The cold and flu season has started. If you haven’t been infected yet, you can try to keep it that way – with these ten foods for a strong immune system.
A cold is not uncommon during the cold months. However, we have put together ten foods for you that will protect you from a cold or flu.
We recommend this to everyone who has already been infected 6 herbal home remedies for a cold.
1. Natural protection against colds: lemon
Because of its high vitamin C content (25 mg per 100 ml), lemon is an effective way to strengthen our immune system – and to prevent colds and flu. But be careful: hot lemon is less effective than fresh lemon juice.
Vitamin C is sensitive to heat and also soluble in water. Although it only decomposes at around 190 ° C, the content still drops by around 30 to 40 percent during cooking and storage. Fresh lemon in lukewarm water as lemon water is better at preventing colds and flu than hot lemon. Also read: 9 Common Mistakes That Make Colds Worse.
2. Sea buckthorn
Sea buckthorn also contains a lot of vitamin C and many other beneficial ingredients. The plant not only strengthens your immune system, but is also good for the eyes (beta-carotene) and prevents magnesium, iron and vitamin B12 deficiencies, which can affect vegetarians and vegans. You can take sea buckthorn in the form of sea buckthorn oil or juice. You can even plant and harvest the berries yourself.
3. Ginger, to prevent colds
Maybe a bit spicy in taste, but unbeatable in terms of the ingredients: Ginger contains a lot of vitamin C, healthy essential oils and many other healthy ingredients. The root inhibits the multiplication of viruses, stimulates blood flow and circulation and can thus protect us from colds and flu.
We have more about ginger and delicious recipes for ginger tea. And we show how you can plant ginger yourself.
4. Turmeric
Turmeric comes from Southeast Asia and is widespread there not only as a spice, but above all as a medicinal product. In Indian Ayurvedic medicine and Chinese medicine, the tuber has been used as a remedy for thousands of years.
Turmeric contains the coloring agent curcumin: It has anti-inflammatory effects, strengthens the immune system and is even said to prevent cancer. We mainly know turmeric as a spice. Since last year, however, it has also been part of the trend drink Golden Milk, which is ideally suited to prevent flu, colds and other infections. Here is the recipe.
5. Protection from the common cold: the onion
What the turmeric tuber is to Southeast Asia, the onion is probably to Europe: We have used it as a natural home remedy for insect bites, sore throats and ears for centuries. It has anti-inflammatory, germicidal, antibacterial and analgesic effects. Incidentally, you particularly benefit from the healthy ingredients when you eat the onion raw.
Anyone who has already caught the flu or cold can use a cough syrup made from onions and honey.
6. Garlic
It is well known that garlic can become somewhat unpleasant when consumed in excess – the result is bad breath. But if you want to avoid a cold or flu, you will be happy to accept it: The tuber contains a lot of vitamin C, has an antibacterial effect and, among other things, against viruses and fungi. So: use plenty of garlic when cooking or – the more unusual variant – prepare it as garlic tea.
7. Rose hip
The front runner in terms of vitamin C content is the rose hip. It contains 20 times as much as lemon. So it’s ideal for strengthening the immune system. Rose hips taste best as a tea made from their peels. Again and again, however, you read that you can also eat the rose hips raw (although the vitamin C content is significantly higher). If you want to try it, you should remove the seeds because they can itch and irritate.
8. Fruits and vegetables
We all know that, of course, but we still want to have it said: Fruits and vegetables strengthen your immune system. The contained antioxidants protect our cells from harmful free radicals and thereby relieve the immune system. Antioxidants include vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that we take in through food. Seasonal ones are particularly rich in antioxidants Apples and potatoes, in summer also blueberries and tomatoes. You can find out which fruit and vegetables are in season in our seasonal calendar; in autumn, for example, there are numerous types of pumpkin.
9. Chili protects against colds
Spicy food strengthens the immune system. Paprika plants are particularly helpful in preventing colds and flu: chilli, hot peppers and sweet peppers contain capsaicin, which has an antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effect. Horseradish, mustard and wasabi are also helpful against colds – they sharpen with mustard oil glycosides. These have an anti-inflammatory effect and the essential oils they contain free the airways.
10. Drink water
Drinking enough also strengthens your immune system. The best way to do this is to use water or tea – they help our body to excrete harmful toxins. Thanks to the high quality of our drinking water, tap water is the first choice: This avoids unnecessary plastic waste and also saves money. In addition, tap water in 2016 was even considered safer by Stiftung Warentest than bottled mineral water. About two liters of fluid per day is recommended. More: So much water is healthy.
So that you always have something to drink with you on the go: BPA-free drinking bottles in our list of the best.
We give you even more tips here: 10 tips on how you can strengthen your immune system with natural means.
Read more on Techzle.com:
- S.Coping with stress – these methods and exercises will help you
- Vitamin D deficiency: symptoms, causes and what to prevent
- Is Raw Food Healthy? 12 questions & answers about raw nutrition