5 Natural Remedies to Boost Your Immune System – Looking for ways to boost your immune system naturally is becoming more and more popular. Below are a few options that you can easily implement to help stay healthy throughout the cold and flu season.
Assess Your Diet
It’s not a fancy remedy tied up in a pretty package, but your diet is your chief line of defence when it comes to fighting off viruses. Making sure your diet includes dark leafy greens, lean proteins, healthy fats, and complex carbs is the first place to jerk when you’re wanting a strong immune system. All of the exciting potions and oils won’t do much for you if your diet consists of processed foods and sugars.
Fermented Garlic In Honey
When you take 2 foods that are both antibacterial and high in antioxidants, combine them together with fermentation, you have an immune-boosting powerhouse. Not only that, but the fermentation process naturally creates probiotics that aid in digestion and a healthy gut.
This Amazing Concoction Only Takes 2 Ingredients:
Garlic and raw honey. Raw honey is a must as it hasn’t been through the pasteurization process that kills the good bacteria and yeast that is necessary for fermentation.
Fill a jar ½ to ¾ full of peeled and bruised garlic. Lightly bruising the garlic releases allicin, which is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. Cover the garlic completely with the raw honey, leaving a few inches of space at the top. You’re going to let this sit for at least 4 weeks while the fermentation process takes place. Flip the jar daily so that the garlic that has floated to the top gets covered in honey. You will also require to “burp” the jar every day by opening up the lid to release the pressure that builds up during the fermenting process.
Over time you will notice the garlic start to darken and the honey will get thinner and more liquidy. As this happens, the need to release pressure will become less and less.
When your garlic is dark, the honey is thin, and the need for burping is gone, give it a taste trial and see what you ponder. The more extensive it sits the stronger it will get but it is ready to use at this point. Take a spoonful of the honey daily for preventative measures, or a few spoonfuls a day if you start to sense something coming on. You can also eat the garlic cloves straight from the jar or use both the honey and garlic in recipes. It makes a great honey-garlic chicken!
Super-Power Drink
When you’re looking for at boosting your immune system, sometimes the easiest thing to do is to create a yummy tasting drink that includes a whole line-up of goodness. Take a cup or jar of water and add:
- Freshly squeezed lemon – good for digestion, good for the kidneys, a good source of vitamin C, and helps fight infections.
- Freshly grated ginger – good source of antioxidants that help reduce stress and fight off infections.
- Turmeric – a potent anti-inflammatory, fights free radicals, improves memory, lowers the risk of heart disease
- Black Pepper – helps the absorption of curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, reduces inflammation, anti-oxidant.
- Raw Honey – this is optional. Honey has antifungal and antibacterial properties.
Mix together and enjoy it either hot or cold.
Sleep
Sleep is one of the most underrated tools when it comes to overall health. Healing and repair take place when we’re sleeping and we have learned that not getting enough sleep will make your immune system susceptible to illness.
Set yourself up for a successful sleep pattern by going to bed at the same time every night and waking at a similar time every morning. This will reset your circadian rhythm and help you gain more restorative sleep.
Elderberry Syrup
Have you ever heard people talking about elderberry syrup and wondered what it was and why it’s so popular right now? Let me give you the rundown.
Elderberries are tiny, dark berries that are chock full of all kinds of goodness. Vitamins A, C, and B6, plus iron, calcium, potassium, and antioxidants. They parcel a punch when it comes to the immune system, helping ward off colds and viruses. They are either made into a syrup or a tincture and taken during cold and flu season as a preventative measure and an immune booster.
It is not uncommon for people to make their own but if that sounds too intimidating or you just don’t have the time, there are many health food stores and places online where you can purchase a bottle.
There are so many informal and affordable options out there to boost your immune system naturally. It’s easy to overlook about it until your household comes down with a virus, but if you can implement some easy practices in the months prior to cold and flu season you should be able to ward off the worst of it. Happy boosting!
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