Does OJ Help Your Immune System?
Marketing does a great job telling us what is good for our bodies. Remember how orange juice got the wrap to be a immune booster. Why isn’t orange juice the best pick?
This time of year is an extra important time to enhance your immune system. A sore throat, fever symptoms, puffy eyes, and loads of mucus is a sign your immune system is taking a hit. Excess mucus is caused by toxins, pollutants, food additives and allergies. It is most associated with the respiratory system (lungs), the gastrointestinal tract (colon) and the lymphatic system (glands) not properly excreting toxins and excess waste materials.
The main foods shown to cause excessive mucus are processed dairy and wheat products. Casein in milk and gluten in wheat require strong stomach acids for digestion. If you stomach doesn’t digest these well, than the small intestine receives too many large food particles and these partially-digested food particles start to putrefy.
The morning and evening are the times when these symptoms tend to be the strongest. So most people grab a cup of coffee with creamer, a baked good to get them going in the morning and take medicine at night to help relieve their congestion. All of these can congest the liver even more from filtering out the mucus and toxins. This taxes the immune system and what a cold or flu can last even longer.
Orange juice has been shown to be a slight mucus enhancer, due to the processing and sugar content. If you want to upgrade your orange juice, juice organic oranges, add some ginger and water to dilute the concentration.
If you have the sniffles, or sinus congestion, try these other remedies before you guzzle the processed OJ.
- Ginger Tea & Organic, Local Raw Honey – You can use a herbal ginger tea or boil the ginger root in water, adding local honey can soothe your throat and help as an immune booster.
- Brazil Nuts – This nut is high in the mineral selenium, which activate enzymes that are crucial to optimal immune function. Try adding a few into a trail mix for a mid afternoon snack.
- Bone Broth -Click for full recipe. This is a super soup to have on hand when even a slight sniffle comes in.
- Lima Beans – All beans are good sources of soluble fiber, lima beans offer more with 3.5 grams per serving compared to 1 gram for chick peas, lentils, and black-eyed peas. Soluble fiber turns gelatinous when you digest it, and this will bind with unwanted bacteria that your body does not need.
- Mushrooms – All types can significantly increase levels of natural killer cells, a vital component of the immune system. Cook your mushrooms to assist in quality absorption of their bacteria fighting qualities.
Stay healthy & strong,
Heather Fleming
