Strengthen your immune system: With a balanced diet
"You are what you eat", "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", "Eat yourself healthy" – nutrition and the immune system are closely related. If you follow a few simple dietary rules, you will support your immune system considerably. What are the characteristics of a diet that strengthens the immune system?
Full-time job "immune system"
24 hours a day, seven days a week – your immune system is at work for you around the clock. Whether in the blood or in the mucous membranes – your defence cells are everywhere and always ready for action.
As soon as they register a foreign body in the organism, they sound the alarm and hurry to the scene of the incident. In order for your immune system to work as well as possible, you should keep yourself healthy and fit: exercise, oxygen and low stress are a good start. Just as important is the right nutrition for your immune system. Vitamins, trace elements and phytochemicals strengthen your defences and enable your immune system to work in a permanently stable way. This is because if your immune system does not get the nutrients it needs, it will get weaker.
As soon as they register a foreign body in the organism, they sound the alarm and hurry to the scene of the incident. In order for your immune system to work as well as possible, you should keep yourself healthy and fit: exercise, oxygen and low stress are a good start. Just as important is the right nutrition for your immune system. Vitamins, trace elements and phytochemicals strengthen your defences and enable your immune system to work in a permanently stable way. This is because if your immune system does not get the nutrients it needs, it will get weaker.
Vitamins, the defence plus for the immune system
Vitamins are essential for the human body and we take them in through our food. Vitamin C and vitamin B are particularly important for the immune system.
Vitamin C
Most foods that strengthen the immune system are characterized by a high content of Vitamin C aus. Especially in stressful situations or in heat, wetness and cold, this vitamin helps the ailing body. For men a daily amount of 110 milligrams of vitamin C is recommended, for women 95 milligrams. If a flu-like infection is imminent, it is important to be quick: Two to three grams of vitamin C a day may be able to relieve the symptoms and shorten the duration of the infection. To strengthen your immune system, you should eat the following foods containing vitamin C regularly:
- Kiwi
- Orange
- Lemon
- Papaya
- Sea buckthorn
- black currant
- Cabbage
- Broccolii
- Peppers
Vitamin B
If you want to strengthen your immune system through diet, you cannot avoid the B vitamins. Especially vitamins B6, B12 and B9 support your immune system.
You can replenish your vitamin B6 stores with potatoes, lentils, spinach and bananas. Vitamin B9 is contained in large quantities in field salad, red beans, chickpeas and Brussels sprouts. Vitamin B12 is mainly found in eggs, meat, fish, oysters, cheese and sea buckthorn.
Iron and zinc, the power duo among the trace elements
Iron is mainly involved in blood formation and oxygen transport, but is also important for the immune system. This is why a balanced iron balance is so important. For many women and generally for people who follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, this is often below the recommended guideline value. However, a deficiency can be prevented with the right food. Many (though not all) of them are also suitable for a meat-free diet:
- Chickpeas
- Millet
- Pistachios
- Lentils
- Spinach
- Fennel
- Calf and beef liver
You can also strengthen your immune system with foods with a high zinc content.This trace element plays a decisive role in the physical defence reaction – which can weaken accordingly in the event of a zinc deficiency. With these foods you will not let it come to that:
- Oatmeal
- Brazil nuts
- Buckwheat
- Lentils
- white beans
- Pumpkin seeds
Plant substances: the natural nutrition for the immune system
Secondary plant substances such as carotenoids, bitter substances and flavonoids serve the plant as a protective shield against pathogens and predators. At the same time they contribute to plant cell protection. They have a similar effect in humans. Therefore, a diet that strengthens the immune system should always include these fruits and vegetables:
- Cherries
- Berries
- Apples
- Pears
- Celery
- Tomatoes
- Onions
- Chicory
- Auberginen
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2019-12-20
