Preventive care - Super Foods To Boost Your Immunity

You regularly wash your hands, go through bottles of hand sanitizers in a week, and always cough or sneeze into a tissue, only to once again land up to the doctor with another common cold or sore throat. Maybe it’s not what you’re doing to prevent germs from entering into your body, but what you’re not eating to build your body’s immunity against those pesky germs.

Here are 10 super foods that you might want to start incorporating into your daily diet to get rid of contracting common flu-like illnesses all the time –

1. Yoghurt – Packed with “healthy bacteria” or probiotics; you should help yourself to at least a 7 ounce dose of yoghurt every day, to prevent popping pills later on. Yoghurt contains a bacterium called Lactobacillus reuteri, which helps to increase white blood cell count.

2. Oats and barley – These power grains contain a fiber called beta-glucan that has antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, which are more potent and powerful than Echinacea. Eating this, you are less prone to diseases like influenza and herpes. They boost immunity, heal wounds faster, and make antibiotics more effective.

3. Garlic – This member of the onion family contains allicin, an ingredient that fights off bacteria and infection. Eat two cloves of garlic every day and you’re two-thirds less likely to catch a cold. It also helps fight stomach cancer.

4. Shellfish – Oysters, crabs, lobsters and clams are all rich in selenium, a chemical that helps white blood cells produce cytokines, which is a protein that drains the body of flu viruses. Oily fish like salmon and mackerel are rich in omega-3 fatty acids that reduce inflammation and contraction of colds and other respiratory infections.

5. Chicken soup – Chicken noodle soup helps block the accumulation of inflammatory white blood cells in the bronchial tubes that causes the common cold. Chicken, when cooked, releases an amino acid called cysteine that helps fight off cold-causing viruses and the salty broth of the soup thins mucus, just like any cough syrup.

6. Tea – Drinking at least 2 cups of black or green tea in a day will help your immune system fight off harmful cold and cough-causing viruses and bacteria. Tea is abundant in L-theanine, an amino acid responsible for the immune boost.

7. Beef – This meat is a prime source of zinc that helps bolster your immune system. Deficiency in zinc can put you at a greater risk of infection. Zinc helps develop white blood cells that identify and destroy viruses and bacteria in your body.

8. Sweet potatoes – Foods containing beta-carotene, like sweet potatoes are converted into vitamin A by your body’ digestive juices that helps promote skin growth; skin being the primary fortress, or shield to prevent bacteria, fungi and viruses from invading our bodies.

9. Mushrooms – These good fungi help stimulate and promote the development of white blood cells and make them more belligerent against fighting off bad bacteria.

10. Eggs – Poached, boiled, fried or sunny side up, the proteins from eggs are one of the best foods that you can eat to help boost your immune system.

For more details on foods that can boost your immunity, get in touch with our experts at Phoenix Family Medical Clinic today.

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