Boosting Immune System
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Boosting Immune System Health With Antioxidants
With the cold and flu season getting worse every year due to the virus's ability to morph (change) into new strains, the best way to strengthen your immune system is as close as your local grocery store.A diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help you ward off infections like colds and flu, in turn boosting immune system.
That is because these foods to boost immune system health contain antioxidants.
What are antioxidants?
They are vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that protect and repair cells from damage caused by free radicals.
Many experts believe this damage plays a part in quite a few chronic diseases, including hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), cancer, and arthritis.
Free radicals can make your immune system work harder. So, fighting off free radical damage with antioxidants in your diet helps keep your immune system strong, making you better able to ward off colds, flu, and other infections.
Big 3 Antioxidant Super Foods
Adding more fruit and vegetables of any kind to your diet will improve your health by boosting immune system, but some foods are higher in antioxidants than others.
Major Antioxidant Vitamins:
1. Beta-carotene
2. Vitamin C
3. Vitamin E
Even without a list, you can spot most antioxidant fruits and vegetables by their colors. If the fruit or vegetable is yellow, blue, orange or red, if usually has antioxidant properties.
Nearly all (edible) berries which are blue, purple or red, offer antioxidant help to your immune system. So, they're very easy to spot when shopping.
Foods Containing Beta-Carotene and Other Carotenoids:
Fruits: Apricots, mangoes, nectarines, peaches, pink grapefruit, tangerines, tomatoes and watermelon.
Vegetables: Asparagus, beets, broccoli, carrots, corn, green peppers, kale, turnip and collard greens, pumpkin, squash, spinach and sweet potato.
Vitamin C Fruits: Berries, cantaloupe, grapefruit, honeydew, kiwi, mangoes, nectarines, orange, papaya, strawberries, and tomatoes.
Vitamin C Vegetables: Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, kale, yellow, green or red peppers, snow peas, and sweet potatoes.
Vitamin E Fruits: Mangoes, papaya.
Vitamin E Vegetables: Broccoli, carrots, chard, mustard and turnip greens, nuts, pumpkin, red peppers, spinach, and sunflower seeds.
Other super foods that are rich in antioxidants include:
- Acai Berries
- Alfalfa Sprouts
- Apples
- Beans
- Blueberries
- Eggplant
- Onions
- Plums
- Prunes
- Raisins
- Red Grapes
Vitamins aren’t the only antioxidants in food. Other foods to boost immune system health and immunity include...
Zinc: which is found in:
Oysters, red meat, poultry, seafood, beans, nuts, whole grains, fortified cereals, and dairy products.
Selenium: which is found in:
Brazil nuts, tuna, beef, poultry and fortified breads, and other grain products.
What is ORAC value?
ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity.
The antioxidant values of foods is expressed in ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) units. Orac values are a unit of measurement for antioxidants developed by the National Institute on Aging in the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The chart below shows foods to boost immune system health which have high ORAC values.
Orac Values
Your immune system is the only thing that stands between you and every germ, bacteria, allergen, mold spore and virus on earth.
Many food additives can be detrimental to your and your children's immune system. This site has a list of food additives which you should avoid.
Boosting immune system strength saves you money in doctor visits, days missed from work due to sickness, (and your children's sicknesses), allergy and illness prescriptions, home air filters,...and even in Kleenex!
So, take a moment every day to feed it the nutrients it needs to keep you and yours healthy and strong.
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