If you’ve been reading my blog/beamer posts, you’ve often seen me write about good nutrition.
Sadly, nutrition is one of those things that’s often overlooked when seeking ways to boost immunity, reduce inflammation and improve health. I can’t stress enough how important good nutrition is when seeking to balance, restore and build your vitality.
Here are a few suggestions for you to incorporate into your menu that are easy and nutritive.
Add herbs & spices to ALL your dishes
- Garlic and onions are a staple in almost everything we cook. They add wonderful flavor and pack an immune-boosting punch. When preparing garlic, add it to your hot dishes at the very end to keep all the goodness from being cooked out.
- Think Scarborough Faire: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
- Add some kick to your cuisine – horseradish, cayenne, cumin, turmeric and black pepper are easy to find and throw in
- Chai is the spice of life – cinnamon, star anise, ginger, black pepper, star anise, cardamom and cloves (we share our recipe on our YouTube channel)
There are also many recipes for spice blends in our Herbal Preparations online course (the entire bundle is 50% off until this COVID-19 crisis is resolved – use the code quarantine2020)
Drink, Drink, Drink
- Especially water – make sure it’s clean, filtered water
- Herbal tea is great, but remember that some teas are diuretic (make you pee more). Don’t replace water with herbal tea – a couple of cups a day is a great practice. Ginger tea is very warming and great for digestion as well as the immune system. A cup of chamomile can also help calm and support immunity
- Bone broth is great for your immunity and to help recovery after illness. It’s very nourishing. Try adding some adaptogens for extra nourishment for your adrenal and immune systems.
- Miso soup with a little seaweed, minced onion, garlic and ginger
Eat the Rainbow
Try to get a variety of colors in your diet to maximize the antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. These will support your detoxification pathways, cellular energy and immune response.
- Green – kale, spinach, nettles
- Yellow – bell peppers, bananas, pineapple, corn, lemons
- Orange – carrots, bell peppers, pumpkin (you can even use pumpkin pie spice)
- Red – tomatoes, bell peppers, apples
- Purple – cabbage, eggplant
Ditch the Sugar & Processed Food
Sugar has been found to reduce immune function for up to 4 hours after consuming just a small amount. If you’re trying to keep your immune system in tip top shape, the last thing you need is to add sugar. This goes for those natural sugars as well (let’s all assume that those “fake” sugars are even worse, so you should ALWAYS stay away from them). Stevia in leaf form can be added to beverages; monk fruit and lucuma are also wonderful alternatives.
Try to make your dishes using simple, whole ingredients. Buy from the outer edge of the supermarket.
- salads
- fruit salads with a little fresh squeezed lemon or orange juice
- pastured meat seasoned with some of the above spices, or marinated in spices with olive oil and lemon/lime juice or vinegar (try fire cider here, it’s delicious!)
- whole grains cooked in bone broth or tomatoes with sautéed onion, celery, mushrooms and the Scarborough Faire mix, then throw in garlic before serving
Fermented foods
- plain yogurt – add some fruit and homemade granola or toasted nuts/seeds
- sauerkraut
- kimchee
- kombucha
- ginger soda or fermented root beer
Honestly, if you ditched the processed foods and started eating whole foods, you will see a healthier complexion, improved energy, better sleep and a robust immune system.
I mentioned the special we’re doing for our herbal preparations bundle, but we’re also offering the same discount for our Cultivating Herbs with Permaculture and the Fundamentals of Holistic Herbalism programs as well.
Check them out and take advantage while you can! We’d love to welcome you to the Fundamentals community.
