Keeping your body fit and healthy is more than just exercising and keeping yourself clean. Eating healthy food could also help boost your immune system. If you're looking to prevent the flu, colds, and other bacteria from taking over your body, a well-balanced diet is a go-to solution.
Here we've listed the best diet foods that will help you keep your immune system healthy that won't cost you a dime a dozen and can also be prepared deliciously.
Citrus Fruits
Ascorbic Acid is a beneficial vitamin that enables a person's body to fight off the common cold by building up your immune system.
Vitamin C increases the body's production of white blood cells, who are responsible for fighting off bacteria that enter the human body.
Citrus fruits, in particular, often contain a high amount of ascorbic acid and are a great choice to help make your immune system stronger.
The main reason to regularly eat citrus fruits is that the human body does not produce vitamin C and is unable to store it, so it requires daily intake to maintain strong health.
Dark Chocolate
Chocolate lovers would be glad to hear that dark chocolate is actually healthy for the human body because it contains theobromine. This antioxidant helps a person's immune system by protecting the cells from free radicals.
Free radicals are body-produced molecules that are a result of food being broken down or due to pollutants. The threat these molecules have is they can damage the cells and makes it easier for diseases to infect a person.
Mushrooms
If you want to strengthen your immune system, mushrooms are one way to go. This type of food is rich in selenium and B vitamins, including riboflavin and niacin, which help a person's immune system to be in pristine form.
By eating mushrooms, you could also get a lot of polysaccharides, which are sugar-like molecules that boost the body's defense against bacteria and disease.
Broccoli
A very helpful vegetable is broccoli and is filled with vitamins and minerals. Keep yourself in tip-top shape with vitamins A, C, and E. This delicious green food also packs fiber and several antioxidants and is one of the healthiest things you can place on your plate.
The method to retain most of its health benefits is by cooking it as little as possible or for best effects, not at all. If you want to eat broccoli warm, experts say steaming is a great way to cook this vegetable while keeping most of its nutrients intact.
Sweet Potatoes
Rich in beta carotene, sweet potatoes boost a person's immune system by being rich in the antioxidant that also results in the vegetable's distinct orange color.
Beta carotene is an excellent source of vitamin A and helps keep your skin healthy and provides some protection against skin damage that comes as a result of ultraviolet (UV) rays coming into contact with the body at a daily rate.
