It’s winter time, at least in the Northern hemisphere of the globe, and many people are coming down with the flu or the common cold and other viral diseases. A runny nose or nasal congestion, a sore throat, or coughing, and headaches have become synonymous with winter time, but this need not be the case. 

Some foods are easily accessible during this time of year, and what’s even better is that they give a boost to your immune system and keep you healthy and active.

In this article, I will list those foods and explain why they support your immune system.

Fruits and Vegetables Rich in Vitamin C

Vitamin C is an essential vitamin that our body always needs from external sources for growth and repair of tissues. It protects the body from free radical damage from tobacco smoke, poor food choices such as highly processed, sugar and chemical rich foods and from radiation. [1] This vitamin is not produced in the body, nor is it stored, which is why we need to eat foods that are rich vitamin C on a daily basis to meet our body’s daily requirements of vitamin C – which is between 65 to 90 mg for an adult. Consuming foods rich in vitamin C is preferable than taking vitamin C supplements, even though synthetic and food-derived vitamin C are chemically identical, fruit and vegetables are rich in numerous nutrients and phytochemicals which influence the vitamins’ bioavailability.

Foods with significant quantities of vitamin C include:

Aim to add these foods daily to your diet during the winter. The most wonderful thing is that these foods naturally ripen during the winter months and are typically available from the trees to fulfill our needs at the perfect timing.

Garlic

Garlic is considered a natural antibiotic with infection-fighting properties. [2] Every cuisine in the world uses it, and almost all early civilizations recognize its benefits. Garlic provides a host of benefits for our health via internal ingestion as well as via use on the outer skin where we may have infections. Garlic’ immune boosting effects come from its very high concentrations of sulfur compounds like allicin which have a significant enhancing impact on the immune system. For the immune boosting benefits of garlic, aim to consume raw garlic 1-2 times a week during the winter months. Cooked garlic will not have the same effects as  cooking the garlic destroys the allicin.

Fermented Foods with Active Cultures

Fermented foods that have active cultures motivate the immune system. These foods stimulate healthy bacteria to support immune function through the reduction in the production of inflammatory compounds, increased synthesis of lymphocytes while also reducing the autoimmune responses in the body.

Plant-based naturally fermented unprocessed foods include homemade sauerkraut, fermented carrots, kombucha, kimchi, miso and tempeh made from fermented soybeans.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is also vital for our immune system and is known to help in immune system regulation. [4]. Research shows that vitamin D supplements reduce the risk of viral infection by about 10 percent in people who are not deficient in this vitamin, but for people who were deficient in this vitamin, the risk of infection was reduced by 50%! [3].

Certain mushrooms that have been exposed to UV light contain considerable amounts of vitamin D to supply us with this important vitamin when sunshine levels are low in the northern hemisphere.

Nuts

Many people avoid nuts because of their high quantities of fat. However, nuts have a whole host of health benefits also due to their healthy fat content which support the immune system. 

Different nuts contain different minerals and vitamins that are vital for your immune system, including vitamin E, vitamin C, zinc and selenium. [5]

Other Foods That Boost Immunity

Many other foods have either moderate or low amounts of substances which also boost immunity, these foods include:

If you include at least a few of these foods every day into your diet, you’ll be well on your way to having a robust immune system that’s highly efficient at fighting off the flu and other common diseases. You will feel better and also look better.

Feel free to comment below and let me know what you liked best about this article.

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Galit Goldfarb

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