There’s a few common tips on how to help prevent catching a cold or keeping the flu away: drink tea, exercise, avoid stress, sleep properly…and eat fruit!
Our immune system is a self functioning system but it can still use a boost every once in a while. When the immune system is strong and works properly, it can prevent colds or lessen the severity of cold symptoms. It’s especially important to stay healthy during times like these and nature provides us with a lot of options. That’s why we’ve put together a list of common and easily accessible fruits to help strengthen your immune system.
1. Oranges:
Oranges are a great boost for your immune system. They contain a large amount of vitamin C and provide you with more than 100% of the recommended dose for our daily vitamin C intake. Making sure that oranges are a key part in your diet is a good step towards strengthening your immune system. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that protects the cells in our body and promotes the production of the white blood cells that help us fight off infections. Another key vitamin that oranges provide us with is vitamin D. Vitamin D helps regulate our immune responses and keep bacteria from getting into the body.
2. Blueberries:
Blueberries are filled with important antioxidants that help our body, they are actually believed to have one of the highest levels of antioxidants known out of all common fruits and vegetables. The natural antihistamines that can be found in blueberries can help reduce inflammation and help fight symptoms such as a stuffy or runny nose. The fact that they’re delicious is a plus and only a handful is needed to get the recommended daily amount of important nutrients. Blueberries have a high amount of flavonoids as well as vitamin C and vitamin K that help boost your overall health.
3. Apples:
Apples contain a great deal of quercetin, quercetin is a type of plant pigment flavonoid that helps to boost your immune system as well as reduce inflammation. The natural healthy sugars and fibers that apples have plenty of help to keep you full and energized throughout the day. Apples are usually a good source of vitamin C and pack a lot of beneficial minerals such as calcium and potassium. It’s ideal to eat apples with the peel still on, this way you ensure that you’re getting all the good nutrients that apples have to offer.
4. Pomegranates:
Pomegranates have frequently been linked to improving heart and brain health due to the high amounts of antioxidants that are found in pomegranates. Antioxidants play a key role is keeping us healthy and research shows that the polyphenols found in pomegranate can help manage blood flow, helping arteries expand and contract. Another study has also found that the same antioxidants help prevent the type of inflammation that leads to Alzheimer’s disease.
5. Bananas:
Bananas are filled with potassium and healthy carbohydrates. Besides being very filling this yellow fruit keeps you energized and helps improve muscle functions. Bananas are packed with healthy nutrients such as vitamin C and vitamin B6 that contribute to overall good health. Due to the high amounts of vitamin B6 that bananas contain they can help with strengthening the nervous system and help the production of white blood cells. Studies have also shown that bananas can aid in weight loss and and reduce swelling.
And last but not least, our final typ;
Try mixing them all together for a delicious fruit salad packed with all the good nutrients nature has to offer. You should try to incorporate fruit within your daily routine and a fruit salad is a great option first thing in the morning or even as an lunch or afternoon snack. This way you start the day off with a little immunitary boost. Research shows that it’s recommended to eat at least one fruit a day. Sometimes this can tend to get overlooked especially with the modern day to day busy lifestyle so many of us have. It only takes little by little to form a habit, a little persistence goes a long way even if it may feel repetitive, you can always switch it up and try other fruits!