Lets face it, with all the nasty bugs lurking out there, who wouldn’t want a stronger immune system.
Here are some simple ideas to help spruce up your immunity against those unpleasant bugs:
1.Exercise – About 20-30 minutes of moderate intensity workouts – like walking, yoga – has been shown to increase number of immune fighting cells. This helps both with prevention of illness as well as treatment should you find yourself down with a cold.
2. Diet – increase intake of foods rich in Vitamin C, like leafy greens, bell peppers, and citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit. Indulge in Immune boosting teas (I like Yogi tea – Echinacea Immune Support – from Whole foods) and Bone broths. Avoid Alcohol.
3. Stress reduction – meditation, prayer, cold therapy (cryo), creating “downtime” in an otherwise busy schedule
4. Sleep – cryotherapy, acupuncture, magnesium glycinate (my favorite magnesium for sleep is Metagenics Magnesium Glycinate)
5. Immune boosting supplements – Zinc, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, probiotics, saccharomyces boulardii and L-glutamine
6. Herbs – Astragalus (see soup recipe to follow), Echinacea, and Elderberry syrup.
Immune Boosting Soup: Astragalus Root
- 1 medium sized onion, diced to
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
- 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger root, grated
- 2 cups fresh, like sliced shiitake mushrooms and reishi mushrooms
- 4- 5 pieces sliced dried astragalus root (I use: Starwest Botanicals Organic Astragalus Root Sliced, from Amazon)
- 1 cup finely chopped kale
- 1 cup finely diced broccoli
- 2 strips of Kombu Seaweed
- 7 cups of water
Sauté onions and garlic with olive oil until onions are translucent. Add in ginger, mushrooms and sauté for an additional 2 min then add the remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat for at least 30 min. Remove the astragalus prior to eating soup.
Flu Smoothie:
- 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1 cup diced papaya
- 1 table fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
- 1/2 banana
- 1/4 cup ice (optional)
Place all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. May add ice if desired, blend again and serve cold.
Helping you to be functional,
