My 5 Top Immune System Boosters

A Quick Preamble:

Your immune system is truly fascinating in its’ complexity…it’s certainly one of the most complicated and hardest working systems of the amazing biological machine that we know as the human body – your body – but it can be quite delicate and is often easily stressed and even completely compromised when an over-abundance of pathogens, viruses or parasites are introduced into your body…

…but it isn’t all doom and gloom because if you ‘live’ right i.e. take care of your Natural Health and Wellness – mentally and physically, including taking care of the quality of the food and beverages that you consume, then your immune system will always stay positively strong and constantly boosted for tip-top health..!

Cutting To The Chase:

So it’s down to this…Due to our modern day living conditions and dietary habits, the compromised immune system, split between Autoimmunity and Immumodeficiency, is sadly a fairly modern-day common occurrence with resulting diseases and sicknesses such as cancers, thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, genetic diseases and many more…

…and the moral of the story is this: live right and eat right – “Live Naturally Healthy” and, unless you’re just terribly unfortunate or simply not careful enough, then your immune system will be forever boosted and will look after you for the rest of your days…well into a ripe old age..!
Without further ado…here are my favourite 5 foods that will help boost your immune system – OK, if you’re a vegetarian or Vegan, then you’re not gonna agree with #4 or #5, but hey, these are MY favourites:

#1 – Mushrooms

Yep, good ol’ ‘shrooms…lucky for me i’ve always loved these great tasting, protein-filled, fungi – fungi (fungus) actually sounds pretty disgusting and conjures up some nasty pictures, right..?..but don’t worry about it – this is good fungi.

Studies have proved that mushrooms increase the production and overall activity of your white blood-cells…great if you’re suffering from any type of infection – so says. Douglas Schar, the director of the Institute of Herbal Medicine in Washington, DC.

The Reishi, Shiitake and Maitake type supposedly provide the biggest immune system boost, although i say get whatever ‘shrooms you can, they’ll all help – just a small helping or two each day provides a decent boost.

#2 – Garlic

The most active ingredient of garlic is Allicin, which kicks infection and bacteria butt big time, and studies carried out thus far have suggested that regular garlic consumption reduces your chance of catching the common cold and if you consume at least a half-dozen of this onion related beauty per week, your chances of developing colonic cancer is 30% lower, while developing stomach cancer will be at least 50% lower…that can only be good…right..?

Oh and you’ll stop getting all that attention from those nasty blood-sucking vampires…or was that just something i saw on TV..? I’ve really got to stop watching that type o’ stuff..!!

Plenty of garlic in your cooking several times a week and you’re covered…if your buddies and family can take the smell (the vampires can’t), then a couple of whole, fresh cloves swallowed on every day is even better.

#3 – Yogurt

This stuff is not just tasty – confession:i have a serious weakness for dairy – but it’s packed full of “Probiotics”, your gut and intestinal saviour.

Fortunately you can also get probiotics as a supplement, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a couple of tablespoons of good quality, unsweetened yogurt, whenever you get the chance – sweetened with some naturally sweet fruit, agave nectar or a teaspoon of honey makes it even tastier.

#4 – Chicken Soup

Yup, that’s right, good old-fashioned, home-made, chicken soup…honestly, all the research has been done…

…an amino acid named Cysteine, is released when cooking chicken. Chemically, Cysteine very closely resembles the bronchitis fighting drug known as Acetylcysteine, which goes a long way to explaining why cold and flu symptoms are alleviated when you consume this tasty treat.

Whenever you’re feeling “out-of-sorts” or you’re simply drowning in snot, then i recommend a steaming bowl of chicken soup…just add a few extra spices like chilli, garlic and onions and you have a potent immune-boosting snack.

#5 – Beef

Again, the development and activation of white blood-cells in your blood is important here and Zinc is incredibly important for just that purpose.

Sadly, for vegetarians or all those who have cut back on their consumption of beef – for whatever reasons, beef is the absolute prime source of this very important immune boosting mineral…it’s critical for the development of your whit blood-cells so that your immune system recognises and destroys all those nasties that want to destroy you i.e. bacteria and viruses.

You don’t need much – a daily 3oz (85g) provides 30% of your daily Zinc requirement and if you’re not such a beef lover, then pork, chicken, milk ad even oysters will give you the same benefit.

A Final Anecdote:

Our immune system is constantly being tried and tested by the very way we live…the daily stress of work, modern day pollution, relationship stress…and of course one of the biggest detractors of good health and wellness is our diets.

To help boost your immune system so that you live a full and long life, simply add some good immune-system boosting food to your diet, on a regular basis, and you’ll be going a long way to helping yourself stay fighting fit – it’s that simple..!