How Can You Boost Your Immune System?
One thing that the coronavirus has taught us is that maintaining our health, metabolism, and immunity levels is of prime importance. A good immune system can protect us against the most common infections like cold, cough, and flu, and even many other major illnesses, by creating a barrier that stops the invasion of bacteria and viruses from entering the body. Even then, if any antigen enters the body, the immune system produces white blood cells and other chemicals that attack and destroy the foreign substances, before they can reproduce and multiply. So, how do you boost this miraculous immune system?
Consuming more of vegetarian food
Consuming low-fat plant-based foods is an ideal way to boost the immune system. This is because the immune system relies highly on white blood cells to combat the invaders, and vegetarians have been shown to have more effective white blood cells, as compared to non-vegetarians. The reason behind this is that vegetarian foods have a high level of vitamins, with lower levels of fat. High-fat non-vegetarian diets can alter the gut microbiota that aid in immunity. Moreover, the obesity linked to excess consumption of non-vegetarian food has also been linked to a variety of infections and diseases. Plant-based diets, on the other hand, are effective for weight loss, as they are rich in fiber and low in calories. While non-vegetarian foods have their own other benefits, a vegetarian diet is better when you’re looking for vitamins, fiber, and immunity. So, while we won’t ask you to completely discontinue non-vegetarian food consumption, we’ll always advice you stick to more of plant-based foods, and lesser non-vegetarian meals.
Including raw fruits and vegetables into your diet
As mentioned above, vegetarian food feeds more vitamins to the body. That’s because fruits and vegetables have been shown to provide Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Vitamin E. And, all these vitamins are capable of boosting the immune function of the body. Vitamins C and E are antioxidants that can destroy free radicals, and support the body’s natural immune response. Vitamin D helps reduce the risk of viral infections like cold, cough, and other respiratory tract infections, by reducing the production of proinflammatory compounds in the body. The main sources of Vitamin C include oranges, strawberries, mangoes, lemons, broccoli, and red peppers; of Vitamin E include seeds, nuts, and spinach; and of Vitamin D include plant-based milks and fortified cereals.
Having enough sleep
If you haven’t yet known, it would be of great importance for you to realize that without sufficient amount of sleep, you can increase your risk of developing serious health problems like obesity, heart ailments, and Alzheimer’s disease. Inadequate sleep is linked to suppressed immune function, which means a pathway to invite diseases. You must thus sleep at least 7 to 8 hours a day. Moreover, you must have a good sleeping pattern. You must sleep by 10-11 pm and wakeup by 6-7 am, if you want a healthy body. If you’re finding it difficult to fall asleep, you must add a bowl or two of fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans to your diet. That’s because diets rich in fiber and low in saturated fat have been linked to bringing on deeper and more restorative sleep.
All in all, you must stick to more of plant-based foods, fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, cereals, seeds, and nuts, if you’re looking to boost your immunity, so that your body can fight off most common ailments. Other than that, you can also include some herbal supplements to fill up your nutritional gaps, if you feel that you aren’t eating enough of good food to boost up your system. You can get a list of immunity booster Ayurvedic products at BrahmiOnline, your own stop destination for all your Ayurvedic needs. And, one very basic immunity-boosting product found on almost every Indian kitchen shelf is Dabur Chyawanprash, the age-old double-immunity concoction for a fit body and active mind.