A Slightly Corny Yet Poetic Approach to Eating for Immunity

A national nutrition survey showed a lapse in dietary fitness.
Almost 1/3 of Americans lack this vitamin found in citrus.

Vitamin C  is the micronutrient poster child for immunity but consider this before downing too many vitamin C supplements. Taking supplements after you notice symptoms of a cold has not shown any benefit, and taking vitamin C supplements doesn’t cut your risk of catching a cold. However, regular Vitamin C consumers tend to have slightly shorter and milder colds.  Too much of a good thing, is a bad thing.  Upper limit of vitamin C for adults is 2000 mg and significantly less for children.  Excessive amounts of vitamin C can cause stomach and intestinal distress.

When it’s wintertime and ski season, you don your balaklava.

When you want more vitamin C than an orange grab a guava.

Guavas contain 3 times as much vitamin C as oranges.  Peppers, broccoli, cabbage, strawberries, kiwi, citrus and sweet potatoes – are all tasty ways to make sure you’re getting sufficient vitamin C.

Most American diets find vitamin E lacking. 

A healthful way to get more is to add nuts to your snacking.

Vitamin E  93% of Americans don’t get enough.  Nuts and seeds are an excellent way to get more of this immune-essential vitamin into your diet.  Vitamin E is also found in higher quantities in sunflower and safflower oils. 

Your mom fed you this steaming bowl any time you’d start to sicken.

But there’s some science to eating a nice hot soup of chicken.

Whether the benefit is simply a nourishing, hydrating way to reduce stress that eases the symptoms of a cold, or whether it is the amino acids or other components found in chicken soup, it’s a pretty tasty and somewhat helpful remedy. 

Research on this mineral indicates a link.

Eating red meat, poultry, beans provides us plenty zinc.

Zinc is necessary for a fully functioning immune system, but when it comes to the benefits of supplementing, the jury is still out.

When suffering a sore throat, just to swallow brings frustration.

But few things help your body heal as well as good hydration.

Staying well hydrated is essential to keep all your body systems working at optimal levels and that includes your immune system. 

An upset gut can bring a person very nasty pains.

Probiotic foods can help if they have multiple strains.

While much research needs to be done in the field of probiotics, microflora and immunity, it appears fairly beneficial to incorporate food sources that provide a variety of beneficial bacterial strains in order to keep your gut healthy and happy.

When it comes to good immunity, here’s info you should keep:

Mind hydration, diet, exercise and get plenty of sleep.

Your body’s immune response is different during peak wakeful hours and peak sleeping hours.  So without those regular hours of sleep, you may not be getting the full, optimized immune response. Chronic sleep deprivation may lead to chronic inflammation and depressed immunity.

Remember, nutrition is just a piece of the puzzle when it comes to immunity.  Healthy, stress-reducing lifestyle patterns play a large role.
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