These foods will boost immunity and help you lose weight
Remember that colleague who was down with flu? One handshake with her and next day you were down with fever too! In fact, even a sneeze from the far end of the shopping mall reached you straight and your friend (who was with you at the mall and was exposed to the same germs at the same time) surprisingly remained fit and fine!
Is something wrong with you? Are you a sickness magnet? A simple answer to all these questions is that your immunity defences are perhaps not up to the mark. And it is the strength of our immune system which decides who gets sick and who doesn’t.
And unfortunately this is a season when the probability of falling sick jacks up tremendously. The part hot-part (very) humid season makes us susceptible and how! So a refresher on how to save ourselves from seasonal bugs and myriad infections going about is much needed.
So what exactly is immunity? You can’t feel it or see it. You can’t take its pulse or its temperature. But out of sight and out of mind, your immune system is quietly and constantly patrolling your body to detect and destroy infectious microbes.
Simply put, immunity refers to the ability of our bodies and minds to withstand the stresses of our daily life; also the ability to cope with imbalance and disease.
Essentially, it is the body's ability to protect itself from foreign invaders like viruses, disease and infection.
Surely you’d love to get an immunity system as tough as nails - a real fighting machine! So follow some lifestyle mending cues and eat the right foods which will help reinstate the balance and get your immunity humming along.
There is no bypassing the importance of eating right. By now, thanks to media overdose, most of us know that Vitamin C is great for building up our immunity, and how amla and citrus fruits can help buff up our body’s defence system.
But it is important to also understand that C alone cannot fight this tough battle for us. Because the truth is that just by loading up on C you cannot save yourself from the bugs going around. You definitely need more armour than just that.
To have a strong immune system, the diet must contain ample antioxidants, micro-nutrients and all essential vitamins and minerals.
For instance, Vitamin D has been discovered to have a significant impact on the efficacy of the immune system. So go get enough sunlight every day. Other substances found to benefit the immune system include zinc and selenium.
Zinc’s role in keeping cold and flu away is well-known and now it is getting clearer that people who don’t get enough selenium in their diet are more likely to come down with frequent infections, and it also takes them much longer to recover from them.
This is because it is much easier for viruses to replicate inside the body if selenium inside their cells is inadequate. Get enough of this mineral from garlic, onions, kelp, sea food and whole grains. For zinc, include eggs, nuts, seeds and legumes in your diet.
Watch your weight. Every extra kilogram translates to one kilogram of tissue that the immune cells must defend and take care of - which is why being overweight is linked to reduced immune activity. Overweight individuals have lower levels of lymphocytes (a type of infection-fighting white blood cell) and natural killer cells.
The good news? When these individuals lose weight, their lymphocyte levels and functions improve. Also, watch out for yo-yo dieting as that can prevent lymphocytes from defending the body against invading bacteria or viruses. So it is best to try and achieve your target weight and then maintain it.
Drink responsibly. While moderate alcohol intake raises IGA levels, if you drink too much, immunity goes down. Excessive alcohol intake can harm the body's immune system in two ways. It leads to an overall nutritional deficiency, leading to a shortfall of all valuable immune-boosting nutrients in the body; and also reduces the ability of white cells to kill germs.
Damage to the immune system increases in proportion to the quantity of alcohol consumed. So watch how much you drink.
Exercise is a big immunity booster! A broad spectrum of studies confirm that exercise helps the cardiovascular system, improves blood flow, flushes out toxins from muscles and organs, and helps keep the kidneys and endocrine system working well. It helps remove germs and circulate antibodies.
All these promote a healthy immune system.
Step out in natural light enough too. It is not important just because it makes vitamin D.
In the skin, there are cells which produce a very powerful immune-boosting substance called interleukin-1 (IL-1), which is stimulated by natural daylight.
So that morning walk can actually keep you safe from myriad illnesses too.