Healthy foods can provide so much benefit for your body. It can help you lose weight, fight off chronic disease, reduce inflammation and pain, help build muscle tissue and create a healthy immune system. It just makes sense that in addition to working out, you focus on eating healthy. The first step is always to eliminate unhealthy food, such as foods high in added sugar or highly processed foods, like snack food or processed meats.
Add herbs and spices.
Garlic or onions added to your food, sage and other herbs, like rosemary, ginger, thyme and oregano can help boost your immune system. Raw garlic and cooked or raw onions help improve your gut microbiome—the bacteria, yeast and other microbes that are a part of the immune system. Basil, sage and rosemary are naturals when it comes to fighting infections. They’re also anti-inflammatory, to protect your health. If you want to fight off virus, sprinkle some holy basil in your food or drink a tea made of it.
Look for food with vitamin C.
You’ve probably heard that taking vitamin C will give your immune system a boost, and it’s true. It’s contained in citrus fruit, such as lemons, grapefruit or oranges and also in other foods, like sweet red peppers. A snack of an orange or a cut up red bell pepper with dip can be a healthy way to boost your level of vitamin C, plus also satisfy your hunger. Just one mini red pepper contains about 271% of your RDA, but only has 25 calories.
Vitamin D and zinc are a necessity to be your healthiest and boost your immune system.
If you want to keep your immune system strong, focus on foods with zinc and vitamin D. Zinc is necessary for a healthy immune system and is available in shellfish, nuts, beans and other legumes. One of the best ways to get vitamin D is to get out in the sun. Luckily, based on our latitude, people in Dublin, CA, are able to absorb adequate sunlight year around, so exposing as much flesh as possible for approximately. The amount of time you need to spend varies by time of day, season, altitude, skin color, weather conditions and air pollution, but for most people, it’s approximately 15-20 minutes a day without sun screen. Including tuna, egg yolk, sardines and salmon in your diet also boosts vitamin D.
- Foods that help the gut bacteria, which in turn aid your immune system, include kefir, sauerkraut, yogurt, pickles and other fermented foods that boost the probiotics. Having beneficial bacteria can also help you be calmer and regulate mental activity.
- Make sure there’s lots of greenery on your plate, like spinach and Brussels sprouts. Both are high in antioxidants, which include vitamin A, C, E and phytonutrients.
- Fight off the flu and colds with berries, such as elderberries, raspberries or blueberries. They’re anti-fungal, antimicrobial and antibacterial. More recent research shows they can boost your immune system to help fight viruses.
- Avoid food with added sugar. Too much sugar not only affects the microbes in your digestive system, giving yeast more food and healthy bacteria less. It also affects your immune system negatively.
For more information, contact us today at Liv Fitness