The Four Rule Diet-Plan for Your Immunity!

When one is younger, one can easily fool themselves into believing that any kind of degenerative or life-threatening diseases will never happen to them.  But, we often forget that if our immune system gives up on us, we are at risk!  The surest way of keeping one’s immune system ticking is by following the “Four Rule Plan”:

  1.Always Eat A Hearty Breakfast!  Unfortunately, most of us believe starving will help us in weight loss, and inevitably we cut down on the most important meal of our day:Not eating after a long night’s sleep only causes your metabolic rate to dip, which is bound to result in an “unhealthy, sloppy you”.  So pile up!  Breakfast is the time you can speed up your immunity and also cheat with those high calorie foods that you like.

 2.Eat Smaller Meals and Eat more Frequently.  Smaller, more frequent meals help keep your blood sugar stable and provide a steady source of energy, which in turn spikes up your immunity.

 3.Add Warm Drinks to YourOpt for some warm green tea without sugar.  If you are not fond of tea, having a glass of warm water with honey and lime first thing in the morning will also help you a great deal.  Adding soups or drinking lukewarm water all day long is a good plan, too, as it helps in flushing out all the toxins from your body and speeding up your immunity.

 4.Drink Tons ofYou've heard it before; drinking eight (8) glasses of water every day is a must.  The process of building a strong immune system needs water to work effectively.  So drink away!

Besides the Four Rule Plan, if you’re fighting an infection and need to work on your immune system, you could try…

• Eating light and avoiding dairy in all forms.
• Loading up on Vitamin C:  two supplements a day during the infection should be fine or Vitamin C rich fruits like oranges and sweet lime.
• Take a pro-biotic supplement daily or a pro–biotic drink both work well.
• Herbs can be a useful addition to boost your immunity. Two such medicinal herbs are garlic and ginger. Garlic has anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties whereas ginger is particularly good for sore throats and upset stomachs.
• Watermelon is an immune super- food, the flesh is rich in Vitamins A and C and the seeds are a good source of zinc, selenium, Vitamin E and essential fats.  Blending the flesh and the seeds together and drinking a pint full of this elixir twice a day works wonders.
• Carrots, too, provide a rich source of beta-carotene.  Other orange vegetable and fruits also provide immune boosting nutrients, especially sweet potatoes and apricots.
• Seed vegetables contain antioxidant nutrients plus protein, which are super foods for immunity.
• Beans, broccoli, beet root, lettuce, tomatoes, cottage cheese are all immunity boosting foods.

Having said all the above, a stable diet, a good exercise regime along with some form of meditation is best way to build a healthy immune system!

Roma Kapadia is a freelance writer from Mumbai.  For the last eight years, she has been writing lifestyle pieces for several online publications including MSN India and Savvy. Roma loves to write about food, health & wellness, relationships and travel.  In addition to her BA in English Literature and advanced degree in Journalism, Roma also holds a certification in Tarot Card Reading.

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