Food For Thought: Stay Well During the Holidays

By Michaela Shoberg

A strong immune system is always important, but especially so during the holiday season.  Unfortunately, even the healthiest of people can lose sight of their healthy ways during this busy time of year, finding themselves more vulnerable to the bugs floating around that are intent on ruining holiday plans.  So what can we do to reach the end of the year ready to better ourselves with resolutions rather than lost in a pile of tissues and throat lozenges?

Nutrition is a good focal point. Even though we may not be what we eat, good food is essential to any health plan and eating the right things can improve immune function.  No single nutrient can boost your immunity, but a variety of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients are involved in the function of your immune system and a well balanced diet can go a long way toward keeping you healthy.

Vitamin C gets a lot of press and with good reason.  Vitamin C is important for skin health, an essential part of your protection from disease, and in white blood cell formation, the disease fighting agents in your body.  Vitamin C is abundant in fruits and vegetables (citrus, melon, broccoli, etc.).  Also, Zinc helps create and activate white blood cells which are important to your immune function as well.  Zinc can be found in certain beans, dark meat turkey, beef, oysters and crabmeat.

Healthy fats are critical in overall health, but also in immune function.  Plant based fats, fish and grass fed meat contain higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids. These essential fatty acids are being studied in a multitude of health related topics, immunity being one.  The potential added benefit of lowered risk for both heart disease and cancer makes these dietary choices even more considerable.

Whole grains add fiber, vitamins and minerals to your diet and may be helpful in fighting infection. Selenium in particular has been linked to improved immune function and can be found in the bran of grains such as rice, wheat and oat. Brans are only found in the whole grain form.

There are many supplements that offer promises of health and seemingly provide an easy and quick solution to getting all of these nutrients during this busy time, but research still shows that nutrients should come from food sources, as supplements do not have the same benefits.  A real food diet low in processed foods mainly plant based and including moderate consumption of quality protein and whole grains is still the best option to acquire the necessary components of an immune boosting diet.

Along with a healthy diet, getting regular exercise and plenty of sleep are vital to your overall health.  So as you can see, the answer to our preliminary question has many layers, as health is a multifaceted state. The key is to balance all aspects as best we can.  Staying fit and healthy this holiday season will allow you to start the New Year ready for anything.

References:

Nutrition and immunity with emphasis on infection and autoimmune disease. Harbige L. Nutr Health. 1996;10(4):285-312.

Healthy Immunity Diet Guidelines By EatingWell Editors (www.eatingwell.com)

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