How to boost your immunity during COVID-19? Everyone knows that proper nutrition is essential for securing a healthy life. But as we go about our daily routines, we often forget about it and push it aside. Now, living through a global pandemic it becomes even more vital for people to have a strong immune system. Fortunately, that can be achieved with healthy habits like eating nutritious foods and being active. Some people choose to even take supplements with vitamins and minerals, which can also help us achieve a good immunity.

Boost your immunity during COVID-19

While food is the best medicine in times like this, knowing which products can boost our immunity is essential. Maintaining a well-balanced diet is crucial at times like these. When you think about it, we are in charge of our own health. This is why it’s good to always be cautious while shopping and to make sure you buy good quality food.

The first thing you can do to boost your immune system is to eat fresh or minimally processed food. This means that it’s good to cook or if you don’t know how to, you can learn easily with the help of the Internet. It can provide you with various videos and recipes and help you do it easily.

Improving your diet can include fruits, vegetables, legumes (e.g. lentils, beans), nuts, and whole grains (e.g. unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat, brown rice, or starchy tubers or roots such as potato, yam, taro, or cassava). Foods from animal sources (e.g. meat, fish, eggs, and milk) are also good. Of course, make sure not to overcook your food, or you’ll lose all the important vitamins and minerals that it initially contains. You should avoid canned or dried vegetables and fruit, or at least choose varieties without added salt or sugar.

Other ways to have a strong immune system

Another thing that is important for a strong immune system is getting enough sleep. 7-8 hours of sleep gives your body time to rest and recover all the vital processes that keep your body healthy and running. A lack of sleep can leave you tired and even impair your brain activity. An interesting fact is that we’re the only mammals who deliberately skip sleeping by using caffeine or other refreshing substances.

Staying hydrated at all times and drinking at least 8-10 glasses of water on a daily basis is also very important for good health. Water transits nutrients and compounds in the blood, regulates your body temperature, gets rid of waste, and lubricates joints.

Nutrition for strong immunity

It’s good to know which are the top Immune-Related Nutrients, Bioactive Compounds, and Herbs that can boost your immune system and make your body more sustainable in the terms of a COVID-19 outbreak. Nutrition composition lists all range of components, ranging from vitamin C, D, E, K, B-complex, selenium, zinc, DHA and EPA, ALA, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, garlic, onion, echinacea, lactoferrin, elderberry, Nigella sativa, and Glycyrrhiza glabra, iodine, ginger, acerola and turmeric, honey, magnesium and iron, rutin and probiotics.

So, as you can see, eating healthy food during the pandemic really matters, and there are already several medical pieces of research concerning this issue.  But instead of buying a bunch of pills, it is always better to get these nutrients naturally through the food we consume. Let’s have a look at the top 10 foods that can lift us up, while everyone is feeling down.

1.    Citrus fruits.

Vitamin C is not produced in the human body, so we have to provide it by including it in our daily meals. Also known as ascorbic acid, vitamin C is a water-soluble nutrient. It is found in leafy greens and citrus, especially grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, and clementines. It acts as an antioxidant, protecting cells from damage caused by free radicals.

2.    Broccoli.

Eating it as raw as it could be, can provide all A, C, E vitamins. It’s also a powerful antioxidant, being a source of lutein and sulforaphane. It also contains some additional nutrients, including magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, and iron, an array of B vitamins.

3.    Garlic.

Garlic is absolutely available nutrition, which has been used since ancient times for its antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. It contains a whole scale of elements, like Manganese, Selenium, B6, and fibers.

4.    Ginger.

Because of his bioactive compound -gingerol, Ginger has been found to alleviate pain and fight nausea, as well as decrease inflammation. It’s also found to alleviate pain and fight nausea.

5. Spinach

Spinach is a perfect source of vitamins A, C, and E, beta carotene, as well folate, magnesium, and iron, that help you fight virus invaders in uncertain times. Like broccoli, it’s again important not to overcook your spinach, as it’s less effective if it’s overcooked. Better eat it wilted, not steamed, so you can keep enough of his antioxidant abilities.

6.    Nuts and seeds.

Nuts, especially almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachio, and hazelnut are full of fibers, proteins, vitamin E, minerals, and can be easily input into your daily diet, as they can be applied to your smoothie, or eaten as a rough snack. Seeds grow in popularity through the years and many people are already familiar with them. Such favorites are chia, hemp seed, flaxseed, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, quinoa.

7.    Sweet potato.

They are grown worldwide and provide a number of health benefits, plus they are easy to add to your diet. A powerful source of beta carotene, vitamin C, and potassium. Beta carotene is crucial because your body converts it to vitamin A. It plays an important role in boosting immune function.

8. Low-Fat Yogurt.

Either put it in your smoothie or eat it plain, topped with some fruits and/or honey. Yogurt is a perfect food for the immune system. It contains active cultures of probiotics that stimulate the immune response to fight infections in the guts.

9. Red peppers.

Believe it or not, red peppers contain more than 200 percent of your daily intake of vitamin C. There are 152 milligrams of vitamin C in only just one medium-sized red bell pepper. Paprika and chili peppers also meet the same benefits. However, they contain extra capsaicin. That is a chemical that can produce a strong burning sensation in the mouth. They’re also a good source of folate and B6, packed with a set of antioxidants.

10.    Fish and fish products.

There are some kinds of fish that are very high in omega-3 fatty acids. For instance – salmon, mackerel, oysters, sardines, and anchovies. Fish products like caviar and fish oil are also good sources.