Don't Get Sick: Eat this! By Sophie Knapp MScN, CN, CNS
The time to boost your immune system isn’t only when you start feeling a cold coming on, it’s now!
The temps are about to drop, and we’ll all head indoors. Kids are headed back to school, and we’re going to spend more time in enclosed areas, closer to others in air that circulates and recirculates. Since the COVID era, we’ve all become hyper-aware that these are prime conditions for picking up sicknesses.
But don’t worry! There’s so much you can do to keep yourself healthy, and if you do get sick, bounce back quick.
As a certified nutrition specialist and holistic nutrition counselor, I’m bringing intention to my cooking to use food as a powerful tool to stave off illness. Besides covering the basics like eating all the colors of fresh, whole foods & ensuring I’m getting enough fiber & protein, this is what I’m doing in my kitchen starting now to help my body stay healthy during cold & flu season:
- Add fresh ginger in smoothies
In addition to all the vitamin C you’re getting from fruits in smoothies, ginger is an effective way to bolster immunity. It’s packed with antioxidants, which work to lower inflammatory levels in the body and act directly as an antiviral.1,2
- Cook with fresh turmeric
That yellow curry you’ve been thinking about making, do it! Eating fresh turmeric is like bringing in extra staff members on a busy day for your immune system. This sunshine-colored root overall increases the capacity of your body’s immune system by being a personal aid to key cells like dendritic cells, macrophages, B, and T cells.3
In addition, it’s antimicrobial in nature and turmeric helps reduce inflammation levels which can reduce sickness symptoms.3
You can combine ginger & turmeric in the blender with water, citrus juice, and honey to make tasty, immune-boosting shots. Pro tip, to make this elixir last longer, freeze it in ice cube trays. When you’re ready to consume them, place a few frozen cubes in a mug & pour boiling water over them for a tasty tea in the cooler months. Check out this recipe if you want to try making them: Lemon Ginger Turmeric Wellness Shots https://minimalistbaker.com/lemon-ginger-turmeric-wellness-shots/#wprm-recipe-container-40381
Don’t forget to add black pepper to whatever you’re making with turmeric to improve its absorption in the intestines. Since turmeric is fat-soluble, be sure to consume it with a source of fat like coconut milk, nuts, or olive oil to also improve absorption.
- Add dried astragalus to soups
Besides adding complimentary flavor to soups, consuming astragalus regularly during cold & flu season is a great way to increase your baseline immunity, especially protecting you & your family from upper respiratory infections.4
Add a few dried root strips to your soup or fill a semipermeable bag or vessel (like a tea diffuser) with cut & sifted astragalus and add during the boiling & simmering stages of soup making. Remove the astragalus just before serving like you’d do with bay leaves. Astragalus will add a subtle starchy sweetness to your brothy delights, bringing out the flavors nicely.
- Incorporate functional mushrooms
Add these powdered immune-boosting powerhouses into seasoning blends for extra umami flavor, or mix them in with your morning cup of coffee, a smoothie, or a hot soup. Shiitake, reishi, and turkey tail are just a few of the medicinal mushies that have significant health benefits, including immunomodulation and anticancer effects.5 You can purchase these as individual powders or in a blend. Cooking with the whole mushrooms offer benefit just like the powdered forms do.
- Use fire cider to make salad dressing
Fire cider is an old-school natural medicine made by fermenting root vegetables, herbs, & usually hot peppers (hence the fire) in apple cider vinegar. Honey is often added at the end for an extra immune boost & to improve its taste.
Although conclusions about its benefits are uncertain on whether this age-old tonic offers the health benefits it’s touted over the years, the ingredients used to make it like ginger, garlic and horseradish certainly have health benefits to offer.6 It’s a fun rainy day project to put together and uniquely tasty ingredients to experiment with in the kitchen. Mountain Rose Herbs offers an Easy Fire Cider Vinaigrette Dressing Recipe https://blog.mountainroseherbs.com/easy-vinaigrette-recipe that’s absolutely worth a try.
Looking for dried astragalus, functional mushroom powders, and fire cider? You can find it at your local wellness shop, WILLOWTREE Market.
With this newfound knowledge in hand, enjoy exploring new ways to incorporate fresh tastes & extra health support into your meals. Have fun with crafting your food as your daily medicine, & stay healthy this fall & winter!
- Mashhadi NS, Ghiasvand R, Askari G, Hariri M, Darvishi L, Mofid MR. Anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of ginger in health and physical activity: review of current evidence. Int J Prev Med. 2013;4(Suppl 1):S36-S42.
- Chang JS, Wang KC, Yeh CF, Shieh DE, Chiang LC. Fresh ginger (Zingiber officinale) has anti-viral activity against human respiratory syncytial virus in human respiratory tract cell lines. J Ethnopharmacol. 2013;145(1):146-151.
- Allegra A, Mirabile G, Ettari R, Pioggia G, Gangemi S. The Impact of Curcumin on Immune Response: An Immunomodulatory Strategy to Treat Sepsis. Int J Mol Sci. 2022;23(23). doi:10.3390/ijms232314710
- Astragalus. NCCIH. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/astragalus. Accessed August 26, 2024.
- Venturella G, Ferraro V, Cirlincione F, Gargano ML. Medicinal Mushrooms: Bioactive Compounds, Use, and Clinical Trials. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(2). doi:10.3390/ijms22020634
