Ashu Gupta best dietician in Delhi NCR can guide you through the best immune-boosting foods to add to your diet. Check out below the top 10 immune-enhancing foods to eat and stay healthy.
Citrus fruits
Most people go for vitamin C when they catch a cold. This is because it helps in building up the immune system. It is believed that vitamin C can raise the production of white blood cells. They are essential to fighting infections. Almost every citrus fruit is rich in vitamin C. As you can choose from such a huge variety, you can easily squeeze in some vitamin C for any meal.
Top citrus fruits are grapefruit, oranges, lime, and lemons. Since the body does not make or store it, daily vitamin C is required for maintaining health. The following regular amount is recommended for most adults:
75 mg for women
90 mg for men
If you want supplements, don’t consume more than 2,000 mg daily.
However, it’s still not evident that vitamin C can fight against the new coronavirus.
Broccoli is loaded with minerals and vitamins. Abundant in fiber, vitamins A, C, and E, and multiple other antioxidants, broccoli counts as one of the healthiest veggies to add to your diet.
The tip to keep its strength intact is cooking it as little as possible or rather eat it uncooked better. According to research, steaming is the best method for keeping more nutrients in your food.
We add garlic to almost every cuisine. It adds a little zing to our meals and should be consumed for health. Early civilizations realized how it can ward off infections. It can also slow down the hardening of your arteries. Besides, there is slight evidence that it helps reduce blood pressure. Its immune-boosting properties are due to its heavy content of allicin, a sulfur-containing compound.
Obviously, after garlic, the turn is for ginger. It may help reduce inflammation that can help decrease inflammatory diseases and a sore throat. It might help with nausea also. While ginger is added in several sweet desserts, it packs some heat as gingerol that’s a relative of capsaicin.
Ginger may also reduce chronic pain and also contain cholesterol-reducing properties.
Spinach is abundant in vitamin C and beta carotene and plenty of antioxidants that may enhance the ability of your immune system to fight infections.
Just like broccoli, spinach should be best cooked the least. That way, it can retain all its nutrients. However, if you cook it lightly, it can easily absorb vitamin A, letting other nutrients for getting released from oxalic acid that’s an anti-nutrient.
Go for live and active culture yogurts. They can stimulate the immune system to help you get rid of infections.
Try having plain yogurts instead of those filled with sugar or flavors. You yourself can sweeten plain yogurt by adding a drizzle of honey or healthy fruits.
Yogurt is also a brilliant source of vitamin D. Therefore, try choosing brands that include this vitamin. It also helps in regulating your immune system and boosting your body’s natural defense mechanism against ailments.
Moreover, clinical trials are currently studying its possible benefits on COVID-19.
When you want to prevent and fight off a cold, vitamin E is not as effective as vitamin C. But this strong antioxidant is vital to a healthy immune system.
It is a fat-soluble vitamin. This implies that it needs the presence of fat for getting absorbed properly. Nuts like almonds have lots of vitamins and healthy fats.
Adults only require around 15 mg of vitamin E regularly. A ½ cup serving of almonds, that contains nearly 46 full, shelled almonds can offer almost 100% of the recommended everyday amount.
Turmeric is an important ingredient in several curries. It has been used for a long time as an anti-inflammatory to treat rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.
According to research, high curcumin content that provides turmeric with its particular color can help reduce muscle damage due to strenuous exercise. Curcumin is a potent immune booster and antiviral. More research is required.
Both black and green teas are full of flavonoids, a kind of antioxidant. Green tea is a little better as it possesses high amounts of EGCG (epigallocatechin), another strong antioxidant.
Studies say that EGCG can improve immune function. Black tea fermentation destroys much EGCG. Since green tea is steamed (not fermented), its EGCG stays intact.
Green tea also contains L-theanine, an amino acid that may help produce germ-fighting compounds in the T-cells.
It’s loaded with vitamin C. Double the everyday recommended vitamin C content is in one medium-sized papaya. It also contains papain, a digestive enzyme with anti-inflammatory benefits.
Papayas possess folate, magnesium, and potassium in decent quantities that benefit overall health.
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