These Anti-viral foods will help build up your immunity.
With the current situation of COVID-19 and what is happening, it would be smart of us to do everything we possibly can to mitigate the situations. One of the things we CAN do is integrate some Antiviral foods into our daily meals to help protect ourselves and our family.
1. Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is rich in MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) which has potential anti-viral properties. In fact in the Philippines, they are studying coconut oil as a potential treatment to COVID-19
Lauric acid makes up about 50% of the fatty acids in coconut oil. When your body digests lauric acid, it forms a substance called monolaurin. Both lauric acid and monolaurin can kill harmful pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
2. Raw Garlic
Garlic is hands down the greatest
anti-EVERYTHING vegetable. It has anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. The amazing garlic is a powerful immune booster.
How to eat raw garlic:
It is best to eat it like a pill not a whole clove of course. Simply chop it up into small pill sized shapes, and swallow with a drink of your choice. You can start with half a clove at a time. Since raw garlic can be a little tough on the stomach, I use a smaller amount and work up if needed.
Here is a Tip: taking it with a drink that contains fat in it will help dampen the flavor, like a thick smoothie or a milkshake.
3. Ginger Water
Ginger is a superhero when it comes to respiratory infection. It helps break down mucus, making it easier for your body to expel air. Ginger also helps improve circulation to the lungs and reduces inflammation.
How to make it:
A great and easy way is to simply boil chopped ginger in water, strain the ginger out, and add honey and drink it as tea.
4. Celery Juice
Celery as we know it is not only a vegetable, it is also a medicinal herb used as a food, and also in traditional medicine. Celery contains aromatic substances in its roots, stem and leaves. The healing properties of celery are due to the essential oil and flavonoids. Celery contains an essential oil which exhibits antifungal and antibacterial actions. It can also lower blood pressure and regulate heart function.
How to make it:
You can juice it or blend it with some water, you can add other vegetables to it as you wish.
5. Thyme Tea & Water
Thyme tea is the bomb when it comes to health benefits. It delivers benefits for people suffering from chronic disease, respiratory infections, obesity, muscle strain, menstrual cramps, insomnia, dementia, upset stomachs, and constipation, among many others.
What makes it an ideal to enhance the immune system is the high vitamin C content and antioxidants found in thyme tea.
The natural antibacterial and antiseptic nature of this tea will also help eliminate infections and pathogens.
2 amazing ways to drink it:
Thyme Tea:
Place 2 or more springs of fresh thyme in a mug, pour hot water on it and let it steep for 15+ minutes. Remove the thyme springs and strain it.
Optional: add fresh lemon or raw honey to sweeten it.
Thyme Water:
Add 2 or more springs of fresh thyme in a jug (pitcher) of room temperature water and allow it to soak overnight. In the morning strain the water and drink throughout the day. Optional: you can add lemon, raw honey or any other ingredients to your thyme water.
6. Turmeric Ginger Shot
(with lemon & Pepper)
Ginger and turmeric are two types of flowering plants that are widely used in natural medicine. Ginger is noted for its ability to fight respiratory viruses, according to a study published in NCBI on ginger and how it has anti-viral activity against human respiratory syncytial virus in human respiratory tract cell lines’ concluded that
“Fresh, but not dried, ginger is effective against HRSV-induced plaque formation on airway epithelium by blocking viral attachment and internalization.”
As for turmeric the active component of turmeric, curcumin, has been found to inhibit virus replication and interfere with virus-cell binding.
Combined, both ingredients will do wounder to your healthy, especially being consistent with a small daily shot.
Here is an awesome recipe I found on AlphaFoodie:
Peel 140g of ginger and 120g of turmeric using a spoon and add them to a bowl.
Add ¼ tsp pepper and the juice of 2 large lemons into the bowl.
Blend it till smooth. If the paste is too thick, add a little more lemon juice or a little water.
Carefully pour the blended mixture into a nut milk bag, over a bowl.
Squeeze out all the liquid. I got about 1/2 liter of fresh turmeric-ginger-lemon juice.
Store in a glass container. If you have little glass vials of 50 ml, one would be your daily dose.
Refrigerate and consume within 7-10 days. To keep them longer, you can add them to ice cube trays and freeze them.
* Attention: the turmeric will badly stain your hands and utensils! I recommend using gloves& your nut milk bag will become yellow.
Medical Sources used in this article:
National Center for Biotechnology Information
PubMed Central® (PMC)
Harvard Medical Journal