Boost your immunity during COVID-19 Outbreak

  When it comes to proper nutrition, everyone knows it’s essential for securing good quality and healthy life. But as we switch to our daily routines, we often forget about it and push it aside. When living with the coronavirus aside for about more than a year, it’s really important for us to bring our priorities on the table, as they are as vital during a pandemic like this, as are the Covid vaccine in Baden-Württemberg worries and concerns.

While food is the best medicine in times like this, knowing which products can boost our immunity, and eat a well-balanced diet  is crucial. It can actually turn everyday shopping from something necessary to a pleasant and useful one, as people with chronic diseases are at a higher risk of infecting and/or  more severe courses of  coronavirus.

• The first thing you have to do is eat more fresh or minimally processed food, which means that’s a pretty good moment to learn how to cook, if you haven’t already done that. You have the time to do that and you have all the Internet to help you, providing you with various videos and helping you do it as smoothly as it can be and be a professional about it.

• Improving your diet may 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), and foods from animal sources (e.g. meat, fish, eggs and milk). When doing it, make sure not to overcook your food, or you’ll lose all the important vitamins in it. Avoid canned or dried vegetables and fruit, or at least choose varieties without added salt or sugar.

• Another thing that’s actually applicable even if it wasn’t the pandemic, is give yourself enough sleep. 7-8 hour sleep gives your body time to build your immunity and lack of it will leave you tired and impair your brain activity. Keep in mind that we’re the only mammals to deliberately skip on sleeping by using caffeine and some other refreshing substances.

• You have to stay hydrated at all times and drink at least 8-10 glasses of water on a daily basis, as water transits nutrients and compounds in blood, regulates your body temperature, gets rid of waste, and lubricates and cushions joints.

But in order to understand the reason why all pharmacies are empty of some food supplements and therefore waiting in a queue is no longer an option to succeed in finding what you need, we have 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.

The whole nutrition composition lists all range of components, ranging from vitamin C, D, E, K, B-complex, selenium, zinc, DHA and EPA and 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 researches concerning this issue.  But instead of buying a bunch of pills we can easily have the job done by supplying most of them by eating certain foods. Let’s have a look at the top 10 that can lift us up, while everyone is feeling down.

1.    Citrus fruits.

As vitamin C is not traditionally  produced in the human body, we have to provide it by including it in our daily meal. Also known as ascorbic acid, vitamin C is a water-soluble nutrient 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, it can provide all A, C, E vitamins. It’s also a powerful antioxidant, being  a source of lutein and sulforaphane, and contains some additional nutrients, including some 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.

By his bioactive compound gingerol, it 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 as much as it’s cooked. 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 fibres, proteins, vitamin E, minerals, and can be easily input in your daily diet, as they can be applied to your smoothie, as eaten at a rough snack. Seeds grow in popularity through the years and many people are already familiar with them. Such favorites are chea, hemp seed, flax seed, 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. Powerful source of beta carotene, vitamin C, and potassium. Beta carotene is crucial because your body converts it to vitamin A, which 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 as it contains active cultures of probiotics that stimulate the immune response to fight infections.

9. Red peppers.

Believe it or not, red peppers contain more than 200 percent of your daily intake of vitamin C, as there are 152 milligrams of vitamin C in only just one medium-sized red bell pepper. Paprika and chilli peppers also meet the same benefits, but with extra capsaicin, 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, like salmon, mackerel, oysters, sardines, and anchovies. Fish products like caviar and fish oil are also a good source, as there is an amazing amount  of 1,086 mg per tablespoon (14.3 grams).

Although boosting your immunity during a pandemic situation is not that hard, eating superfoods can’t fight the coronavirus, it can only support your body in decreasing the inflammation and strengthen your interpower to overtake the 1-year invader.  

As the placebo is still not an option, you should be more careful than usually, and always call the doctor, when the symptoms occur. However, little help is all we need right now, and it’s a relief we can easily find it at the grocery store.

MVS Pharma GmbH is an innovative pharmaceutical start-up company, which researches in the area of reducing viruses and bacteria with plant based aerosols. Their special formula ensures the purity and the stability of the used ingredients during storage.

Liliya Ganeva is an article writer, who explores all the actual, up-to-date COVID-19 information, and the possibilities for producing aerosols made out of plants against respiratory viruses and bacteria.