9 Immune Boosting Foods

I get a newsletter from Organic Gardening that always seems to have useful information for me and I thought to share one article I read yesterday.

I confess to being an iced tea addict.  All day long I carry a glass with me to sip on, summer or winter, it does not matter. 

I had read that black tea was very healthy years ago but here is an update on it’s immune boosting properties. 

4. Tea

People who drank 5 cups a day of black tea for 2 weeks had 10 times more virus-fighting interferon in their blood than others who drank a placebo hot drink, in a Harvard study. The amino acid that's responsible for this immune boost, L-theanine, is abundant in both black and green tea—decaf versions have it, too.

Your optimal dose: Several cups daily. To get up to five times more antioxidants from your tea bags, bob them up and down while you brew.

Maybe my tea habit is why I did not get the cold we had this past week very bad, it was quite mild compared to what most folks had to deal with.  I just felt tired and had a few sniffles.  My husband got very sick, fever, body aches, night sweats….the whole Maryann, but not me. Phew! 

I was also grateful to see there is some help if I do get down. Nothing like Chicken Soup.  Weren’t our Grandma’s smart as they always prescribed chicken soup when we ailed.

5. Chicken Soup

When University of Nebraska researchers tested 13 brands, they found that all but one (chicken-flavored ramen noodles) blocked the migration of inflammatory white cells—an important finding, because cold symptoms are a response to the cells' accumulation in the bronchial tubes. The amino acid cysteine, released from chicken during cooking, chemically resembles the bronchitis drug acetylcysteine, which may explain the results. The soup's salty broth keeps mucus thin the same way cough medicines do. Added spices, such as garlic and onions, can increase soup's immune-boosting power.

Your optimal dose: Have a bowl when feeling crummy.

The link to the entire article is here…if you wish to find out what the other immune boosting foods are…

9 Foods to Boost the Immune System
Adding these foods to your diet can help you stay healthy.

Keep healthy!