Experts recommend Aims to strengthen your immune system no matter the season and diet is the main way you can do that.
Gut health can contribute to the state of your immune system, Kim Shapiraa nutritionist and nutritional therapist, tells CNBC Make It.
Shapira recommends these “quick ways to repair your gut” and boost your immunity:
- Eat foods rich in omega-3s including flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds and fatty fish
- Get varied servings of fruits and vegetables in your diet
- Take good quality probiotics
- Add fermented foods to your meals
- Reach for foods rich in antioxidants like vitamins A, C, D, E and K (including mushrooms, nuts, asparagus, berries or oranges)
- Eat whole grains that are high in fiber
But Shapira points out that it’s not just about what you eat, but also how you eat it. Here are her two tips for getting the most nutrients from the foods you eat.
2 special tips for getting the most nutrients from immune-boosting foods
1. Smell the food first
“One thing I really recommend is that you smell your food before you start eating,” Shapira says.
She added that smelling food causes saliva to secrete in the mouth, which is a sign to the body that it’s time to digest.
“If you’re eating and not producing saliva, you’re missing out on valuable digestive enzymes and you won’t be able to get all the nutrition from the food you’re eating,” says Shapira.
She notes that this is true even if you’re eating foods with high nutritional value.
2. Chew food longer than you think
“The next thing I really recommend is chewing your food longer than you think is necessary,” says Shapira.
“Our teeth are our first form of mechanical digestion. It’s how we break down food and the fiber in food so we can get nutrition from within.”
By the time you swallow your food, it’s essentially in a liquid state, she adds.
When you don’t chew your food long enough or avoid chewing altogether, “you’re actually missing out on all the nutrients inside the food,” says Shapira.
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