Boost your health with these 5 immunity-enhancing superfoods
As the winter holiday, cold, and flu season approaches, you should ask yourself if your immune system is prepared. Natural foods and supplements can intensely build your resistance to illness.
Importance of building a strong immune system
There are hundreds of factors that make you sick. Air pollution, unhealthy diets, medications, microbes, chemicals, poor soil quality, Chemtrails, unhealthy lifestyles, and poor water quality…the list is endless.
Even if you take the best care of yourself, you are still exposed to something that will cause havoc on your health. That’s where you need a powerful and strong immune system. The immune system defends your body against all infections. In other words, it is a guardian that protects your body.
If any germ or microbe is entering to cause infection and intending to make you sick, your immune system will fight against it. Then, it will keep a record of that specific germ and will not allow it to enter your body next time. This is how you build your immunity to recognize a repeat offender.
This constant fight also makes your immune system vulnerable. Sometimes, it becomes so weak that it can’t resist anymore, and you remain sick often.
But guess what? You can restore it naturally. That’s where comes ‘superfoods’.
What are superfoods, and how do they boost your immune system?
Superfoods are natural foods that are brimming with essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. Their nutritional value makes them a vital component of a healthy diet. These foods are also called ‘immune-boosting foods” because of their unique properties of enhancing the body’s natural defense mechanisms.
5 superfoods that supercharge your immune system
Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, understood the direct connection between food and health and said, “Let food be thy medicine”. There is no doubt that food directly impacts your health.
In modern expression, we say, “You are what you eat”. So here are some foods that supercharge your immunity.
1. Citrus Fruit
Citrus fruits contain vitamin C. This nutrient is well-known for its fundamental role in immune health.
It is also named ascorbic acid, a powerful antioxidant that bolsters your immune system. This little acid enhances the production and function of white blood cells, which fight infections.
You can easily grab citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruits, lemons, and limes from your next grocery store. The daily recommended intake of vitamin C is 70 milligrams. You can get this from a single medium orange. That means eating an orange or any citrus fruit daily can help to maintain the lowest level of vitamin C to ward off serious disease.
This tiny amount may not be enough so you will have to learn where your bowel tolerance is with vitamin C. Yes, it is what it sounds like. Once you increase your milligrams to a level that your stool gets too loose, you back down to 1,000 mg and stay there for maintenance.
If you are sick you may need more than usual so be flexible and change it when needed.
2. Garlic
Although Garlic has a pungent flavor, it is a natural remedy that can significantly enhance your immune system. Garlic contains allicin, which is released when garlic is crushed or chopped.
Allicin is a natural antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral agent. It combats a variety of pathogens, making it an ally for a resilient immune system. It also promotes the proliferation of white blood cells to fight infection or viruses.
Allicin also mitigates inflammation and ensures that your immune response remains balanced. You can easily include garlic in your diet and if you love cooking, you already know that adding garlic to dishes makes them tasty. If not, you can check garlic recipes on Google or YouTube but make sure that one of your day’s meals contains garlic.
This amazing allium also can help to lower high blood pressure but you must work with a Nutritional Consultant such as myself so you don’t lower it too much, too fast.
3. Greek Yogurt
Your gastrointestinal system is home to a vast community of microorganisms which is collectively known as the gut microbiome. This microbial system is directly linked to your immune health.
Simply put, if your gut health is strong, your immunity is strong. That’s where Greek yogurt can come in to help your gut. It contains a “good” colony of bacteria called probiotics that fortifies your gut. Probiotics, like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains, enhance your gut’s microbiome diversity.
These tiny fighters keep harmful pathogens in check. They interact with immune cells in your gut to stimulate a more robust immune response. The sugary yogurts are not as beneficial and should not be treated the same as the probiotic-rich Greek brands.
Are you a yogurt lover? If not, consider this specifically to be a part of your breakfast.
4. Leafy Greens
Leafy greens like kale and spinach are veritable nutritional powerhouses. These leaves offer a plethora of vitamins (A, C, and K), minerals (iron, calcium, and magnesium), and antioxidants that can supercharge your immune system.
Vitamin A is involved in developing immune cells. Vitamin C improves the body’s ability to fight infections. Antioxidants like beta-carotene and lutein in leafy greens also reduce oxidative stress and inflammation.
Leafy greens form a resilient immune system when they are integrated into your daily diet. A hearty green smoothie with kale or spinach, blended with low glycemic fruits like berries, is an invigorating way to start your day.
5. Berries
Berries, whether strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries, are rich in antioxidants like anthocyanins and Quercetin.
These two compounds are highly effective if you have oxidative stress and inflammation. Since chronic inflammation can highly weaken your immunity, eating berries can help you fight against it with their anti-inflammatory properties.
Berries are a light diet so you can eat them any time and can easily include them in your daily meals too.
What if your immune system is too weak to cope with superfoods?
Well, it happens. If your lifestyle doesn’t consider your dietary choices or you’ve neglected eating well due to time or unwillingness to make changes, your immunity may be on the verge of not fighting invasions.
Don’t worry; you still can get your health back under control. When things are depleted or toxic, you need professional help to correct the imbalances. So, to discuss your specific health and immunity issues, you can talk to an expert cellular Nutritional Consultant.
FAQs
Can I boost my immune system in 24 hours?
Yes! If your immune system is not destroyed, you can boost it quickly. Staying hydrated, eating healthy, sleeping well, exercising, and actively watching your lifestyle is a great start that will yield notable results. Taking specific supplements to boost your healthy bacterial colony can be an absolute game changer along with lifestyle improvements.
How can I recover my immune system at home?
One of the top recommendations is to eat a healthy variety of organic, non-GMO vegetables. This is where all of your nutrients and vitamins can come from in the form of micronutrients. Healthy foods will help your gut to recover if you have a distorted or weak immune system. Other best practices include moderate exercise, resting well, and detoxifying heavy metals and parasites.
What are super drinks to boost the immune system?
Just like superfoods, specific drinks also boost your immune system incredibly. These drinks include watermelon (with rinds), celery, carrot, beet, and greens juiced fresh. Adding fresh ginger root can help with gut inflammation while rebuilding the gut wall.
What are some quick ways to boost the immune system?
Apart from superfoods, there are other ways as well to boost the immune system quickly. For instance, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, exercising, and managing your stress level. Targeted supplements specific to your biochemical needs can fill in missing gaps but always use them on expert advice.
Detoxification of heavy metals, chemicals such as glyphosate, and nutrient imbalances can turn your health around along with helping you to fight bacterial or viral infections. By cleaning up your gut, you will allow your system to release inflammation and battle the illnesses instead.
Hair Analysis and your Immune System
It is more important than ever that you rebuild your immune system and feed it to grow a protective army of probiotics. I can’t stress enough that you need to be ready for any viruses, pathogens, bacteria, or illness coming your way. With a Hair Mineral Analysis we can see if you need nutrients to rebuild or heavy metals to purge at the least.
LET’S CHAT about your health journey so you are ready for any illness coming your way!
Further readings and studies
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/nutrition-and-immunity/
https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/ss/slideshow-immune-foods
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8801482/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0753332220308180
https://www.uchealth.com/en/media-room/covid-19/boost-immunity-with-food
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