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Immune Building Foods

& Herb Recipes

Health building herbs and foods are easily incorporated into your diet. Adding citrus fruits: oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, lemons, and limes packs a Vitamin C punch.  Papaya and kiwis are also packed with vitamin C and make delicious additions to salads or eaten on their own. Did you know red peppers contain three times more vitamin C than a Florida orange? 

 

Take lemon with your tea or add lime juice to your salad dressing for a softer taste.  Throw some red peppers into your salad or cook them up for a stir fry.

 

Pink grapefruit cut open and ready to eat.

 

Add spinach and broccoli, and other green leafy vegetables to your daily food menu for minerals and vitamins that support the immune system.

 

Other foodstuffs, such as garlic, act as immune builders to prevent infection inside or outside of the body. Laboratory studies confirm that raw garlic has antibacterial and antiviral properties. Use raw garlic in your recipes as cooking garlic destroys the main component called allicin.

 

Many herbs and spices are immune building through their action of being antiviral and antimicrobial. Antiviral means the spice or herb helps boost the immune system and, in some cases, retards the virus's replication.

 

Herbs and spices that are aromatic (having a strong scent) are often useful as antiviral and antibacterial. These herb and spice plants use chemicals to defend themselves against pest infestations, and we smell these chemicals as aromatic. So it follows, we, as humans or animals, can utilize these chemicals in the same way as the plants to protect ourselves against viruses and bacteria.     

 

Most of the spices you have in your spice rack have different degrees of aroma, and many of them can be added to your diet daily, not only to add flavour to your food but to help your body stay healthy.

 

Cloves, oregano, thyme, cumin, cilantro, ginger and cinnamon are just a few helpful herbs for  health.

 

The recipes below are easily adjusted to what is available in your kitchen

Immune Building Smoothies

modified from a recipe from Rosalee Floret

Jars of yummy smoothies all lined up with straws for snack time.

Ingredients:

* 1  1/2 to 2 cups of almond milk (coconut milk, oat milk or milk)

* 1 cup of yogurt (dairy or coconut yogurt)

* 2 cups of fruit of your choice (frozen okay)

* ½ nut butter or seed butter (optional)

* 2 tablespoons of ashwagandha powder or any other immune builder such as astragalus (optional)

* Maple syrup or honey to taste

 

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.  

2. Pour mixture into glasses and drink immediately.

 

Yogurt is considered an immune building food as it helps keep the gut bacteria healthy and balanced.  

 

Chai Tea

steaming cup of hot chai tea

 Ingredients:

*2 teaspoons of fresh or dried ginger

*2 whole cloves

*1 to 2 cardamom pods

*2 teaspoons of dried orange peel (get organic if possible or make your own)

*Cinnamon to taste

*2 ½ cups of water


Directions:

Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover the pan and simmer for at least 20 minutes. Strain, add milk or milk substitute as desired. Use honey or maple syrup to sweeten. Drink within a day.


All these aromatic herbs are immune building. You can also add additional immune building herbs such as astragalus if you wish.

(Use 20 to 30 grams of astragalus root (15 to 20 slices) or 2 to 3 tablespoons of dried astragalus root.)​​​​​​​

basket of garlic cloves

Garlic has been prized for its medicinal properties for thousands of years. The compound allicin is responsible for this common plant’s reputation as a triple threat. Garlic is anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal and it is especially effective against viruses if chewed raw or taken raw in food products. 

 

Garlic Infused oil

For salad dressings & cooking with

Ingredients:

* 2 cups of oil, pure olive, extra virgin, or grapeseed oil

* 6 large cloves of fresh garlic, peeled whole or halved

 

Directions:

*Pour oil in a small pot or pan and heat over low heat just until it is warm to the touch. Remove from heat. No need to use a thermometer, just go by feel. Do not overheat the oil and or it will change its flavour and integrity.

 

*Add the garlic. If you wish a subtle garlic taste add the cloves whole. For more potentcy halve the cloves. Add garlic to the oil and turn off the heat and let it sit for about 2 hours.

 

*Strain, making sure to get all of the garlic pieces out.

 

*Put in a clean glass container and place in the refrigerator and use within three days.

 

This oil is excellent for freezing. Ice cube trays work well. Simply pour the oil in the trays, freeze and when frozen put them all in a freezer bag and use as needed. Or use small containers of your choice. Note: freezing oil is entirely safe.

 

This oil is excellent for people on the FODMAP diet.

 

Oregano Pesto

bowl full of oregano pesto and freshly picked sprigs of oregano

Ingredients:

* 1 cup fresh oregano or 1/3 dried

* ½ cup of Parmesan cheese

* 1 to 2 garlic cloves – peeled and minced

* 5 teaspoons of raw almonds or pine nuts

* Salt and pepper to taste

* 1/3 cup of Olive oil

 

Put all of the ingredients in the blender and mix together.

Safe to store in the fridge for up to five days. Add a little extra layer of olive oil to the top of the pesto as it helps preserve it for a little longer and stops it from going brown on top.

 

Freeze pesto ice cube trays. Simply pop the mixture into the ice cube tray, freeze and once frozen remove and store in a Ziploc bag until needed.

 

This recipe is full of garlic as well as oregano. In some studies oregano is used  to fight bacteria, some other studies have found that oregano and its components may also protect against some viruses.

In particular, carvacrol and thymol are two compounds in oregano that have been associated with antiviral properties.

 

Garlic Hummus

from www.eatingwell.com

A bowl of garlic hummus, yum yum.

Garlic Hummus

recipe from www.eatingwell.com


Ingredients:

* 15 ounce can of chickpeas (not salted)

* 1/4 cup of tahini

* ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil

* 1/4 cup of lemon juice

* 1 to 2 cloves of garlic (or more if you wish)

* 1 teaspoon of cumin

* ½ teaspoon of chili powder

* 1 to 2 cloves of garlic (or more!)

* ½ teaspoon of salt


Directions:

Drain chickpeas, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid.


Transfer the chickpeas and the reserved liquid to a food processor.


Add tahini, oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, chili powder and salt.


Puree until very smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. If too thick add the reserved chickpea water to thin.


Add a little olive oil drizzled over when serving (optional)

Garnish with herbs:  cilantro, oregano, dill or whatever you like


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