Boost Your Immune System with Food

1. Greens

You have heard it before and I will say it again. The green foods are what contain the big nutrient hit. Vitamins, minerals and a collection of immune stimulating and anti-microbial elements are found in green foods. Eat a variety of salads, kale, collards, cabbage, broccoli in their raw and cooked form. Some nutrients are better raw and others are better cooked. Eating both means you will get all the vitamins your body needs.

2. Fermented Foods

Our body has 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells. Those bacteria naturally live all over our skin and throughout our digestive tract. The type of bacteria has a huge affect on our immune system. If we are covered in healthy bacteria, that will be reflected by the healthy function of our immune system. If we are covered in unhealthy or imbalanced bacteria then we will be more susceptible to infection. Eat homemade sauerkraut and kimchi daily and start your winter days with a miso soup to get a dose of the probiotic lactibacilli. Taking a probiotic during the winter can also boost your immune system.

3. Fat
All of the cells in our body are made with fat. That includes the cells of our immune system. Eating a diet full of healthy fats like olive oil, coconut oil, and organic butter or ghee will make sure you have enough fat to build a healthy immune system. Coconut oil in particular has many anti-microbial properties.

4. Ditch the stimulants

Coffee, sugar, black tea, chocolate, cigarettes and alcohol will all have a negative impact on your immune system through the winter. These foods cause physical stress in the body so when consumed over the long term will reduce your body’s ability to fight infection. The winter is a perfect time to take a six-week cleanse from stimulants. It may be challenging at first, but you will feel great after!

5. Love yourself

We are already perfect, clean and amazing beings. If we can embrace this and have more acceptance and love for ourselves and our bodies, then our immune system will work more effectively. The stress we feel inhibits our digestion, prevents absorption of nutrients and lowers the body temperature so that our immune system cannot function optimally. The love we send to our body helps us to maintain balance and health. When we do this we will also eat...more intuitively and be drawn to the foods that naturally supports health.