Keeping Your Family's Immune System Strong Through Diet

As the saying goes, 'you are what you eat.' Your diet plays an important role in many ways, and one of them is your immune system. What you eat either supports and strengthens your immune system or it suppresses it. To keep your family healthy to be able to fight off viruses and infections, look at what you currently eat, and consider making adjustments as needed.  

How Diet Can Affect Your Immune System

In order for your immune system to work properly and fight off the many viruses, bacteria, and germs it comes into contact with daily, it must have the right nutrients. The immune system has a generalized response, which helps to get infections under control, and it also has an adaptive response, which uses T cells and B cells to recognize and take down pathogens they have come into contact with before.

These immune cells are located all over your body, and they receive nutrition from the lymph, blood, and digestive systems. Although things like Wellements immune support are helpful during high infection times or when you are feeling under the weather, your immune system works the best when you eat whole, nutritious foods that provide key nutrients to the specialized cells.

Food Choices for Children and Adults

It can be tricky to get children to eat the right diet, as they can be picky. However, you can build a strong foundation by starting with a healthy diet early on. Breast milk is one of the best ways for infants to get the nutrients they need to support their young immune systems. Once they start eating solid foods, try to take the time to puree organic fruits and vegetables like carrots, beets, apples, mango, bananas, and peas, as there are chemical preservatives in baby food, especially the non-organic varieties.

If your young children get used to eating healthy, it may be easier once they get older. Have healthy snacks on hand at all times, focusing on whole foods like fruit, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains. 

There are numerous foods that help support the immune system that both kids and adults like. Some of the top choices for boosting the immune system include:

• Bitter greens like arugula and dandelion
• Mushrooms
• Vibrant-colored organic fruits and veggies
• Goji berries
• Flax seeds
• Legumes and whole grains   

Foods that Weaken the Immune System

Along with eating foods that support the immune system, you should limit or avoid those that inhibit immune response. Some of these include:

• Sugar, especially refined or processed
• Fried foods
• Processed foods, including refined grains and many frozen and packaged items

Although meat can be good for you, be aware that the wrong types and too much can cause inflammation in the body, which suppresses immune function. Stick to organic, pasture-raised, and 100% grass-fed varieties.

Even the top nutritionists understand that it is difficult to eat perfectly all the time. If you have a period of time in which your diet is not the best, you can supplement with immune support and Wellements baby multivitamin to help enhance your immune system.