6 Superfoods to Supercharge Your Immunity: Nature’s Protection

September 3, 2024

On the subject of protecting your immune system in peak situation, particularly throughout these back-to-school months when flu season is lurking, the meals you select could make all of the distinction.

Think about harnessing the facility of nature to guard your self and your family members from the wave of seasonal bugs. It is not nearly including extra greens to your plate; it is about choosing the proper superfoods that work in synergy to supercharge your immune defenses.

On this article, you will uncover six potent, nutrient-dense meals (you could simply discover at your native farmer’s market, grocery retailer, or on-line well being store) that I’ve handpicked for his or her immunity-boosting properties. These aren’t simply any superfoods—they’re tailor-made to offer your physique the very best shot at warding off the standard suspects, from the widespread chilly to the extra cussed viruses that appear to make the rounds this time of 12 months.

Think about this your private information to constructing an invisible protect in opposition to sickness. The easy, budget-friendly components you’ll dive into are filled with nutritional vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants designed to bolster your immune system, making certain that you simply and your loved ones keep wholesome and resilient. Whether or not you are packing lunches or planning your meals, these meals will play a key function in protecting everybody in your family feeling their greatest.

So, should you’re able to take management of your well being and arm your physique with the last word protection in opposition to seasonal illness, learn on. That is greater than only a listing—it is a strategic method to diet that prioritizes your well-being, serving to you keep forward of regardless of the season throws your means.

Ben Greenfield’s 6 *Sport-Altering* Meals, Crops, & Herbs to Increase Your Immunity This Flu Season

1. Thieves Oil 

An outdated story from the fourteenth century recounts how, amid the bubonic plague ravaging Europe and Asia, 4 thieves gained infamy for looting the possessions of plague victims.

Remarkably, regardless of their fixed publicity to the extremely infectious illness, the thieves by no means contracted the plague.

In line with lore, after they have been caught and charged, the courtroom Justice of the Peace provided them a deal: in trade for a diminished sentence, they might share their secret to immunity from the plague. The thieves took the deal and instructed of a mix of medicinal herbs they consumed every day, particularly cloves, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and rosemary (you possibly can decide most of those components up at Thrive Market). A whole bunch of years later, this mix of fragrant herbs was confirmed to be a potent solution to kill airborne micro organism, improve the exercise of white blood cells, and improve lymph fluid circulation.

Learn how to Make Your Personal Thieves Oil

Whether or not or not the story is true, the “4 thieves” treatment was developed into an natural formulation in Europe between 1413 and 1722. A number of variations of this formulation have been handed down by the years. Thomas Jefferson is claimed to have fancied a model that consisted of vinegar spiked with lavender, rosemary, sage, wormwood, rue, mint, and garlic to maintain his presidential physique infection-free. In distinction, the Scientific American Cyclopedia of Preparations provides this method:

• 4 oz dried rosemary tops
• 4 oz dried sage
• 2 oz dried lavender
• 5 oz contemporary rue
• 1 oz camphor dissolved in vinegar
• ¼ oz sliced garlic
• 1 oz bruised cloves
• 1 gallon of strongly distilled wine vinegar

To make a batch of immunity-boosting thieves oil, you will must:

1. Digest your concoction: Enable your combination to take a seat and mix collectively for 7 or 8 days.
2. Often agitate it: Periodically shake or stir the combination to totally mix all components.
3. Pour off liquor: After the infusion interval, separate the liquid a part of the combination from any stable residue.
4. Press out the rest: Extract the remaining liquid from the stable parts that have been left behind after pouring off the preliminary liquid. This would possibly contain urgent or squeezing.
5. Filter the combined liquids: Lastly, filter the mixed liquid to take away any remaining stable particles and to make sure a transparent, purified closing product.

For extra data on contemporary superfoods and tinctures that battle diseases and improve your immunity, I like to recommend trying out my podcasts with the founding father of Kauai Farmacy, Doug Wolkon, which you could find right here, right here, and right here.

2. Elderberry

One of many highlights of my 12 months is when the outdated elderberry tree within the forest behind our home comes into full manufacturing and creates oodles of elderberries, which my spouse collects, ferments, and turns right into a darkish, dense, immune-boosting elderberry wine.

Elderberry teas, tinctures, and dietary supplements are all glorious choices to have readily available in your medicinal pantry.

The Well being Advantages of Elderberry

The anthocyanins in elderberries have been proven to have potent immunostimulant results. In reality, a 2016 examine confirmed that elderberry supplementation can vastly scale back the period and signs of colds in air vacationers. One other examine discovered that when the elderberry extract is used throughout the first forty-eight hours of the onset of flu signs, it shortens the period of signs by a mean of 4 days.

Due to its candy, tart, and refreshing style, elderberry juice is a superb different to elderberry wine, particularly should you don’t have time to make the wine. Good manufacturers embrace River Hills, Biotta, Biona, and Wyldewood Cellars—all of which have a tart and tannic taste, with a gentle sweetness.

An elderberry tincture is one other good possibility. There’s a DIY elderberry tincture recipe in my e book Boundless Kitchen. Efficient doses of elderberry extract vary from 600 to 900mg per day.

*As a phrase of warning, the elderberry plant is POISONOUS other than the berries, so must you select to arrange an elderberry remedy your self, you should definitely use solely the berries and to arrange them correctly by way of a course of corresponding to fermentation.

3. Bone Broth

There’s a motive why native peoples have been consuming bone broths for hundreds of years, why your grandmother’s hen soup at all times appeared to remedy what ailed you, and why there’s a South American proverb that claims “bone broth raises the useless.”

Whether or not bone broth is as magical a therapeutic assist as it’s touted to be stays to be confirmed by sturdy analysis, however nonetheless, there are quite a few well being advantages to easily ingesting liquid that has been simmering with the marrow and joint bones of beef, hen, lamb, and even fish for 24 to forty-eight hours.

The Dietary Advantages of Bone Broth

Bone broth accommodates substances which can be important to the innate immune system, such because the amino acids arginine (which is essential for the immune system and liver operate), glutamine (which assists with mobile metabolism), and glycine (which aids in glutathione manufacturing and improves sleep high quality). The marrow in bone broth accommodates lipids known as alkylglycerols which can be essential for the manufacturing of white blood cells. These similar alkylglycerols additionally seem in colostrum and have been proven to manage the expansion of most cancers cells. In line with analysis by Dr. Matthias Rath, the collagen in bone broth can also stop most cancers tumor metastasis, and the gelatin in bone broth is helpful for autoimmune illnesses associated to a leaky intestine. The glycosaminoglycans present in bone broth can equally assist restore a wholesome intestinal lining, whereas the chondroitin sulfate in bone broth has each anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory results.

Proceed with warning if you are going to buy packaged bone broth, as not all bone broth is created equal. Nearly each firm promoting bone broth on-line—even those utilizing grass-fed and natural components—is freezing their broth and delivery it with plenty of dry ice and dangerous Styrofoam containers.

Moreover, many broths do not even listing bones on the components label. If bones aren’t talked about, the broth possible will not include important vitamins from bone marrow, corresponding to collagen, immune-boosting alkylglycerols, or omega-3 important fatty acids. For optimum high quality, choose broths made with high-quality bones from beef, hen, or fish, ideally sourced from natural, pasture-raised, or wild-caught animals.

Making Bone Broth at Residence

It’s easy to make your individual bone broth:

• Simply place the bones left over from hen, turkey, beef marrow bones, oxtails, beef toes, or beef neck bones (many of those odd cuts can be found for an excellent deal out of your native butcher) in a stockpot or sluggish cooker and canopy them with water.
• Add a splash of apple cider vinegar to assist extract minerals from the bones.
• Optionally, embrace aromatics like onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and herbs for added taste.
• Deliver the combination to a boil, then scale back the warmth to a simmer and let it cook dinner for at the least 12 to 24 hours, and even longer for richer taste and elevated nutrient extraction.
• Skim off any foam or impurities that rise to the floor throughout cooking.
• As soon as performed, pressure the broth to take away the solids, then let it cool earlier than storing it within the fridge or freezer.

Advisable Bone Broth Manufacturers and Recipes

Though it’s greatest to make your individual bone broth at house, one good, shelf-stable, done-for-you model is Kettle & Hearth. They preserve strict requirements to ship bone broth constituted of the bones of cattle which can be humanely raised with out antibiotics or hormones and are

one hundred pc grass-fed and grass-finished.

For a nourishing morning breakfast, you possibly can experiment with Dr. Thomas Cowan’s therapeutic broth recipe. The next is tailored

from his glorious e book Most cancers and the New Biology of Water:

• Warmth a beneficiant quantity of grass-fed ghee in a saucepan over medium warmth, then add 1 to 2 tablespoons of turmeric powder and stir till it dissolves.
• Add 3 to 7 greens of selection (the sprouting mixes from The Sprouting Firm are my favorites, particularly the high-protein combine) and/or a mix of vegetable powders and sauté till the greens are smooth.
• Subsequent, add 1 to 2 cups of bone broth. Flip the warmth right down to low and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, then stir in a beneficiant portion of powdered vegetable extract.
• Lastly, ladle the broth right into a bowl and add 1 tablespoon every of naturally fermented miso and natto.

For this recipe, I like to recommend a vegetable powder mix like ashitaba, burdock, low-oxalate greens, or the savory Threefold Mix of powdered vegetable extracts from Dr. Cowan’s web site.

Concerns for Histamine Sensitivities

Lastly, be aware that these with histamine sensitivities or mast cell points might must proceed with warning in the case of bone broth and fermented meals—pay shut consideration to any signs you expertise after consuming them.

4. Fermented Meals

In the event you open my fridge, you will notice that all the high shelf is chock-full of mason jars filled with fermented greens—from sauerkraut to pickles to kimchi and past—together with do-it-yourself coconut yogurt, water kefir, dairy kefir, natto, miso, and loads of different enjoyable fermentation merchandise.

My lunchtime salad and aspect dish at dinner usually embrace a heaping tablespoon of those ferments, corresponding to sauerkraut or kimchi, a dollop of yogurt, a fermented pickle, a teaspoon of miso, or a glass of my spouse’s do-it-yourself kombucha or kefir.

After I started incorporating these kinds of fermented meals and probiotics into my food regimen, my frequent seasonal colds dwindled (I used to be getting sick annually fairly than as soon as a month!). By supporting my intestine micro organism, I used to be drastically enhancing my immune system.

The Energy of Probiotics and Intestine Well being Help

It’s estimated that three-quarters of your immune system resides in your intestine. Certainly, immunity begins with the micro organism in your digestive tract, as these creatures play important roles in nutrient absorption, mucosal barrier operate, assist of intestine lymphoid tissue, and immune operate.

For instance, take lactic acid micro organism, also called Lactobacillus paracasei, which is present in naturally fermented meals like sauerkraut and yogurt. It produces the enzyme lactocepin, which is ready to destroy immune system messengers known as chemokines. In a wholesome intestine, chemokines information white blood cells to an an infection, however in people with inflammatory bowel illness, they’ll exacerbate an autoimmune response. Consuming sources of lactic acid micro organism can thus scale back autoimmune signs.

One other pressure of micro organism, the probiotic Bifidobacteria, secretes gamma-aminobutyric acid. Macrophages, that are immune cells that engulf micro organism and virus-infested cells, include butyric acid receptors that, when activated by the acid, can scale back the manufacturing of inflammatory compounds. The cell partitions of Bifidobacteria additionally include a dipeptide that prompts the synthesis of lymphocytes, that are immune cells that produce antibodies and are accountable for acquired immunity. Scientists have additionally examined the impact of kefir, which is probiotic-rich fermented milk, on the immune programs of rats. The rats got kefir every day for twenty-eight days after which injected with a cholera toxin. The rats that had been consuming a every day dose of kefir exhibited considerably larger antibodies to the toxin than the management group.

Methods for Restoring and Defending Intestine Biodiversity

To get extra particulars on supporting pure, wholesome intestine flora, I like to recommend combining a excessive consumption of all kinds of fermented meals with every day use of gut-nourishing compounds like colostrum, L-glutamine, or the complement ION* (you should utilize code BEN15 to save lots of 15% off your first order).

Over the past sixty years, there was a gentle lack of biodiversity within the intestine membrane’s bacterial ecosystem, and a big a part of this is because of manufacturing unit farming, processed meals, and widespread antibiotic use. This lack of biodiversity has left our intestine membrane partitions weak. However probably the most potent of the widespread causes of harm to the intestine wall in our food regimen is glyphosate—an ingredient in weed killers—as a result of it triggers the activation of a protein known as zonulin. Zonulin is produced within the intestine, the place it opens the tight junctions between cells within the intestinal lining, then circulates systemically and may open the blood-brain barrier, kidney tubule programs, and blood vessel partitions.

ION* is a liquid complement that delivers bacterial metabolites to advertise a wholesome firewall of tight junctions within the intestine wall and blood-brain barrier and quickly will increase the manufacturing of the enzymes that break down zonulin. Though I at all times purchase natural, due to the widespread prevalence of glyphosate toxins even in natural meals, I take ION* a number of occasions per day. 

5. Mushrooms

Mushrooms are a dietary powerhouse, offering B nutritional vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, antioxidants, beta-glucans, and different bioactive molecules that battle dangerous micro organism, viruses, and toxins.

Many mushrooms are additionally immunomodulators that stimulate the immune system’s protection mechanisms.

The Advantages of Shiitake Mushrooms

For instance, one examine discovered that every day consumption of 5 to 10g of shiitake mushrooms for 4 weeks considerably improved immunity and lowered irritation. Shiitake mushrooms additionally exert antitumor exercise and, when used along side chemotherapy, have been proven to extend survival time, restore immunological parameters, and enhance high quality of life. The American School of Diet has discovered that shiitake mushrooms can enhance the effectivity of the immune system, enhance intestine immunity, and reduce irritation, and lab assessments on human cell traces present that shiitake mushrooms can stop malignant tumor progress by signaling tumor cells to burst in a course of known as apoptosis. Lastly, shiitake mushrooms have potent antimicrobial properties, making them efficient pure antibiotics. Amazingly, one examine confirmed that shiitake solely killed disease-causing microbes, leaving useful micro organism unhurt (in distinction, prescription antibiotics kill off each useful and unhealthy micro organism in your physique).

Immunomodulating Properties of Maitake and Cordyceps Mushrooms

Maitake mushrooms are additionally highly effective immunomodulators that stimulate the immune system’s protection response by enhanced cytokine manufacturing, phagocytosis, and NK cell exercise. Cordyceps, which is a fungus that lives on sure caterpillars within the excessive mountain areas of China, additionally reveals potent antitumor results and immunomodulating results. Research have proven that cordyceps will help enhance the physique’s innate immune operate, and it’s so efficient in modulating immunity (which includes each enhancing an immune response to an invader or tumor and lowering an immune overreaction like bronchial asthma) that it has even proven advantages in research on individuals with extreme bronchial asthma. Proof additionally suggests that cordyceps will help autoimmune points and reduce the variety of dangerous micro organism within the intestine.

The Immune-Boosting Energy of Turkey Tail Mushrooms

The turkey tail mushroom accommodates bioactive compounds known as beta-glucans, which may stimulate the immune system by enhancing macrophage and pure killer cell operate. Research additionally recommend that beta-glucans will help the immune system sluggish the expansion of tumors and shield the physique from the results of cancer-causing compounds. Turkey tail additionally accommodates a excessive variety of prebiotics, which feed the great micro organism in your intestine and assist immunity.

Tremella: A Lesser-Recognized Mushroom with Potent Advantages

One other little-known however extremely efficient mushroom is the tremella, which is wealthy in vitamin D and fiber, and accommodates particular compounds that shield the liver. Analysis suggests that tremella mushrooms will help the physique battle infections, and in ancestral drugs, it has lengthy been used as an immune tonic.

Chaga: The King of Medicinal Mushrooms

Lastly, there’s one of the vital highly effective mushrooms for immune programs, the “king of medicinal mushrooms”: chaga. Chaga has an abundance of beta-glucans, and analysis has additionally proven that it prompts immune cells accountable for combating most cancers progress. Chaga will increase the manufacturing of immune cells IL-6 and lymphocytes, which will help improve the flexibility to battle pathogens. Different compounds in chaga assist the immune system to distinguish between the physique’s cells and international cells. Chaga reduces immune hypersensitivity and even reduces the chance of cardiac shock from extreme allergic reactions. Chaga additionally has antiviral properties and will help battle off viral infections—it might even scale back the flexibility of HIV to duplicate and stop herpes and Epstein-Barr viruses from infecting new cells and replicating.

Enhancing Immunity with Mushroom Modulation and Blends

Most of those mushrooms assist regulate cell-mediated and adaptive immunity by way of the method of modulation—each potentiating and suppressing the immune system much like the best way that an adaptogen can modulate endocrine and hormonal stability.

One in every of my favourite methods to get a every day dose of immune-boosting mushrooms is to make use of 4 Sigmatic’s 10 Mushroom Mix, which features a hearty dose of vitamin C (from rosehips), together with chaga, reishi, cordyceps, lion’s mane, shiitake, maitake, and some different selection immune-boosting mushrooms. You may put a teaspoon of this mix in your morning cup of espresso or tea. Different good manufacturers embrace Actual Mushrooms, Cymbiotika, and Host Protection.

6. Bee Merchandise

On the subject of creating compounds that assist the immune system, bees could be a precious useful resource.

You’re little question acquainted with honey, however there are additionally three different immune-supporting bee merchandise: bee pollen, royal jelly, and propolis.

The Reality About Actual Uncooked Honey

Actual uncooked honey stands in stark distinction to the faux, pesticide- and herbicide-laden, nutrient-poor honey you discover within the common plastic honey bear on the grocery retailer. Uncooked honey has so many enzymes that it’s the one meals on the earth that by no means goes unhealthy, and it’s stuffed with minerals and antioxidants. As well as, honey accommodates minor quantities of the identical kind of bioactive parts present in antioxidant-rich vegetables and fruit, together with phenolic acid, flavonoids, α-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, proteins, and carotenoids.

The Antiviral Energy of Manuka Honey

Honey additionally has potent antiviral properties and may velocity restoration from viral infections. Manuka honey, a kind of honey produced by bees that feed on the nectar of the tea tree, inhibits flu virus replication and has been proven to be simpler than the energetic components in fashionable cough medicines at enhancing each cough and sleep high quality in people with higher respiratory infections. Methylglyoxal (MGO) is the first anti-flu element of manuka honey. When choosing manuka honey, search for the MGO label on the jar and select a model with an MGO content material of 83 or above (the upper the MGO ranking, the upper the extent of antiviral exercise of the honey).

Bee Pollen: Nature’s Nutrient Powerhouse

Bee pollen is likely one of the most nutrient-dense meals present in nature. It’s packed stuffed with nutritional vitamins and minerals, and it has almost a full spectrum of important vitamins. Pollen is the colostrum of the insect world—it accommodates extra protein per gram than every other animal-based meals, in addition to free-forming amino acids. Analysis means that bee pollen has potent antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer, liver-protecting, and native analgesic properties.

Royal Jelly: The Elixir of Longevity

Royal jelly, secreted by glands within the heads of nurse bees, is the unique meals of queen bees, who dwell about forty occasions longer than employee bees. Cleopatra used royal jelly on her pores and skin usually due to its regenerative and therapeutic results. Analysis suggests that nutrient-dense royal jelly can also assist nerve well being, psychological acuity, and reminiscence, and shield in opposition to nerve harm due to its excessive acetylcholine content material. It’s definitely a superfood. It accommodates proteins, fatty acids, polyphenols, adenosine monophosphate, and hormones like testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, and prolactin.

Propolis: Nature’s Immune Protector

Lastly, there’s propolis, which is probably the most potent of the immune-supporting compounds you possibly can borrow from the bees. Propolis, taken from the Greek phrases for protection (professional) and metropolis or group (polis), is understood generally as “bee glue” and is actually the immune safety for the beehive. Bees use propolis to seal holes and cracks within the beehive; it hardens the partitions and even makes the within of the hive aseptic. Research on people have proven that it has a number of functions in treating a bunch of illnesses due to its antiseptic, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antiulcer, antimycotic, anticancer, and immunomodulatory properties. It accommodates over 300 pure compounds which were proven to assist immunity, and there’s proof that people have been utilizing propolis to assist well being since 300 BC.

In my pantry, you’ll discover royal jelly, propolis, bee pollen, and uncooked honey from Beekeeper’s Naturals; a number of different native, uncooked natural honeys; and even a drinkable mix of royal jelly, propolis, bee pollen, and wasp extract from Vespa (which can also be a keto-friendly gasoline for athletes).

Incorporating these immune-boosting meals into your routine is a strong step towards safeguarding your well being in the course of the flu season and past. Every meals on this listing presents distinctive advantages, from the protecting properties of thieves oil to the gut-nourishing energy of fermented meals. By making these nutrient-dense selections a part of your every day food regimen, you possibly can construct a sturdy protection system that retains sickness at bay and helps total well-being.

Strengthening Your Protection: Boosting Immunity for Flu Season and Past