With mandatory confinement, the direct danger is weight gain. To escape it and stay healthy, Patrick Serog, nutritionist in Paris, gives us his advice.
- During confinement, you have to plan your schedule and do physical activity
- Energy intake can be reduced by 15%
- Children’s eating habits should not be changed
To limit weight gain during confinement, it is better to pay attention to your diet. Next to the practice of a physical activity, eating well is essential to staying in shape while we stay locked up. Patrick Serog, a nutritionist in Paris, explains the foods to favor and avoid during this quarantine period.
What should you absolutely avoid in terms of food during confinement?
Before talking about the food plan, let’s talk about life in confinement because that’s what will determine the diet. To be well lived, you need regular hours of activity. You have to get up at the time you used to get up and plan an activity in the morning. Physical activity is very important in this period. It’s the same for meals. You have to reduce your energy intake by about 15% because after a long period of confinement, there will be a lot of overweight. Whatever we do, we will have a reduction in energy expenditure because depending on the size of the apartment, we will not spend a lot of energy. There are two ways to do this: the portion and the energy content of the food. On the portions, if you take a meal: a starter must not exceed 100 grams, meat or fish must not exceed 120 grams, starchy foods are only once a day and not more than 150 grams in weight cooked and vegetables can be taken at 150 grams as well. You can also accompany it with yogurt and fruit. Do not exceed one tablespoon of oil per person per meal. For bread, no more than a quarter of a baguette per person per meal. If in the afternoon you want to have a little fun, you have to aim for the fruits you like.
If you have children, what should you feed them?
Nothing needs to be changed in their diet. A child is much more active than an adult. It stirs a lot and moves like atoms. They may even exert themselves more than at school where they are more confined since they are seated and must not move outside of recess. That said, parents should be careful not to buy lots of foods high in fat and sugar. Confinement is also the time to cook as a family, to share it with the children according to your convictions and your needs. This is an opportunity to pass on an experience to the children.
How to ensure that food does not become a refuge from boredom?
You should no longer take pizza, in any case no more than one a week and try to make it yourself at home. We have time. You can also make fruit pies without putting too much butter. For quiches, no more than once every ten days. You can continue to eat dishes with sauce, even if you have to avoid butter sauces and fatty sauces. Snacking should be reduced at all costs. You can nibble on fruit, from time to time a small pie during the afternoon. For those who are addicted to chocolate, you should aim for less than 30 grams per day, or 6 squares. For cheese, it should be limited to three times a week. Confinement should not become an opportunity to increase alcohol consumption either. If you want to have fun, two or three times a week you can have a glass of wine. For those who like alcohol, it is imperative to limit yourself and not exceed one glass at lunchtime and one glass in the evening.
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