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The impact of pandemic on eating habits

by bocconifood

People's diets and food habits are easily shaped by their surroundings, activities, and lifestyles. To be precise, dietary habits are the food choices preferred by persons in their daily lives.
Every individual has different practices; however, it is recommended to pursue healthy diet ( with fruits, vegetables, cereals, water, low-fat dairy products, etc) to stay fit and well.
Besides consuming a healthy meal, one should accompany this with daily exercise and activities that will maintain one active. Overall, combining these two components allows individuals to remain strong and in a good physical and mental state.

Nevertheless, after the pandemic struck, individuals' lifestyles were altered significantly, because not everyone could continue to combine these two ingredients.
A survey conducted demonstrated some of the adverse effects that Covid-19 has had on people's eating habits.

Participants showed that since the lockdown initiation, their food consumption increased massively, along with convenience foods such as premade meals and canned foods. In addition, alcohol and sweet consumption increased drastically while fruit and vegetable intake had decreased. In other words, people's food habits were changing for the worst due to the circumstances. Moreover, many families experienced income losses, which forced them to adopt less healthy and lower-cost eating habits. Consequently, fresh products began to be substituted by more processed and more durable (convenience) products or partially unhealthy foods (e.g., sweets, alcohol).

Due to the increased dependence on cheaper foods, the purchase of goods such as rice, pasta, bread incremented significantly; meanwhile, meat, eggs, vegetables, and fruit consumption declined.
The lockdown motivated people to buy packaged foods, shop online from convenience stores, and consume more junk and fast food products while they were staying at home. On top of this, countries have struggled to obtain fresh products because of their decreased production rates and inability to transport goods due to the lockdown. Prices increased because of a higher rate of scarcity, which resulted in an overall decline in consumption by lower-income individuals.

On the other hand, individuals with higher incomes were able to take advantage of the time to shift towards more home-cooked meals and healthy eating habits, which have impacted their lives in a positive manner. In fact, there has been an upsurge in the demand for organic and biological food products because the pandemic has raised consumers' awareness about their health. However, due to the costlier nature of these goods, they can only be enjoyed by these groups of people.

It's been proven that malnutrition and not maintaining healthy diets can make people more susceptible to coronavirus, as well as other health problems such as obesity, high blood pressure, type two diabetes, heart disease, and many others.

Furthermore, the lockdown restricted people's ability to exercise and maintain active lives. This directly impacts and harms one's health and leads to the rise of numerous health problems. Thus, demonstrating that our lifestyles are notably affected by the activities as well as the foods we consume.
Although it is easier said than done, during these challenging times of lockdowns, restrictions, and loss, we need to protect our bodies and give them what they need in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. If you are striving for implementing new and improved eating habits into your life, here's a diagram that can inform you of what a proper eating plate looks like!