Eat Meat to Support Your Immunity During a Crisis
Oftentimes we wait until we get sick to think about how we could have prevented it. We all know meat plays an important role in our health for building muscle and bone. But did you know it also serves as the building blocks for enzymes, hormones and vitamins? In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are starting to talk more about the other positive benefit of eating meat: it supports your immune system.
More than ever before, people are looking for convenient, easy foods that provide a lot of nutrition per bite, says Kim Kirchherr, Registered Dietitian and president of K2 Outcomes LLC.
“I feel like that describes meat, and pork in general, because you've got this nutrient-rich source of protein. But the surround sound of what else comes with those protein grams is really important to talk about, especially right now when you're looking at immune system support,” she says.
Kirchherr shares how eating meat can support your immunity, but also offers other tips to stay healthy during a crisis.
1. Eat meat.
Meat is an excellent source of immune-supporting nutrients such as protein and zinc, in addition to Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12 and selenium to name a few. It also provides nutrients that people often don’t think about such as riboflavin, she adds.
“Eating a balanced diet is important because you always want to support your health and your immune system with nutrients,” Kirchherr says. “Having that steady stream of nutrition coming in is always important, but especially with the situation we are dealing with right now.”
She says the ChooseMyPlate visual representation of the science of nutrition is the best place to start. “When you look at a balanced diet, all five of those food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, protein foods), do something unique and interesting,” Kirchherr says. “If you can remember the five subgroups – that you get something unique from each of them and there's a variety in all of them – that's really foundational to supporting your health and ultimately supporting your immune system.”
Kirchherr says other immune-supporting nutrients such as vitamin A and vitamin C pair well with pork. For example, you can mix pork and pineapple on a kabob or serve pork chops with applesauce. Green vegetables always work well with any kind of pork you’re choosing to serve to create a nice balanced meal that provides the long list of nutrients our bodies need to stay healthy, she adds.
2. Practice good food safety.
Although there is still a lot that needs to be discovered about COVID-19, Kirchherr says always follow Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) guidelines. But there are some things that people should always do to stay healthy, and especially when they are working with food.
“When preparing meat, wash your hands before you start. Wash your hands after you touch raw meat and are going to go prepare a salad. That proper hand washing we're hearing about is just general good advice and good food safety advice all the time,” she says.
When it comes to bringing home groceries, she encourages people to think about where they are storing their groceries and to keep raw foods away from cooked and ready-to-eat foods.
In addition, using a meat thermometer and cooking to proper temperature is going to not only be great for food safety, but it's also going to give you a great eating experience, she says.
3. Pay attention to your physical and emotional health.
“I think the other piece to supporting our immunity is just caring for ourselves,” Kirchherr says.
Getting enough rest, exercising and managing stress all support overall health during a crisis situation. She says that’s sound advice to follow even when we’re not in a pandemic.
Don’t have time to exercise? Kirchherr says try going old school.
“Maybe it’s just walking up and down your stairs a couple of times or marching in place while you're watching TV at night or doing push-ups during a commercial,” she says. “It’s kind of going ‘old school’ on some of the things that we know are easy for us to do that don't require us leaving the house.”
With more people at home now – cooking in their own kitchens – the opportunity to bridge the gap between food, nutrition and agriculture is greater than ever, Kirchherr says. Now’s a critical time to get to know each other throughout the entire spectrum of the food supply chain and get that conversation going.
“How can we help connect the dots? How do we help build that trust? And how do we make it super simple?” she asks.
Pointing people to ChooseMyPlate is a start. Remember two or three food groups for a meal and vary your choices within them and you’ll be on a really good path, Kirchherr advises.
“I feel like that supports our farmers, all of agriculture and our health. That's the win-win-win,” Kirchherr says.
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