Do you know your immune system works 24 hours, 7 days a week to defend you from disease-causing micro-organisms? But if it’s not strong enough then it may fail and a germ can invade successfully and make you sick. So how to fight off the illness that sometimes spreads around your office or child’s school? The first thing that comes to mind is practicing good hygiene. But that’s not enough. Besides practicing good hygiene, boosting immune system is also of equal importance.
Can You Make Your Immune System Stronger?
The effective ways to boost your immune system are to adopt healthy-living strategies. Practicing general good-health guidelines is the best way to strengthen immune system. Every part of your body, including your immune system, works better when protected from environmental incursions and strengthened by healthy-living strategies.
Best Natural Ways To Boost Immune System
1. Avoid Smoking: Don’t smoke as it weakens basic immune defenses and increases the risk of bronchitis and pneumonia.
2. Go For Friendly Fats: Certain fats are vital for fabricating cells and for creation of prostaglandins, hormone-like compounds, which assist to function the immune system’s response to infection properly. Some friendly fats are also needed to help making the white blood cells that fight the invaders. The key is to choose your fats with care. Go for unsaturated vegetable fats instead of saturated ones from animal foods that diminish the capability of white cells to annihilate germs and bacteria. Stay away from trans-fats, mono-saturated fats labeled as “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” as they impede your immune system. Such fats are generally found in processed and baked foods, so better avoid them.
3. Exercise Regularly: Regular exercise is an effective immune system booster. It improves cardiovascular health, lowers blood pressure, helps control body weight and shields against various diseases. Further it promotes good circulation, which let the cells and constituents of the immune system to move freely through your body and do their job proficiently. Exercise promotes overall good health and thus contributes to a healthy immune system, just like a healthy diet. U.S. research has shown that the individuals who exercise moderately 5-6 days a week get half as many colds and sore throats as compared to the people who don’t.
So you better do moderate regular exercise to enjoy a disease-free healthy living, since it works as one of the important immune system boosters.
4. You Need Rest Too: Moderation is the secret. If you work out intensively for more than 90 minutes, production of germ-fighting cells known as macrophages drops temporarily, raising the risk of infection. So make sure to have recovery days in your training schedule to maintain your immune system healthy.
5. Have Enough Sleep And Manage Stress: Sleep deprivation and excessive stress raises the hormone cortisol, extended elevation of which represses your immune function.
6. Steer Clear Of Sugar: Do you know this? Just 10 teaspoons of sugar or the quantity two 12-ounce cans of soda or carbonated lemonade impairs the capability of white blood cells to neutralize or exterminate germs / bacteria. Consider using natural sweetener such as the one made from stevia plant and try to limit calorie-free sweeteners, like aspartame.
7. If You Drink, Drink Only In Moderation: Too much consumption of alcohol can damage your liver, raises vulnerability to lung-infections, and impairs your over-all immune system.
8. Laughter – To Build Immune System: A habit of laughing can improve your immunity along with keeping your mood elevated. It works to increase levels of antibodies in the blood and as well of the white blood cells that fight and exterminate bacteria and viruses. It also raises the number of antibodies in the mucus that is formed in the nose and respiratory passages, the entry points for many germs.
9. Sing To Strengthen Your Immune System: A study has shown that singing stimulates the Spleen, aiding to raise the blood concentrations of antibodies. Sing your favorite tunes in the shower to build up your immune system
10. Eat a diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low in saturated fat: They provide your body with essential nutrients that your immune system requires. The vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes reinforce your infection-fighting armory. They are packed with beta carotene that has anti-inflammatory properties and increases the rate at which white blood cells are produced. Use garlic and onions in soups, stews, and other dishes as both are rich in powerful antiviral constituents that can improve your resistance to infection. Other potent confederates include mushrooms (shiitake, reishi). These funguses promote the production of T-cells (white blood cells) that help in shielding the body from infection. They also ease your stress levels by suppressing the production of the stimulant hormone adrenaline.
Immune Boosting Foods
Include in your diet these foods that boost immune system significantly. Plan your meals to include these potent immunity boosters to improve your immune system, thus reducing the chances of your catching infections and falling sick.
(i) Broccoli: This vegetable is super-charged with a battery of armor in the form of vitamins and minerals. Chock-full of vitamins A, C, and E, along with numerous antioxidants, broccoli is one of the most valuable natural immune boosters that you can have on your table. The secret to keep its potentials intact is to cook it as little as possible – or even better, not at all!
(ii) Spinach: It’s not only rich in vitamin C, but also chock-full of antioxidants and beta-carotene that strengthen the infection-fighting ability of your immune system. As in case of broccoli, it’s best to cook it as little as possible so that its nutrients are not lost.
(iii) Citrus: Vitamin c, found in high concentrations in citrus fruits such as Indian goose berry (amla), lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruit strengthen the function of phagocytes (cells that swallow up and digest germs and bacteria) in the blood. Your body neither produces vitamin C nor can store it, thus you need to consume it every day to maintain a healthy immune system. Most individuals turn to vitamin C after they have caught cold. But remember, you can’t just eat an orange or grapefruit and expect one quick burst of vitamin C to prevent the cold.
(iv) Almonds: Nuts, especially almonds are a rich source of vitamin E, which is a key to a healthy immune system. A half-cup serving can provide you with almost 100% of your recommended daily requirement. Even, the almond skin comes in the category of immunity boosting foods that improve the capability of white blood cells to detect viruses. To help ward off viral infections, add a handful of almonds to your daily morning meal.
(v) Yogurt: When choosing yogurt, read the labels and opt for the ones that have “live and active cultures”. As per the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, these cultures may act as immune boosters. Also yogurt can be a source vitamin D, so choose those yogurt-brands that are fortified with vitamin D.
(vi) Garlic: In laboratory tests, researchers have observed that garlic works against bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Further some studies have found that garlic consumption tends to lower cholesterol and may also prevent hardening of arteries. Because of garlic’s immune-boosting properties and its value for fighting infections, it has been included in our list of foods to boost immune system.
(vii) Ginger: It’s another ingredient that many individuals turn to after they have caught cold. But just like vitamin C, ginger may also prevent the cold from catching in the first place. Ginger has gingrol, a relative of capsaicin, which provides some heat – just like capsaicin that gives chili pepper its distinctive heat. According to some studies, ginger has cholesterol lowering properties as well.
(viii) Turmeric: This bright-yellow, bitter spice is a key ingredient in many curries. It is well known for its anti-inflammatory properties that can treat both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. A recent study has shown that the high concentrations of curcumin, which imparts turmeric its distinct color, help reduce inflammation and fever.
(ix) Green Tea: Green tea as well as black tea are rich source of flavonoids, a kind of antioxidant. But the green tea takes lead over black tea as it contains much higher levels of epigallocatechin gallate, or EFCG, another potent antioxidant. While the fermentation process that black tea passes through razes a lot of the EGCG, green tea on the contrary, is steamed and not fermented, thus retains EGCG. Moreover, the green tea is also a rich source of the amino acid L-thiamine, which can help in the production of bacteria/germ fighting compounds in your T-cells.
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Love your list of foods that boost the immune system! I use garlic and ginger a lot when I cook.
I too use garlic and onion while cooking. There is one more fruit that can boost up your immunitity tremendously. Its Indin goose berry!!