Boosting Immunity – Healthy Foods that Keep You Well

Vitamin supplements play an important role in providing the antioxidant protection you need. The foods you choose to consume therefore, are essential to your immunity. Healthy foods kick start your body to guard itself against infections before they strike.

You can literally eat your way to a healthier you by including more vitamin rich foods in your daily diet. When you become sick, your body has to fight hard to overcome illness. When you consume more healthy foods that keep your immunity strong, your body has a better chance of recovering from illness at a faster rate.

Boosting Immunity the Healthy Way

Your body’s immune system is a protective system. It is designed to defend you against invasion by harmful bacteria, viruses, and chemicals. A weakened immunity loses the ability to guard itself from infection and malignancy. When you’re not protected, your body can produce such symptoms as fever, weight loss, muscle pains, and fatigue.

While its difficult to enhance a normal functioning immune system, there are things you can do to protect and strengthen it during times of illness or chronic disease. Three main areas of importance are diet, exercise, and stress reduction.

Adequate basic nutrients are important to fuel our bodies. There are a number of nutrients thought to boost optimal immunity which include amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and prebiotics/probiotics.

Amino acids glutamine and arginine are thought to prevent oxidative stress and enhance T-helper cells. Good sources of these key amino acids are meats, legumes, fish, chicken, eggs, dairy products, raw cabbage, beets, nuts, and whole grains.

Omega 3 fatty acids act as anti-inflammatory agents and help regulate the function of immune cells. Good sources include herring, salmon, sardines, farmed rainbow trout, fresh tuna, mackerel, pacific oysters, walnuts, flaxseed, and canola oil.

Vitamins A, C, E, and D are known key players in immunity. Vitamin A stimulates antibody production in response to immune system activation. The essential vitamin C most importantly increases in production of interferon, the antibody that coats the cell surfaces, which prevents the entry of viruses and is an antioxidant. Vitamin E is also considered an anti-inflammatory and stabilizes membranes of immune cells. Vitamin D is a potent immune system modular and is now being examined for the potential of being an inhibitor of auto-immunity disease development.

Vitamin Sources for Boosting Immunity

Vitamin A – Apricots, peaches, cantaloupes, watermelons, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, greens, pumpkin.

Vitamin C – Sweet red pepper, hot red pepper, raw papaya, orange, grapefruit and pineapple juice, broccoli, hot green chili peppers, oranges.

Vitamin E – Sunflower seeds, almonds, olives, mustard greens, Swiss chard, spinach, papaya, collard greens, kale.

Vitamin D – Fortified milk, egg, salmon, shrimp, cod, mackerel, herring, trout, tuna.

Minerals zinc, selenium, and iron prevent the oxidation of lipids in cell membranes, thus reducing oxidative stress affecting immune cells.

Mineral Sources for Boosting Immunity

Sources of Zinc, Selenium, Iron

Zinc – Liver, beef, lamb, venison, crimini mushrooms, spinach, asparagus, Swiss chard.

Selenium – Liver, snapper, halibut, cod, tuna, salmon, chimini mushrooms, shrimp, eggs, Brazil nuts.

Iron – Liver, canned sardines, shrimp, roast pork, lean beef, dark meat turkey, chicken, thyme, spinach, Swiss chard, romaine.

Boosting Immunity with Prebiotics and Probiotics

Prebiotics and probiotics help stimulate the growth of intestinal flora (bacteria) which promotes lymph tissue to produce antibodies, which fight pathogens and enhance positive gut function. Prebiotics promote the growth of intestinal bacteria, whereas probiotics are the actual bacteria themselves. Categories of bacteria that everyone needs for healthy digestion and elimination are more specifically, Bifodobacteria and Lactobacilli.

Another key for boosting immunity, is to allow yourself to have some exposure to germs and bacteria. It is literally impossible to live free of them anyway! When you are regularly exposed to germs and bacteria (without being overwhelmed by them), your body is better able to build up resistance to them. Without resistance, your body will not build additional helper-T cells to help fend off other bacteria and germs.

Sources

Prebiotic Foods – Raw: Chicory root, Jerusalem artichoke, garlic, leek, onion, asparagus, banana, cabbage, flaxseed.Cooked: Whole wheat flour, oatmeal, barley.

Probiotic Foods – Sour cream, buttermilk, yogurt, kefir, tempeh, miso, Kim chi, sauerkraut or any fermented food, Inulin.

While the foods you consume help keep you healthy, exercise is also necessary for boosting immunity. Something as simple as a brisk walk can stimulate the defenses of the immune system and most importantly, the antibody and natural killer T-cell response. Regular stimulation of the system during bouts of exercise expedite the speed at which immune cells travel through your body. This allows your body’s natural defenses to ‘set up an army’, warding off incoming viruses and bacteria.

Follow These Guidelines to Keep Boosting Immunity