Thanksgiving is over, night falls sooner, and December is just around the corner. Mid-semester is the time to start thinking about building up your immune system to fight off the dreaded cold and flu season. According to naturalnews.com, there are four “super foods” that can help you stay healthy all year round.
Garlic has long been called the “Stinking Rose” and is referred to as Russian penicillin due to its anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial properties. Garlic is a main ingredient in many recipes, and making your own Caesar salad dressing with a freshly crushed garlic clove is an easy way to eat it. Invite your friends for dinner and “wow” them with your culinary skill. Garlic taken in capsule form is an alternative to eating it raw.
Green tea is also on the list. The tea contains certain chemicals called catechins, which some say kill influenza viruses. Long a staple in Asian cultures, green tea has recently become a super popular menu item in North America. Coffee bars have even added it to their lattes and juices.
In an article for eatingwell.com, Professor Rachel Johnson wrote about her colleague Mingruo Guo, PhD, a professor of food science at the University of Vermont and an authority on the immune-boosting potential of foods, who drinks five to six cups of green tea a day. He is convinced that it has immune-enhancing effects on the body.
Blueberries also made it on this list, and who doesn’t love a blueberry pancake? Blueberries are packed with vitamins A, D, and C as well as other antioxidants. Antioxidants boost immunity and can prevent or slow down the effect of free radicals, which are catalysts for oxidization, from damaging cells in the body.
In an article for Yahoo, health guru Monique Roy says, “using a test called ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), researchers have shown that a serving of fresh blueberries provides more antioxidant activity than many other fresh fruits and vegetables.” Consider adding fresh blueberries to cereal, or stir a handful into yogurt for a healthy snack.
Unpasteurized or raw honey is also recommended throughout the flu season. Raw honey is packed with nutrients that according to the Applied Health Journal contain “22 amino acids, 27 minerals, a full-range of vitamins, and 5,000 live enzymes.” Pasteurized honey is usually heated to 60 degrees Celsius to kill bacteria, yeast spores and fungi that could be in the honey, but this may also harm the enzymes that are antibacterial.
The Applied Health Journal claims that raw honey has been shown to be more effective than over-the-counter cough medicines for treating cold symptoms.
A lot of research has also shown that large doses of vitamin C are effective in shortening the length of a cold. Dietitian Leslie Beck wrote in the Globe and Mail recently that, “most research shows that taking 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C per day (divided as 500 milligrams for times daily) decreases the duration of a cold by 24 to 36 hours.”
Are there other ways to boost your immune system? Yes. Ensure you get enough sleep, make healthy food choices, and wash your hands regularly to stop the spread of germs.