Thursday Thoughts – Let’s Eat Healthy!

Who likes liver and onions? I do! I do! In fact, I love liver and onions, but I didn’t love it when I was a child and my mother put it on the dinner table! She would tell us that it was good for us and that was an immediate turn off! We raised our own cattle, so we had good corn-fed beef, and that meant we ate the liver, too!

This has been a horrible flu season. You probably know lots of friends and family members who have been hit hard with colds and viruses this winter. These illnesses are easily treated, but it is better if we never get them to start with.

We work diligently in Integrity Healthcare Communities to keep your loved ones well. Diet and nutrition are big parts of fighting this battle. We want our readers to stay healthy, too, because you come to visit our facilities and we don’t want anybody bringing that old nasty flu bug through our doors!

Keeping our immune systems in good shape is an important step in staying healthy. We want our immune systems to be strong enough to fight the bacteria that makes us sick.

According to Prevention.com, there are ten immune system boosting foods that we should love!

Turmeric is a spice that detoxifies our body. We find turmeric in Asian dishes, but I use lots of turmeric in my home canned sweet pickles! You might look at the ingredients list on your favorite pickles and relishes.
Yogurt is filled with probiotics. That is what gives it that slightly sour flavor. If yogurt is too sour for you, consider sweetening it with fresh fruit like strawberries or blue berries.
Garlic is a powerful antibacterial and if you eat a raw clove a day, you will have a better opportunity of fighting the common cold. Most of us don’t eat that much raw garlic, but it is a wonderful ingredient for salad dressings, sauces and gravy. Most of us do like toasted garlic bread, so use real fresh garlic when you make that, instead of the powdered spice.
Oranges are the best! They are filled with Vitamin C. Try to eat an orange a day or drink a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice each day.
Mushrooms have been helping us fight off disease for centuries! They help to make the white blood cells in our bodies more aggressive and stronger. The white blood cell ‘soldiers’ are critical in preventing disease from spreading through our bodies.
Oats are loaded with a fiber compound called beta-glucan. Eating oatmeal regularly will help resist the flu and will also help promote wound healing.
Tea, black or green, will boost our immune systems. Decaffeinated varieties of tea contain the same levels of amino acid as those with caffeine, so drink your favorites!
Spinach and other leafy greens help repair cells that have been damaged by viral infections.
Pumpkin isn’t just for pies! It is filled with Vitamin E, so look for other ways to use it. Cream soups using pumpkin are delicious. You can add cubes of pumpkin to your favorite beef stew or vegetable soup recipe.
Oysters are among my favorite foods, and they are loaded with zinc, which combats colds and helps speed up wound healing. Enjoy them your favorite way!

Stay healthy! Eat the right foods! Give yourself the attention you need to stay well so you can do all the things you enjoy doing!