Eating Well When Ill (And At Restaurants!)

Hey everyone--it's Rachel.

I'm pretty sick with a miserable head-cold.  I'm constantly coughing, cannot breathe through my nose, and have a low-grade fever.  MyPlate was feeling kind of rough, but I've made it work.

Soup is amazing when you're sick.  I normally eat a generic boxed noodle soup (just broth and noodles), so I thought, "Why not make it MyPlate soup?"  I added pieces of chicken breast, celery, and carrots to the soup mix on the stove, and ate it with a little cheese and some cantaloupe.  I then had all the parts of the MyPlate guidelines met, and was able to warm up a bit and feel a little better.

I was then prompted to do some research on eating well when you're sick.  I was brought to an amazing article from WebMD and wanted to share some of the important points with you. 

When we get sick, we need to keep eating healthy.  It isn't good to eat less just because we don't feel well, because sometimes to get better, we need to increase our caloric intake in order to have energy to fight off whatever is causing us to get sick.  We also need to eat our lean meats because protein helps rebuild and repair cells.  We get sick because our cells aren't healthy, so protein can fix that.  When we're sick, we also need our whole grains, fruits, and vegetables because fiber will keep our digestive systems running normally.  We also need to be sure we are getting our vitamins and minerals, so if you take supplements, keep taking them!  And of course, if your illness doesn't let you eat right, go see a doctor!

Other than being sick, I've been doing well.  Last night Kellen and I went out for supper at a Mexican restaurant with our friend for her birthday.  We were feeling sad that we had so much food leftover until Kellen brought up an amazing point.  "Rachel," he said, "I'm proud of us.  Look at all the food left on the table.  That whole basket of chips and the whole dish of salsa would be gone, we wouldn't have had any food left to take home, and we'd have eating all of our friend's birthday dessert.  Literally, the only thing left on the table would have been these mushrooms I didn't eat."

Kellen's statement made me think.  How much of what restaurants give us is really too much?  I'm so used to going out to eat at a restaurant and eating everything they serve me without really thinking about whether or not I get my grains or my fruits or what have you.  Last night, having to plan what I'd eat before even ordering, I realized that eating healthy isn't very easy in America unless you cook all your meals at home.  What we have to do is to really focus on getting our fruits, veggies, grains, proteins, and dairy in every meal and to make sure that the portions are sensible.  Don't eat all those chips and salsa the Mexican restaurant waiters serve you!  That's huge and full of calories you don't need.  If eating MyPlate, you then wouldn't be able to eat your grains for that meal.  Healthy choices should come before you order, so take your time and read the whole menu for the best choices available.

That's all for today.  Stay healthy!  (I'm trying--I'm going to Country USA in Oshkosh tonight through Friday night!)

--Rachel