The Best Immunity Boosting Foods

The Best Immunity Boosting Foods

One thing I do not have time for is getting sick!  First of all, I am a mom and mom's don't have time to get sick!   Am I right?  Second of all I am an actress in a theater company here in Houston.  That saying, "The show must go on...",  is true!  You cannot cancel an entire show with 400 people coming to see it because one actor gets sick.  The show must go on. So, boosting my family's immune system is monumentally important to me.


Our immune systems get a workout all year long.  This becomes really obvious when our kids go back to school or when temperatures begin to drop and we are all stuck inside our homes and offices with flu and cold germs floating around.  How many people find themselves catching every bug that their kids bring home, or passing around sicknesses at the office?  This makes so many things harder.  We lose productivity at work.  We have to stay home with our kids.  We might have to take time off from work.  We spend money on endless doctors visits.  The best defense against illness is prevention, by maintaining a healthy diet and eating immune boosting foods all year long.

SOME THINGS YOU CAN DO TO BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

Drink plenty of fluids.  The best fluid to drink, and the one I have the most trouble with, is water.  This keeps the respiratory tract moist and it prevents germs from having a place to enter the body.  You should aim to drink at least HALF of your body weight in ounces of water per day.  So, if you weigh 160 pounds, you should aim to drink 80 ounces of water per day.  It can be difficult to remember to drink water through out the day.  Some things that have helped me is a water accountability partner and alarms on my phone.  Check out some of these ways that will help you get all of your water in for the day.

Protein is also great for your immune system and great for your muscles!  It provides the building blocks necessary for the antibodies to fight off illness.  If you are not getting enough protein in your diet it could leave you more vulnerable to infection.  Protein can come from many foods like meat, eggs, legumes, fish, chicken, nuts and seeds.  You should aim to eat some protein with every meal.

Fruits and veggies also play an important role in fighting off infections and keeping you healthy, full of energy and strong.  Fruits and veggies provide your body with antioxidants. Antioxidants are basically like the military in your body.  They look for anything in your body that looks suspicious and they destroy it.  You should aim to eat as many fruits and veggies as you can.  During cold and flu season it is best to look for fruits and vegetables that are rich in Vitamin C.  Some foods that have high amounts of Vitamin C are kale, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, oranges and chili peppers.  Check out this article for more foods that are high in Vitamin C.

Now, if you or your kids are like most people and cannot seem to get enough veggies in your diet, or are cutting calories and therefore cutting the volume of dense nutrition your body is receiving, Shakeology would be a great option for you.  Shakeology is equivalent to five plates of salad and contains a lot of antioxidants and phytonutrients.  This is a fancy way to say that it keeps you from getting sick!

When people ask me my number one reason for drinking Shakeology I always say it is because of my immune system.  From a young age I got sick A LOT.  I was the kid that had to go to the hospital because I had 104 - 105 fevers.  I remember getting strep throat and tonsillitis constantly.  When my kids were born I caught every single sickness they brought home.  And my kids would get sick every 2 weeks.  I was taking off of work constantly either for me, or because my kids were sick.  Finally, I had to ask to work from home because I just could not get my daughter, Zoey, well!  

The year before I started drinking Shakeology I had the flu which turned into pneumonia.  I got the flu in November and I was still recovering from pneumonia in March!  The coughing had caused my ribs to dislocate.  Shortly after, I got pleurisy!  I felt like I had been sick the entire year.  I had to perform in The Diary of Anne Frank with pneumonia, because again, THE SHOW MUST GO ON.

I started drinking Shakeology in August of 2014.  Since that time I have not had one single MAJOR illness.  In the 2.5 years I have been drinking it I have gotten sick 3 times.  All three of those times were minor colds.  And in the past year alone, I have not gotten sick AT ALL even though I have been surrounded by sick people at work!  In fact, my children have not been sick since April of last year!  Amazing.

Getting sick is so inconvenient and definitely not fun when you are a parent.  You don't get to lay down and rest.  You still have kiddos to take care of.  Also, those doctor bills can rack up when you have a family of 4.  It's much wiser to spend money on quality foods that keep you healthy than wasting it on cold medicines, doctor co-pays and lost time at work.  Make it a goal to boost your immune system year round with healthy foods and then use all that left over sick time and take a fun vacation instead!