Dietary Precautions and Tips After a Windstorm

Typhoons not only cause major damage to agriculture, but also give rise to a number of dietary and water-related problems. Because supplies are scarce in disaster areas, nutritional imbalances easily occur. When fresh vegetables are unavailable, you can choose more dried vegetables, instant whole-grain cereal and other substitutes to replenish the nutrients and fiber your body needs.

When vegetables are in short supply after a typhoon, you might choose some dried vegetables, such as dried daylily, shredded wood ear mushroom, nori, and seaweed, to supplement fiber. Using instant or steeped whole-grain cereals, such as five-grain powder, milk powder, sesame powder, and coix seed powder, along with protein from grains, can restore your energy. Canned vegetables can also supply the fiber your body needs, but be careful to reduce the amount of salt added during cooking. Besides dried vegetables, you can also choose more naturally air-dried dried fruit foods to replace fresh fruit you cannot obtain, such as raisins, cranberries, red dates, and black dates; all are excellent sources of minerals and fiber, while brightly colored candied fruit products, because they contain higher amounts of sugar, coloring, and salt, are best avoided as much as possible.

In disaster areas, special care should be taken in the diet to avoid drinking raw water and eating raw food. Cooked food, if not refrigerated, should not be left at room temperature for more than 2 hours, and if mold, discoloration, or off-flavors are found, it must not be eaten. When buying frozen foods, pay attention to whether there are needle-like ice crystals on the packaging, which indicates that frozen storage may have been poor, the result of repeated thawing, causing the food quality to deteriorate and freshness to be greatly reduced.

In addition, water quality after a disaster may have more chlorine added for disinfection. It is recommended that after boiling, remove the pot lid and heat for another five minutes to let the chlorine evaporate. Bottled mineral water must not be exposed directly to sunlight, lest high temperatures produce toxins; if the appearance shows it has been opened, or is dented or damaged, do not drink it either. In the scorching summer, whether in disaster relief in affected areas or among the general public, mineral-containing fluids should be replenished in good time to avoid heatstroke.