Immunity

Are you curious about ways you can throw a bone to your immune system to prevent or eliminate illness?

On the prowl for anti-inflammatory recipes for dinner?

Do you believe in the healing power of food?

Are you looking to lower inflammation and/or keep autoimmunity symptoms at bay? Are you immunocompromised?

Do you try to maintain a nutrient-dense diet?

If any or all of the above apply, this blog post is for you!

In this post, I discuss what the terms “anti-inflammatory” and “immunity-boosting” mean, provide additional resources where you can learn more, and give you a plethora of high-octane nutritious healthy anti-inflammatory recipes to keep your inflammation under control and provide support to your immune system.

Let’s dive in!

What Does “Anti-Inflammatory” Mean?:

Put simply, something that is “anti-inflammatory” not only doesn’t cause inflammation, but also helps lower it. There are plenty of foods and activities that don’t cause inflammation, but adding foods and beverages to your diet and specific self-care routines to your lifestyle can help lower systemic inflammation.

Monitoring your inflammation is one of the wisest moves you can make when it comes to your health. In addition to diet choices, you can also reduce inflammation by exercising regularly (at a moderate rate. Too much exercise can cause inflammation), sitting in a sauna, yoga, dry brushing your skin, red light therapy, sleeping 7 to 9 hours every night, CBD oil, and more.

Foods That Help Reduce Inflammation:

Some of the most impactful anti-inflammatory foods are: turmeric, ginger, parsley, berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc), fatty fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, sardines, and mackerel, broccoli, avocado, green tea, peppers, mushrooms, dark chocolate, cherries and more.

Incorporating anti-inflammatory recipes in your diet can help keep your inflammation low.

In addition, foods that generally don’t cause inflammation are fresh fruit and vegetables and quality grass-fed, pasture-raised, or wild caught animal protein. Essentially, whole foods.

Foods that cause inflammation are processed foods (flours from grains, packaged foods high in sugar, processed meats, etc), dairy, processed grains in excess (moderate amounts of white rice and brown rice are fine as long as you don’t have high blood sugar), alcohol, vegetable oils and processed seed oils, nuts and seeds eaten in excess, fruit high in sugar consumed in excess, processed sugars including cane sugar, pure maple syrup, honey, etc.

While some people are more prone to inflammation than others, you can lower your inflammation through diet (anti-inflammatory recipes) and lifestyle choices.

To learn more about inflammation, check out Erin Holt’s podcast: New Years’ Resolutions, Carb Fear, Keto for Women, Anti-Inflammatory Diets.

How Can I Boost My Immune System?:

You can boost your immune system not only by avoiding foods and activities that cause inflammation, but also adding foods and activities that reduce inflammation. If you have low immune function (low secretory iga), or autoimmune disease, keeping inflammation low requires more effort than those with a fully functioning immune system. 

The anti-inflammatory recipes in this post should help!

Taking supplements like probiotics, Vitamin C, and fish oil help lower inflammation. In addition, ensuring you’re paying close attention to hormone and gut health is key in ensuring your immune system functions properly.

Now that we’ve covered some basics, let’s up our ante on anti-inflammatory recipes to boost your immune system!