Juicing is a convenient and delicious way to get the nutrients you need for immune health. It’s also a good alternative to eating a wide variety of foods in order to maintain adequate levels of essential micronutrients.
Many people find it hard to fit in all the fruits and vegetables their bodies need on a daily basis, according to one top Juice Guru. Here are a few immune-boosting juice recipes that can be easily made at home.
Fruits & Vegetables
Juicing is often associated with weight loss and detoxification, but it can also be an effective way to boost your immune system. The body’s natural defenses are constantly working to protect us from bacteria, viruses and infections, so it’s important to give them a healthy dose of nutrients to help them do their job. Juicing is a convenient and efficient way to do just that. Incorporating fruits and vegetables into juices, smoothies or salad dressings provides a burst of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients that support immunity.
Eating a balanced diet that includes a variety of fruits and vegetables is a key component of supporting immunity, but it can be challenging to get all the nutrients you need in your daily meals. Juicing can be a great solution to this challenge, as it allows you to add in a concentrated amount of healthy ingredients to your diet without having to eat mounds of food. And if you don’t have a juicer, blending your fruits and veggies in a blender will still deliver some serious immune-boosting benefits.
To keep your immune system strong, try adding some of these immune-boosting juice recipes to your regular rotation. These easy-to-make drinks are packed with nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables that can help you kick the cold or flu and stay healthy all winter long.
Immunity Booster Juice
This delicious immune-boosting juice is loaded with vitamin C and other essential nutrients. The combination of citrus fruits, like grapefruit and orange, with mango and fresh ginger, helps to fight off infections while the carrots and ground turmeric provide antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. The addition of leafy greens in this recipe, such as kale and spinach, also gives the drink an extra immunity boost.
This simple juice recipe from the Minimalist Baker is a super easy way to get your immune-boosting vitamins and nutrients in one glass. The mix of carrots and oranges provides a nice sweet base that is easy on the stomach while providing plenty of immunity-boosting vitamins and minerals, including beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin A, folate and antioxidants.
Citrus Fruits
The citrus family is among the most widely cultivated fruit crops in the world and provides valuable sources of nutrients and phytochemicals to protect human health. These fruits have been used for both food and medicine throughout history. They are an excellent source of vitamin C, which is a key building block of the immune system. The vitamins and minerals in citrus are also known to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, anaemia and cataracts.
The most common citrus fruits include lemons, limes and oranges. These are readily available year-round in big box grocers and at specialty markets and health food stores. Other citrus fruits are more seasonal and can be found at local farmers markets or in natural grocery stores. Many of these are used in juice and smoothie recipes, such as our orange and coconut ambrosia. They can also be eaten out-of-hand, in salads and as a snack.
Citrus fruits are a rich source of bioactive compounds, including flavonoids, limonoids and volatile oils, that have anti-inflammatory properties. Their vitamin C, which is essential to a healthy immune system, helps the body fight infection and heal wounds. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant that prevents the oxidation of other nutrients in the body.
Vitamin C also works to activate white blood cells, which are a major part of your immune system, according to Mayo Clinic. This is why it’s important to eat a variety of foods high in vitamin C, including citrus fruits and vegetables such as grapefruits, clementines, tangerines, lemons and kumquats.
The phenolic compounds in citrus peels and fruits have been shown to provide anti-cancer, antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal activities. They are also thought to help with arthritic pain, cough, indigestion, skin infections, inflammation and high blood pressure. Many of these compounds are also effective as natural antidiabetic agents, which can help lower blood sugar levels and inhibit glucose absorption by the digestive tract.
Green Vegetables
We’ve all heard that chicken soup and other comfort foods help when we’re sick. But what if the foods we eat could keep us from getting sick in the first place? While there is no cure-all for the common cold, a well-rounded diet full of nutrients like vitamin C, vitamin A, and the antioxidants found in green vegetables can help our bodies fight off illness.
Leafy green vegetables, such as kale, spinach, collard greens and Swiss chard, are packed with immune-boosting vitamins and minerals. They supply vitamin C, vitamin K, folate and beta carotene, all important for fighting infection. The darker the leaf, the more anti-oxidants it contains, so be sure to include a variety of different colors in your salads and smoothies.
Cruciferous vegetables, such as cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts and arugula, are also high in immunity-boosting nutrients. These vegetables contain phytochemicals, such as glucosinolates, that act as natural cancer-prevention agents and are known to help reduce inflammation and protect against oxidative stress.
These vegetables also offer a good source of vitamin E, which plays an essential role in maintaining immune function. Add them to your meals, including raw cruciferous vegetables in salads and roasting vegetables with olive oil.
Other nutrient-rich foods that can help boost your immune system include yogurt, which provides immune-boosting probiotics and calcium, as well as eggs (especially the whites), which provide vitamin B-6 and choline, as well as protein, phosphorous, zinc and selenium. Nuts and seeds, such as pumpkin or sunflower seeds, are also great for immune-boosting, adding vitamins A and E as well as fatty acids to your diet.
Although no food can completely prevent you from getting a cold or the flu, eating a diet full of immune-boosting nutrients can help your body resist infection and recover more quickly when you do get sick. The best way to consume these nutrients is through a wide variety of foods, such as citrus fruits, green vegetables, berries, dark chocolate and yogurt, in addition to healthy fats like nuts and seeds. When possible, choose organic, locally-grown produce to ensure that you’re getting the highest quality nutrients available.
Herbs
The immune system needs a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals to function well. Juicing is one way to get these nutrients if you find it difficult to eat all the fruits and vegetables needed to keep your immune system strong. These juices for immunity are packed with nutrients that can help keep you healthy and fight off viruses like the common cold or flu.
Most of the ingredients in this juice are rich in vitamin C. The orange, grapefruit and lemons provide an excellent source of vitamin C to help boost your immune system and keep you healthy. This Immune Boost Juice recipe from Food Thinkers also includes kiwifruit (which contains more than 230% of your daily recommended intake of vitamin C), green grapes for antioxidants and folate, Swiss chard for vitamin A and K, and ginger for its natural antiviral properties.
Ginger is an excellent herb to add to your juices for immune health because it is naturally antiviral and antibiotic. It also has a number of other beneficial effects, including antispasmodic properties and over 57 trace minerals. This recipe for a delicious ginger-turmeric juice from The Minimalist Baker also incorporates carrots and fresh turmeric, which are both immune-boosting powerhouses.
Another great immune-boosting ingredient is echinacea, which has been used for centuries as an herbal remedy to fight infections and promote overall health. It has a wide range of healing properties, and research has shown that it can help prevent the common cold.
Aside from the immune-boosting benefits of the fruits and veggies included in these juice recipes, many of the herbs are also known to have immune-boosting properties. Some are immunomodulators, while others are immunostimulants, meaning they increase or decrease immune cell activity depending on the situation.
To make these juices for immunity, start by prepping all of your ingredients ahead of time. Wash and peel all of the fruit and vegetables you want to use, then cut them into manageable sizes for juicing. Once you have everything prepared, put it all into your juicer and enjoy! For best results, try a high-powered juicer such as the Breville BJE510XL Juicer. This model is highly rated and comes with attachments for making pasta, grinding coffee, blending nuts into nut butter, and more.
