Sprouting Spring Time: 5 Immunity-Boosting Foods

Sprouting

Continued from our Retreat & Renew Daily Tip.

Melissa Wiliams, Freelance Writer | Co-Owner, Yoga Junction

1. Butternut squash: This orange gourd is rich in vitamin A, which is essential for keeping everything from your eyes and skin to your immune system in top form. They provides significant amounts of potassium, important for bone health, and vitamin B6, essential for the proper functioning of both the nervous and immune systems. The folate content adds yet another boost to its heart-healthy reputation and helps guard against brain and spinal-cord-related birth defects such as spina bifida. Squash’s tangerine hue, however, indicates butternut’s most noteworthy health perk. The color signals an abundance of powerhouse nutrients known as carotenoids, shown to protect against heart disease.

Recipe: Squash-Apple Soup With Thai Red Curry

2. Shiitake Mushrooms: A favorite of Dr. Andrew Weil, shiitake mushrooms contain a fiber called beta-glucan that can help give your body a bit of a boost by increasing white blood cell activity. (White blood cells help control bacteria and viruses.) In addition to their robust/pungent, woodsy flavor and meaty texture, shiitakes provide high levels of protein (18%), potassium, niacin and B vitamins, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. They have natural antiviral and immunity-boosting properties and are used nutritionally to fight viruses, lower cholesterol and regulate blood pressure. Lentinan, an immunostimulant derived from shiitakes, has been used to treat cancer, AIDS, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibrocystic breast disease, and other conditions with impressive resulta.

Recipe: Tuna Takati With Mushroom Rissoto and Mirin Reduction

3. Pasture-Raised Beef: Yep! As a vegetarian this one was hard to swallow, but there are scientific facts to back the beef. Half of the fat in beef is a monounsaturated fat called oleic acid the same heart-healthy fat that’s found in olive oil. And, most of the saturated fat in beef actually decreases your heart-disease risk either by lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol, or by reducing your ratio of total cholesterol to HDL (good) cholesterol. And besides being one of the most available sources of high-quality protein, beef also provides many important nutrients such as iron, zinc, and B vitamin.

Recipe: Adobe Marinated Grass-Fed Flank Steak

4. Yogurt: With healthy probiotics, yogurt may help decrease inflammation in the body. Other fermented foods have similar effects, including sauerkraut, kimchi and kefir. Check out Yahoo Shine’s 10 Surprising Health Benefits of Yogurt!

Recipe: Banana Berry Yogurt Pops

5. Peanut butter: Rich in vitamin E, peanut butter (and other nut butters, including almond) helps protect your body from free-radicals. Take some words of advice from Dr. Oz though, it doesn’t matter which nut butter you’re stocking up on, make sure you follow these three rules:
1. Don’t eat more that
2. tablespoons of nut butter a day.
3. Avoid added salt and sugar. Ideally, the only ingredient listed will be the nut.
4. Avoid the “reduced-fat” label. You want the fat! When the fat is removed, it’s replaced with a host of unhealthy additives.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Quinoa Bars – gluten free