Boosting Immunity
Wellness, Recipes, Immune Function.
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
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1 medium sized onion, diced to
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1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
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4-5 cloves garlic, minced
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1 tbsp fresh ginger root, grated
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2 cups fresh, like sliced shiitake mushrooms and reishi mushrooms
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4- 5 pieces sliced dried astragalus root (I use: Starwest Botanicals Organic Astragalus Root Sliced, from Amazon)
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1 cup finely chopped kale
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1 cup finely diced broccoli
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2 strips of Kombu Seaweed
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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:
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1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
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1 cup diced papaya
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1 table fresh squeezed lemon juice
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1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
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1/2 banana
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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,
