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Scott Webb: There's never a bad time to boost our immune systems, but it's especially important during the pandemic and joining me today to help us keep our foods and kitchens clean, eat right, and boost our immune systems is Sarah Brauning. She's a Registered Dietician at Genesis Diabetes and Nutrition Education. This is Sounds of Good Health with Genesis brought to you by Genesis Healthcare System. I'm Scott Webb. Sarah, thanks so much for joining me today. You know, a lot of us are working from home and where you have some different routines going since the pandemic started. So we want to talk about that today and maybe just some overall, you know, health things that you can help us with. But first off, tell us a little bit about yourself and your role as a dietician.

Sarah Brauning: I have been a registered dietician for 34 years. Most of that time has been spent in diabetes education, a lot of community information being given out. And I'm also very interested in heart disease. So those are my two specialties. But I get a lot of questions about nutrition from the public.

Host: That's great Sarah, sounds like you've been at it a long time and I know that food safety is a high priority for you. So let's talk about how we can keep our foods and kitchens clean during the pandemic, and really anytime.

Sarah Brauning: I want to clarify that COVID has never really been shown to be passed via food. So that's good news. But with that being said, eating undercooked meat or unclean food is just never a good idea. So unhealthy practice, the problem with food contamination is it may actually just attack our immune system so that we are more likely to get food poisoning and COVID and flus and any other infection. So what are some things that we can do just real quickly washing our hands? It seems so simple. We should never have gotten away with in the past going all day or half a day without washing hands, but that should be something we're doing pretty routinely washing food. I started thinking the other day about a fresh produce. First of all, it's been picked with human hands and sorted with human hands and packaged with hands and shipped and sent to a grocery store where not only is it re-stocked, but probably handled many times before it's picked up. And in my house, the kids may pick it up in the refrigerator and put it back down. So washing fruits and vegetables in a warm, soapy water and renting them thoroughly is a good way to clean that, to clean, the food refrigerating, reheating food.

In fact, if food is delivered to your house, this is not a bad thing to be doing right now. Get that oven hot, maybe reheat the pizza a little bit. So making sure that the food is safe your home is safe. So washing surfaces replacing dishtowels wash clothes every day, and then washing hands, but not in the kitchen sink. That's kind of my pet peeve when everyone comes home and they go right to the kitchen sink, but using the bathroom to wash hands or the utility room instead of the kitchen sink, saving that for food preparation. And then one last thing at home, if you have a dishwasher, I'd be using it cause it's hot enough that it's really sterilizing dishes and utensils. Restaurants, I want to say real quickly, there are better times to go. If you're going, when they're really busy, I think restaurants are going to be a little more maybe likely to contaminate food, just accidents happen when they're busy. And then, you know, watching the servers, I was at a restaurant just recently and observed the server wearing the same set of gloves going from table to table, handing pens to sign credit card receipts. And although she's protecting herself, those gloves are becoming her hand, her skin, and now she's, you know, not washing them. So, really kind of just paying attention to food cleanliness,

Host: You know, so normally if we buy, you know, blueberries and strawberries and things like that at the store, we rinse them with cold water because we feel like that's the least we could do, but I always have this feeling that rinsing those kinds of more delicate fruits or seemingly delicate fruits in warm water, or with soap is somehow going to ruin the flavor, ruin the fruits. Is that just in my head?

Sarah Brauning: Well, it definitely not the same amount of soap that you would use to wash. This is a very mild loosens, the soil and the stuff that is on and, and definitely not too hot of water, but just slightly, you know, just room temperature water that can then the fruits and vegetables can be rinsed really thoroughly. And interesting, since you said that, I didn't mean to talk so much about food cleanliness, but washing the outside of cans, because again, in a warehouse, you know, you just don't know what's washed, a friend of mine made a big deal about washing cans off and I started thinking, you open that can, and often the lid falls right in the can. So yeah, washing even fruit, that's going to be peeled because as you cut that knife through the peeling, it's potentially contaminating and we don't know how long the people picking the fruit have gone without washing their hands.

Host: I don't know if this is people have been using this term, the new normal, and maybe some good can come out of this. We know that a telehealth and telemedicine has kind of taken over. So that's been good. And maybe as you say, who knew that people weren't washing their hands, that this was going to be such a revelation that washing our hands, you know, was a good practice because it seems like everybody's doing that. And it certainly has been a boon for the, you know, the hand sanitizer manufacturers. So when we talk about beans, nuts, berries and fruits, can they protect us against COVID-19? And if so, which ones and how do we know if a food claim, and there are lots of those out there that States that it helps to protect against COVID-19, how do we know if that's actually real?

Sarah Brauning: Yeah. Okay. So starting with the foods that are protecting us from COVID, maybe another way to ask that would be, are there foods that boost our immune system that help us? Because I wonder if maybe some people maybe not in all cases, but people that are actually getting COVID, maybe have weakened immune. Well, of course they do to a certain degree, but I wonder if the people that can protect themselves have worked very hard at staying active and eating healthy. So that's a great question. There are some foods that protect us, our bodies produce what's called free radicals and free radicals are these crazy things that are produced from stress. So whether it's mental or physical stress, these free radicals, and we know this, that they are leading to developing cancer and infections and autoimmune problems. The cool thing is that we have something in our diet that's the key to turning those off. And those are called antioxidants mate. They actually sacrificed their, their themselves by giving up electrons, which disarm these free radicals. So what are these exciting foods, these antioxidants? There's four main ones that are discussed pretty heavily vitamin C vitamin E beta carotene, and the other carotenoids and selenium. And just, I don't want to give you a lot of detail because it's something that anyone could go in and research, but vitamin C is a lot of citrus. Fruits, vegetables turns out peppers are very good source of vitamin C.

Bearing in mind that heat does destroy Vitamin C. Vitamin D is nuts and whole grains, beta carotene, or the carotenoids are kind of fun. Think of the Fall colors. So they are the orange and the red and the bright, yellow and green. So things like squash and cantaloupe and peppers and spinach. Selenium is a mineral found in the soil. And it's particularly high in Brazil nuts, whole grains, seafood and red meat. So I want to say a quick clarification because I hear this a lot. Well, then I'll just take a multivitamin. What comes in our multivitamins is not exactly the same thing as what's in food. And it's pretty smug to think we've got all these nutrients figured out. You're getting them in the food, whether we have identified them or not. It's just, it's good to keep that balance of fruits and vegetables. And one thing about the fruits and vegetables I've often said to my patients, I'm going to sound like your mama, but eat your fruits and vegetables first because there such important foods. So and then what does your diet look like? A lot of fruits, a lot of vegetables try to stick with really plant based proteins. They don't always have to be plant based, but Keyneao, beans, and nuts. There's just so many foods out there that are very close to the way they were raised or grown in a field. We want to stick to those whole foods rather than processed packaged foods.

Host: Yeah, definitely. And I know that during COVID-19, at least with me, you know, I've just found myself wandering around the house. I often end up in the kitchen looking in the pantry. I've been treating myself to we'll call it a call them comfort foods. Is that okay? Can we in moderation treat ourselves to some comfort foods that may not be, you know, nuts and berries and whole grains and antioxidants. Can we have a treat now and again?

Sarah Brauning: You know, that's a hard question. I think. Yeah, the answer is yes. Do I? Yes. But I think we got to be really careful that it doesn't lead to, I'm entitled to those foods and keeping in mind that yes, those things taste really good in your mouth for a few seconds. And then you swallow them and your stomach really doesn't know what's in there. You don't want your body to have to deal for 24 hours with something that just tasted good for a few seconds. So, my answer is yes, but I it's got to be done cautiously or there's weight gain and health issues that are developed from those bad behaviors.

Host: Yeah, definitely those few moments of pleasure can a, you end up paying for those in more ways than one and certainly calories, pounds, and all of that. Sarah so much great information today. What else can we tell people?

Sarah Brauning: I do want to go on and say there's more to the whole picture than just food. So keeping in mind that adequate sleep exercise, there's just nothing, nothing that matches the good that comes from taking a walk or you know, just getting on a bike and riding for a mile or two managing stress. We need that belly laughing that watching Lucille ball tapes that just make us laugh from our toes. And then also we know this, but excessive alcohol and the use of tobacco really weakens the immune system. So it sets us up for health issues.

Host: So lastly, Sarah what are some good sources of information for people on boosting our immune system, as you say that's something we really need to do right now, that there may not be anything that necessarily prevents you from getting COVID-19. However, there are things we can do, things we can eat, ways we can take care of ourselves. They can boost our immune system that might help us, you know, fend off COVID-19.

Sarah Brauning: Good sites are reputable well-known sites like nutrition.gov is a USDA site that has exceptional information. Where not to go, we all know this, we still quote stuff from Facebook. You know, those are not, those pop-up claims, they're not true. So be really careful when you're reading those, and thinking that those are going to be information you should take home. US Department of Health and Human Services. There is a lot of good government type sites that have reputable information. The last thing I do want to mention is that Genesis Diabetes and Nutrition Education, and remember the emphasis on nutrition education, we can help people get weight off and fight some of the health problems that they're dealing with day in and day out like diabetes and heart disease. We just need a referral from the doctor. It's an easy process. And, you know, in this community, we do have dieticians that can help people sort that out.

Host: Yeah. So many great resources. And as you say, Genesis can really help. And when we talk about obesity and the complications that obesity can cause, and all of the other risk factors that it could present for people, and then trying to deal with COVID-19. So never a bad time to be mentally physically, well, maybe, especially during COVID-19 and you know, thank you for all the work you're doing and stay well. Call Genesis Diabetes and Nutrition Education at (740) 454-4568, or go to Genesishcs.org. And thanks for listening to Sounds of Good Health with Genesis brought to you by Genesis Healthcare System. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for additional topics of interest. I'm Scott Webb, stay well.