FOOD! GLORIOUS FOOD!

Have you ever wondered what foods boost the immune system? Did you know you may have a natural medicine pharmacy in your own home? Even though Exercise, Sleep, Vitamin D3 and other Antioxidants are good choices for strengthening your immune system to keep you from getting sick, don’t forget about the food you eat. What food is good for a cold? There are plenty of foods that will help to build up your immune system and there are plenty that will also break down your immune system. Let us take a look at some of my favorites.

First off it is important to eat a broad range of different healthy foods. Whenever possible, try to always eat as organic as you can. Organic fruits and vegetables, organic meat, wild caught fish, homegrown herbs,… I’m sure you may be saying organic foods are so expensive. Well yeah! Organics are a little more money than non-organic foods but you always pay for quality when it comes to most things in life. Like the saying goes, you get what you pay for. If you put cheap junk and fast food into you on a regular basis, those foods will not only break down your immune system but they will also contribute to other major problems such as Type II Diabetes.

Just like you wouldn’t put cheap regular unleaded gas into the gas tank of a sports car like a Corvette or a Mustang GT, you shouldn’t put cheap non-nutritious food into you either. Eating healthy is like using premium gas in your car and I always try to eat well with premium foods.

THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO EAT AND DRINK

FRUITS: Apples, Oranges, Bananas, Pineapples, Grapes, Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Kiwis, Peaches, Pears, Honeydew Melon, Cantaloupe Melon, and Tomatoes. – Yes, a tomato is a fruit.

Every single one of these fruits has a high amount of antioxidants within them. Sometimes the rind and/or skin have more antioxidant power than the inner part of the fruit itself. This is especially true for cantaloupes and oranges.

I bet you are saying, cantaloupe rind? Yuck! Trust me I do not eat the rind on a cantaloupe. The only way I consume it is by drinking it after I put it through my juicer. As for oranges, when I juice them I take off the outer orange skin. The stomach has problems digesting that part of the orange. It’s also the part of the orange that orange oil comes from. So I take off the outer orange skin and leave the white pithy part of the rind. Then after it is juiced it comes out as a creamier-like orange juice because of the pith. It’s kind of hard to explain but it is delicious!

VEGETABLES, LEGUMES & GRAINS: Broccoli, Carrots, Spinach, Brussels Sprouts, Collard Greens, Mushrooms, Onions, Garlic, Cauliflower, Whole Grain Brown Rice, Flax, Avocado, Couscous, Peas, Beets, Ginger, Quinoa, and every kind of Beans.

All of these vegetables, legumes and grains provide a lot of antioxidants too. They also provide a lot of fiber, more so than most of the fruits. Plant fiber is also good for the immune system as well as keeping blood sugar levels normal. Since vegetables tend to be a more dense food than fruits, eating enough of them can be a daunting task. So I tend to juice my vegetables more than I do my fruits. When it comes to juicing my vegetables I definitely do not do all of them. Only the roots like carrots, ginger and beets as well as leafy greens like spinach and collards.

DRINKS: In addition to juicing my vegetables and fruit I also drink Filtered and/or Bottled Water, Green Tea, Black Tea, Low Sodium V8, store bought Orange Juice mixed with Seltzer to make it less sweet and Red Wine in moderation…sometimes not in moderation…must be the Italian in me.

The picture below is my way of drinking a glass of Low Sodium V8 Juice. You might be wondering why the V8 Juice looks a little darker than normal. Well that is because I add a teaspoon of organic ground Flax Seed and three dashes of Tabasco Sauce, to give it a little bit of a spicy pep. This cocktail is not only good for a strong immune system but it is also good for normalizing blood pressure.

I always have a Brita water pitcher filled in my refrigerator. I try to drink at least two glasses of water a day, though we are all told to drink at least eight 8oz glasses a day. We are also told by health officials and doctors, well at least my doctor, to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. I don’t know about you but even I cannot always follow that advice. Sometimes you are out rushing somewhere and the only food & drink available is not all that healthy. So I do my best. When I can’t, I at least know that I am still getting my nutrients from my daily multivitamin and mineral supplement I have each day.

It is very hard to eat healthy with so much pre-packaged food at our fingertips. There are fast food places and convenience stores everywhere. This is the number one reason why I take at least a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement every day.

MEAT & FISH: There really isn’t any boost to the immune system when it comes to meat. Meats tend to benefit the Red Blood Cells within us. Our immune systems are made up of White Blood Cells. When it comes to meat I only eat very lean types of meat like Venison, Bison and Turkey. When I do eat other meats such as beef I try to only eat beef that is Free Range and Grass Fed. It is amazing how much more tender and tasty the meat tastes. Much better than the rest of the beef sold in the supermarket.

Sometimes I will eat Chicken Breast or Pork Loin, just to switch it up a bit. I only eat meat twice a week. The rest of the days it is either a large salad or wild caught fish. The fish cannot be Farm Raised and when I order out I always ask if the fish is wild caught. If not, I order something else.

Salmon is my favorite fish to eat, then comes Lobster, Scallops, Crab, Shrimp and Tuna, in that order. There are many kinds of salmon and my favorite is Sockeye Salmon. Sockeye Salmon has a reddish color and is high in Omega-3 DHA/EPA Fish Oil which is extremely important for a strong immune system. Back in the 1990s there was a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that reported the reason for a very low incident of heart disease in the hearts of the Eskimos in Alaska. The study showed that their diet high in Omega-3 DHA/EPA Fish Oil from Salmon was the reason.

This is one of the reasons why I eat Salmon twice a week. Again I do not buy or eat Farm Raised salmon. First off Farm Raised salmon has 80% less fish oil than Wild salmon. Secondly Farm Raised salmon is not naturally a pink color on the inside. Farm Raised salmon is gray on the inside. It only appears pink when you buy it because the fish are fed a specific grain based diet that has antibiotics and a coloring dye added. This coloring dye helps the salmon to look more like the color that Wild salmon naturally is. Not only is Wild Caught salmon better for you, it also tastes way better.

MY FAVORITE JUICE RECIPES

Many types of foods, especially fruits and vegetables, can be used to boost immunity plus to treat and in some cases cure you of many illnesses. Juicing your fruits and vegetables is one of the best ways to boost immunity and to do so in a quick and easy way. Drinking your nutrients from vegetables is way easier than eating them. Have you ever tried to eat an entire one pound bag of carrots and do it in less than a minute? No need to answer that question. I know the answer is no. Carrots are very good for a stronger immune system because they are high in Beta Carotene an important antioxidant. However you can juice an entire one pound bag of carrots and then drink it all in less than a minute. Being that you are drinking the nutrients your body can absorb and utilize them quicker. If you have ever thought of juicing, make sure it’s a juicer that is powerful enough to juice the rind of melon and pineapple.

FRUIT JUICES

ORANGE JUICE
You can use any type of oranges. I prefer navel oranges.

• 3-4 Oranges
• Peel off the outer orange skin and leave as much of the white pith as possible
• Cut Oranges into quarters and feed them into your juicer
• Again, if your juicer has a powerful enough motor and your oranges have seeds, no need to remove the seeds.

BROMELAIN SPECIAL
Make sure you wash the pineapple rind and scrub it with a soft bristle brush before juicing.

• Cut the Pineapple into strips and juice it (rind and all)

PINEAPPLE-STRAWBERRY
When washing the fruit make sure to take the green leaves off of the Strawberries. Don’t juice those leaves.

• 3 rings of Pineapple (rind and all)
• 8 Strawberries (no green leaves)

CANTALOUPE JUICE
Make sure to scrub the rind with a soft bristle brush when washing it and remove the soft center with the seeds.

• Cut the Cantaloupe into strips and juice (rind and all)

SWEET LEMONADE
Wash both fruits using a soft bristle brush.

• 4 Delicious Apples
• ¼ Lemon (skin and all)

VEGETABLE JUICES

BODY CLEANSER
Make sure to wash and scrub all three vegetables with a soft bristle brush. Cut the tops and bottoms off of the carrots and beet.

• 4 Carrots
• ½ Cucumber
• 1 Beet

IMMUNE BOOSTER
Make sure to wash and scrub both vegetables and apple with a soft bristle brush.

• 6 Carrots
• 1 Apple
• ¼ inch thick slice of Ginger Root

HEALTHY BONE TONIC
Make sure to wash or scrub all vegetables and fruit.

• 6 Carrots
• 5 Spinach Leaves
• 4 sprigs of Parsley
• ½ Apple

IMMUNE BUILDING COCKTAIL
Make sure to wash or scrub all vegetables.

• 2 Tomatoes
• 1 handful of Parsley
• 2 Celery Stalks
• ½ Cucumber
• 1/8 Onion
• 1 small clove of Garlic

If you have any comments, questions, or some food choices and juice recipes you would like to share, please leave them in the comments section below. I will respond to your comments within 24 hours. Thank you.