SACRAMENTO, Calif. — "Eat your fruits and veggies!" Is what friends, families and doctors have been saying for decades...but they don't get specific about why.
Today, is that day. And the answer is: they help keep you from getting sick. If you’re looking to boost your immune system to fight off cold and flu season (especially in 2020), start by incorporating these five foods.
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Lentils: Lentils feed and help produce more of the good gut bacteria in our stomachs, and that alone will keep us healthy. They’re also a great source of zinc, which helps to protect and boost our immune systems, along with other essential nutrients like magnesium, fiber and protein.
Cauliflower: Cruciferous vegetables, which are things like cauliflower, broccoli, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts — contain phytonutrients that actually activate our immune foot soldiers. So if you come in to contact with a virus or infection, and have been eating your cruciferous vegetables on the regular, they’ll actually fight that infection so you don’t get sick.
Berries: Berries are packed with antioxidants! If you don’t know what antioxidants are, they protect our cells and fight free radicals in the body, which keeps us healthy! All berries will elevate your immune system and keep you healthy, but strawberries actually have more vitamin C than oranges!
Mushrooms: Mushrooms help to fight infections while reducing any inflammation. A study showed that people who ate just one cooked mushroom a day for a week boosted their immune response and it even stayed elevated a week after they stopped eating them. My advice: Don't stop eating mushrooms! They can help keep you healthy all year long.
Green Tea: Green tea is packed with antioxidants, which makes it a great beverage to sip on during cold and flu season. When our antioxidant levels are down, from things like not eating healthy, a stressful situation or lack of sleep, our immune system is suppressed. This is why it’s important to consume foods and beverages that are high in antioxidants. The antioxidants in green tea have shown to fight infections and potential viruses in the body.
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