For many of us, the winter season is synonymous with cold, fever and flu. We can successfully mitigate all of that by making sure we are consistently putting immunity boosting foods in our body.
Dark colored (pigmented) fruits and veggies are very high in antioxidants and have shown to help boost immunity against viruses and other pathogens. Antioxidants rich fruits and veggies also aid the liver in it's daily detoxification. Why is that important? Liver performs more than 500 important functions in the body including getting rid of harmful toxins that comes through food, air or through medications.
Make a choice to add red, blue/purple, orange, yellow and green color fruits and vegetables daily in your diet. One of the best and easiest ways is through smoothies or colorful salads. In addition, it's a good idea to add some whole food based nutrient boosters such as flax/chia seeds, wheat grass powder, barley grass powder, amla powder, moringa powder, brazil nuts etc. These are packed with key micro nutrients that we may not get in abundance from other fruits and vegetables.
I am sharing my new immunity boosting super smoothie that contains many of the colorful fruits and immunity boosters. The smoothie tastes great and even the kids will enjoy it :)
Ingredients:
2 handfuls of red chard (you can use kale as well)
1 cup mixed berries (blue berries, strawberries, black berries)
2 large bananas
1 medium green apple
3 medium dates
16 oz water
1 Tablespoon organic peanut butter (optional - for kids or those who exercise)
Immunity boosters:
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1 flat teaspoon moringa powder
1 flat teaspoon barley grass powder
1 teaspoon Amla powder
Directions:
Add everything in the high speed blender and blend it at high for 30 seconds. if it's too thick for you, add a bit more water and blend. This should make two 16 oz servings. It's best to use this smoothie aa meal replacement or as post workout drink. Enjoy!
PS: Science has showed us that optimum health is only possible when we take care of both our physical and mental health. Both my wife and I start each day (without fail) with some Yoga and SKY breathwork followed by a short meditation. This amazing smoothie really completes our morning experience and sets us for the day ahead full of enthusiasm and energy.
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