When people ask what strengthens the immune system, the honest answer is a long list: minerals, vitamins, trace minerals, good fat and protein, water, sleep, exercise, and stress management. This post covers some of the vitamins. The point is not new information. Most of us already know these foods. What changes is paying attention to how much of them we actually consume.
Vitamin A
Think red, orange, and yellow, and the dark leafy greens. Sweet potatoes, carrots, squashes, pumpkins, mangoes, and papayas are all high in vitamin A. Fresh is always the first choice. If fresh is not available, go organic, and if that is not possible either, frozen is just as good.
Vitamin B
We know we get B vitamins from meat, but there are other sources: leafy greens, eggs, legumes, seeds, and nuts. Nutritional yeast is especially rich in B vitamins and is an easy addition to salads or cooked dishes if you are one to consume less meat.
Vitamin C
Even a small child will tell you oranges have vitamin C, and that is true. Lemons too. But the most practical everyday source of vitamin C is the bell pepper, which is actually a fruit that we treat like a vegetable. Kiwis, cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts are also high in vitamin C.
My preference is vegetables first and fruit second. Fruit still carries fruit sugar. It is a more holistic form of sugar, but it is sugar. That said, if you are trying to move away from desserts, swapping them for fruit is a very good place to start. If you need to supplement vitamin C, the liposomal form is the most absorbable.
Vitamin D3
D3 is tricky because we get most of it from the sun. From food, the main source is the egg yolk. Some of us throw the yolk away because we think it is high in cholesterol. Please do not. Eggs are good, and the yolk is the best part. Egg yolks are a rich source of choline as well, a nutrient our brain very much needs.
If you live in a warm climate, spend 30 to 60 minutes in the sun. Walk in it. It strengthens the bones and does a great deal for immunity. If you do not see the sun for half the year, you may need to supplement, and you may not need the same dose in summer and winter. Winter usually needs a little more. Our ethnicity and skin color is a determining factor on how much sun exposure we need. People with dark colored skin would need to spend more time in sun for D absorption because of melanin in the skin, a pigment that reduces the ability of our body to synthesize D from sunlight.
Vitamin E
Nuts and seeds. Almonds are high in vitamin E, and so are sunflower seeds and pine nuts. Avocados, spinach and kiwis are also a good source of vitamin E.
A note on quantity and quality
None of this is exotic. The change is in the amount. A rainbow of vegetables every day, with fruit as the second tier, covers most of this list. Local and seasonal produce is better because it has not been shipped long distances or irradiated. Your local farmer's market is the best place to look.
This post is adapted from my webinar "Strengthening Our Immunity." Watch the full talk on YouTube →