Top 5 Things to Do to Boost Your Immune System and Your Mood
Mental wellness and a resilient immune system go hand in hand. Here’s what to eat, cook, and do to stay strong.
1) Feed your gut
No doubt you’ve heard about the trillions of microbes that reside in your gut, known as the gut microbiota? Now we know they can make or break a healthy immune system. In fact, a whopping 70% of our immunity relies on a diverse and healthy gut microbiota.
Now more than ever, feed your gut the right foods: Think a variety of whole plant foods, with a special focus on PREbiotics—aka, foods rich in the types of fermentable fiber good bugs need to thrive.
My faves: onions, garlic, asparagus, artichokes, Brussels sprouts, whole grains (like farro and black rice), and beans.
And, to supplement your gut bug world, eat a fermented food each day. My favorites are not only gut-healthy, they are packed with comfort and flavor.
My faves: miso paste, cacao nibs, kimchi, yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha, and kefir.
Kefir tops the list for providing gut-healthy bacterial strains—a whopping 27.7 billion CFU (colony forming units) per ½ cup serving! These gut bugs influence our mental health, too, and may help prevent or ameliorate bouts of anxiety and depression.
Make: Pasta e Fagioli, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Apple, and Greens Salad, Cinnamon-Spiced Farro Breakfast Bowl with Hazelnuts, Honey, and Berries, Dark Chocolate Granola with Cacao Nibs.
2) Boost Vitamins C, D & Zinc
It may be tempting to start tipping packets of fizzy vitamin C powders into your drinks to boost immunity. But the truth is: Vitamin C is better absorbed through foods than supplements. Instead, cook liberally with lemons and limes (the juice and the zest), and enjoy at least 2 pieces of vitamin C-rich fruits a day.
My faves: tangelos, mandarins, Cara Cara oranges, and Ruby Red grapefruit
Make: Flourless Chocolate and Blood Orange Cake
When it comes to boosting Vitamin D, soak up the sun (at least 20 minutes each day), eat foods rich in D (mushrooms, egg yolks, fatty fish), and if you already take Vitamin D supplements, keep taking them. Aptly called the Sunshine Vitamin, maintaining adequate D levels in the blood not only boosts immunity, it helps ward off depression.
Make: Portobello Bacon and Citrusy Salmon Packets with Zoodles and Cilantro Chutney.
To specifically protect yourself from viral infections, be sure to get enough zinc. Animal studies show that zinc may prevent coronoavirus entry into cells and reduce severity of infection. Although we don’t know if this applies to coronavirus infections in humans, it seems prudent to keep zinc levels in the body at an optimum level.
My favorite foods packed with zinc also check off boxes for gut and brain health: tahini, chickpeas, almonds, nutritional yeast, pumpkin seeds, shellfish, and high quality chicken. Shoot for 3 servings of zinc-rich foods each day.
Make: Socca Chickpea Pancakes and Cacao Tahini Date Balls.
3) Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate
It’s fine to start the day with a coffee and end with something more festive, but to keep your brain healthy, you should be drinking at least 2 quarts of water (64 ounces) throughout the day. Staying hydrated makes you better equipped to fight off viral infections, and gives you the energy to get exercise each day (see #4.)
What type of water is best? Whatever water you like! Filtered, tap, bottled, mineral, or sparkling. Just avoid waters with artificial sweeteners, added sugar, and unfamiliar ingredients you can’t pronounce (like erythritol, taurine, and l-carnitine.)
4) Less Screen Time, More Movement
A few years ago, studies started linking time spent on social media to increased anxiety and depression, especially in teens. It’s true no matter what age you are: Mental wellness takes a hit whenever we spend too much time glued to our screens. What does this mean now that screen time has become paramount to staying connected with friends and family? Say YES to all the ways our screens connect us now: FaceTime, Zoom video chats, texting, and email. Even better, place good old-fashioned phone calls to connect with someone you love every day. But say NO to mindless scrolling through social media feeds and endlessly clicking on links and going down the internet rabbit hole.
Instead, boost mood and immunity by getting plenty of exercise: 20 minutes of aerobic exercise a day, plus 2 to 3 sessions of strength training each week. But don’t work out so hard that your body has to tap into its immune function to help you recover. Think in terms of exercise “snacks” instead of exhaustive work-outs: Bust out a few planks, push-ups, or squats in between work calls; take frequent brisk walks; stream a 20-minute yoga class (my fave: Yoga Today), and keep resistance bands and free weights handy around the house. I like to squeeze in a few biceps curls while tending to my morning pour-over coffee .
5) Sleep
The number one rule for cultivating a strong, resilient immune system: Get enough sleep. While you sleep, your brain flushes out toxins, sorts short-term memories into long-term storage, and performs restorative and reparative immune functions.
To make sure you are getting enough high quality sleep (both the REM and the deep stages):
- Put yourself on a schedule: Go to bed and wake up at the same time.
- Give yourself a “sleep opportunity” of at least 8 hours each night; this means you are in bed, ready for sleep a full 8 hours before you plan to wake up.
- Don’t get caught up in “sleep procrastination”—that tendency to knock off a few emails or watch one more show on Netflix before bed.
- And, get your body and your brain ready for sleep by spending the hour before bedtime winding down: Turn off electronics, dim the lights in your home, read a paper book, take a hot bath or shower, or write in a journal. In fact, studies show that the simple act of writing down 5 things you are grateful for at the end of each day improves both sleep quality and mental wellness.
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