we have to assist the body to heal by giving it ample rest, plenty of fluids and only simple food if any. Here are some tips to handle any fever.
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1. Take plenty of rest
When you are unwell the body automatically asks for rest so that it can divert all its energies into healing. Resting at this time is the best thing that you can do to help your body heal.
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2. Eat only if hungry
When we are unwell our body automatically tells us not to eat. The tongue gets coated, food doesn’t taste good anymore, and there is no appetite. This is so that the body doesn’t have to divert any of its energies into digestion and can use all the energies for healing. All too often our family members tell us to try eating, even if just a little. This is bad advice. Always listen to your body.
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3. Drink plenty of fluids
Our body often indicates thirst. Quench it at these times with plain water or even tender coconut/lemon water. Fluids help to cleanse the body.
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4. Get a diagnosis
Different infectious diseases have different symptoms that doctors use to diagnose. Instead of getting rid of them, careful observation of all the symptoms will help in diagnosis. Blood tests can also help in diagnosing. If we have a diagnosis then we have an idea of what to expect in terms of duration, intensity and prognosis. And if it is something that can definitely be helped with certain treatments it may even be wise to take them. A good example could be malaria or typhoid fever or encephalitis or meningitis or certain types of pneumonia.
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5. Avoid antipyretics
This is a golden rule. Bringing down the fever is always counter-productive. Our effort should be towards bringing down the infection or problem and not the fever which is only a symptom.
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6. Make yourself comfortable
The body will tell you how. It will tell you whether you need blankets or open-air, light or darkness, activity or inactivity. Listen to the advice of your body.
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7. Avoid medicines unless necessary
Medicines are great when absolutely required, but most of the time they are overused. In general, doctors hand out a long prescription for any fever which comprises an antipyretic, an antibiotic or two, a probiotic, a vitamin or two, an antacid, and perhaps some symptom-specific medications like a painkiller. A fever treated this way often takes just as many days as a fever that is treated entirely by listening to your body. The advantage of the latter is that you will have long-standing immunity and no side effects.
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