Experts say strengthening your immune system should be your goal no matter the season, and the main way to do that is through diet.
Your gut health impacts the health of your immune system. Kim ShapiraThe dietitian and nutritional therapist tells CNBC Make It:
Shapira recommends these “quick fixes” to repair your gut and boost your immunity:
- Eat foods high in omega-3s, such as flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and oily fish.
- Include a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet
- Take a quality probiotic
- Add fermented foods to your diet
- Eat foods high in antioxidants, including vitamins A, C, D, E and K (such as mushrooms, seeds, asparagus, berries and oranges).
- Make sure to eat whole grains that are high in fiber
But Shapira points out that it’s not just what you eat, but how you eat it that matters. Here are two tips to help you get the most nutrients from the food you eat.
1. First, smell the food
“One thing I highly recommend is smelling your food before you start eating it,” Shapira says.
She adds that when you smell food, saliva is released into your mouth, which signals to your body that it’s time to digest.
“If you don’t produce saliva when you eat, you won’t get valuable digestive enzymes and you won’t get all the nutrients from the food you eat,” Shapira says.
This is true even when eating nutritious foods, she points out.
2. Chewing your food for longer than you think is necessary
“The next best thing I would highly recommend is to chew your food for longer than you think you need to,” Shapira says.
“Teeth are the first mechanical organ of human digestion. They break down food and fiber so that we can get nutrients from the inside out.”
By the time you swallow your food, it should basically be in a liquid form, she adds.
When you don’t chew your food enough, or at all, “you’re actually missing out on all the nutrients that are in the food,” Shapira says.
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