5 Easy Immunity Boosting Recipes the Family Will Love
You CAN boost your health by eating the right foods!
After all, it’s estimated that 70 - 80% of our immune system is actually hosted in our GI tract. It’s a complicated relationship, but by nourishing your body with the correct nutrients, you can actually help your body arm itself to fight infection and disease.
Combined with great sleep, moderate exercise, and stress management you can help your body not only in the short term (by ramping up your response to unwanted visitors, like viruses) but also long term.
Today we will list a few recipes we really love! Each of them is not only super easy and delicious, they are great for you, too.
We suggest bookmarking this blog for the winter months when immunity is low, but also to use on your next Sunset Beach vacation.
Each recipe uses minimal ingredients and would be perfect to make in your vacation rental kitchen to not only save money, but to keep your family healthy in between doses of ice cream and snacks (read more about How To Meal Plan For Vacation In Four Easy Steps).
We tried to choose the tried and true combinations that are really family-friendly. After all, if the kids won’t eat it, it won’t really do ya much good, right?
Happy cooking! 👩🍳
The Best Vitamins & Minerals For Immunity include ...
- Vitamin C (oranges, kiwi, spinach, kale, bell peppers, strawberries, papaya, pineapple)
- Vitamin A (think orange foods like carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, cantaloupe)
- Vitamin E (nuts and seeds like almonds, sunflower seeds, as well as broccoli & spinach)
- Vitamin D (absorbed through sunshine! ... also, fatty fish like salmon or fortified food like cereal or milk)
- Zinc (lean meats, poultry, oysters, chickpeas, yogurt, baked beans)
Now for the recipes!
1. Fruit & Yogurt Smoothies
Smoothies are awesome because you can pretty much blend up anything and it will taste great.
We love to make smoothies for breakfast because they have everything you need to start the day right, including plenty of immunity-boosting Vitamin C (in the fruit) and a dose of Zinc (in the yogurt).
Smoothies are also a great way to sneak in some supplemental vitamins and veggies. Puree some spinach with blueberries and your kids might not even see the flecks of green!
Add whipped cream on top and your smoothie suddenly feels like a milkshake.
Here is a recipe from the Food Network for Power Smoothies, but feel free to be creative and use whatever you have in the fridge. Frozen fruit works perfectly, too!
Smoothies are awesome because you can pretty much blend up anything and it will taste great.
We love to make smoothies for breakfast because they have everything you need to start the day right, including plenty of immunity-boosting Vitamin C (in the fruit) and a dose of Zinc (in the yogurt).
Smoothies are also a great way to sneak in some supplemental vitamins and veggies. Puree some spinach with blueberries and your kids might not even see the flecks of green!
Add whipped cream on top and your smoothie suddenly feels like a milkshake.
Here is a recipe from the Food Network for Power Smoothies, but feel free to be creative and use whatever you have in the fridge. Frozen fruit works perfectly, too!
2. Fruit Salad
Yummy yummy! Everyone loves a colorful, beautiful fruit salad! And by "salad", we just mean that you should cut up a whole bunch of fruit, throw it in a bowl, and call it good!
Choose a wide variety of fruits in lots of colors - the more colors you add, the better nutritional value. Try apples, oranges, pineapple, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe and mango. Add some pomegranate seeds if you are feeling fancy. Some people even like to add nuts (like almonds) to their fruit salad to add extra nutrients and crunch. Others like to add marshmallows. Both are great choices!
You could also mix in some vanilla yogurt to coat your fruit in a creamy, sweet "sauce" that most kids enjoy. By choosing a Greek yogurt you not only add protein to the salad, it offers zinc and healthy probiotics for gut health.
3. Minestrone Soup
Minestrone is a comforting hug in a bowl. Packed with all of the vitamins listed above, it's a flavorful soup that even kids usually like.
The more colors of the rainbow you add, the more healthy this soup will be. We always add carrots, onions, tomatoes, peas, garlic, and kale or chard, but you can really use anything you have on hand.
Minestrone is a comforting hug in a bowl. Packed with all of the vitamins listed above, it's a flavorful soup that even kids usually like.
The more colors of the rainbow you add, the more healthy this soup will be. We always add carrots, onions, tomatoes, peas, garlic, and kale or chard, but you can really use anything you have on hand.
4. Nutty granola bars
Have you every tried to make your own granola bars? It sounds intimidating, but kind of like the smoothie above, you can really make these bars out of anything you have on hand. If you are looking for immunity-boosting ingredients, try to include nuts (like almonds, for Vitamin E), dried fruits (for vitamins and antioxidants) and fortified oats (for Vitamin D).
Click here for 12 ideas for DIY granola bars!
5. Lemon Garlic Linguine with Salmon
Everyone loves pasta.
It's a comforting food that is easy to cook. It's also versatile and delicious.
This recipe includes several immunity-boosting components, including garlic (which has beneficial compounds), salmon (one of the only food-based sources of Vitamin D), olive oil (full of antioxidants) and lemon (good ol' Vitamin C again!).
You could also try this recipe using shrimp (or any other shellfish, since they contain zinc).
Feeling brave? Add some veggies to this dish. Pasta accepts every food group. Will your kids? Try adding peas or red bell peppers (full of C) for extra nutrition.
Everyone loves pasta.
Wow, it's hard to believe that all of the delicious foods above are actually really good for you.
Since we live here on Sunset Beach, we have some extra ways to boost our immunity available to us at all time. The ocean is a great stress reliever, even if you are just watching it out the window. And sunshine is the best way to get your daily dose of Vitamin D - we have plenty of that!
We hope we can help you plan your next Sunset Beach vacation soon. Until then, stay healthy!
Do you have a favorite, healthy recipe to share?
