How To Boost Your Immune System With Fresh Veggies
Everyone knows that veggies are vital for a healthy diet in the best of times, right?
Right now supporting your immune system has gotta be especially important with all that’s going on!
And you may have some unexpected time on your hands and might be getting a little stir-crazy looking for things to do!
How about cooking up some immune-boosting veggie recipes while you’re staying at home?
That’s my idea of a productive time!
Here are some ideas that I’ve come up with for helping boost your immune system with fresh veggies!
(A special thank you goes out to family friend, Dr. Morgan Titus Rau, ND and to our employees Robert and Hannah who helped with a brainstorming session for the ideas contained here.)
How to boost your immune system with fresh veggies
Here are some great ways to get that boost that many of us are looking for during this unprecedented time.
Tip #1 Increasing your intake of Vitamin C:
Some of the best veggie sources of Vitamin C are grown right here in Maine: cabbage, greens in general (including spinach, collard greens, kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, etc.), peppers, kohlrabi, and potatoes.
And several kinds of greens and cabbage are in season right now from local farms! Here are our favorite resources to help you eat more greens during this important time:
- How to make your own green smoothie
- How to eat more salad with recipes
- 5 easy ways to get more greens into your diet
Tip #2 Increasing your intake of Vitamin A (beta carotene):
Some of the best veggie sources of Vitamin A are grown right here in Maine: carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, red and orange peppers, as well as greens like spinach, kale and lettuce.
In addition to greens (see above for tips), carrots, high in beta-carotene, are what’s in season right now from local farms. Here are our favorite resources to help you eat more beta carotene rich carrots during this important time:
- 10 delicious ways to enjoy the best tasting carrots
- Plus check out our family's couple dozen favorite carrot recipes on the "Carrot" page of our Vegetable Gallery (aka our online cookbook)!
Tip #3 Increasing your intake of antioxidant-rich foods:
Brightly colored veggies and fruits are antioxidant rich, and luckily Maine’s growing season is about to be upon us providing many of these things direct from local farms to you!
In general whether you get a CSA share, shop at the farmers market or have your own garden, there are no shortage of brightly colored veggies to pick from including red and orange peppers, tomatoes of all colors, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, leeks, sweet potatoes, and so much more!
Right now brightly colored vegetables like beets, kale, spinach, carrots, and red cabbage are available from local farms.
- One of our CSA members roasted some root vegetables and put them over a bed of greens for a bright meal! Here is my tutorial on roasting: How to roast it, why you'll love it, and recipes to do it
- Combine with other antioxidant fruits like berries and make a green smoothie!
Tip #4 Increasing your intake of probiotic foods to support your gut health:
Eating more fermented foods are a great source of probiotics.
And you can make them yourself out of veggies like cabbage and carrots that are available from local farms right now. If you need help getting started check out my resources below:
- Fermenting veggies is not as hard as you think
- Also, I will be hosting our on farm FREE Saurkraut/Kimchi class this fall. Interested in attending? Check out more info on my classes here.
- And because right now there are not going to be any classes, here is a link to the handout that I use for those classes. In lieu of my live instruction, follow along and get in touch if you have questiosn!
Tip #5 Supporting your immune system in other ways:
- Use onions and garlic liberally!
- With spring coming on, incorporating wild gathered foods like nettles, dandelion greens, and other herbs can be done from your surroundings!
- Use more broth! Here is a link to my tutorial on How to make your own veggie broth using scraps
- Make more soups! Here are two soup links I have: How to make a creamy veggie soup that will get compliments every time and Why soups are one of the best things to make with veggies
- Specialty roots like ginger and turmeric are also anti-inflamatory and can be used in soups, stir-fries, and even smoothies or juiced.
And as I'm sure you already know, just eating more veggies in general is a really important way to stay healthy!
If you’re looking for ways to get more veggies into your and your family’s diet, check out our Summer CSA program as a way to challenge you to do just that. Subscribe to our email list below for more info on our upcoming 2020 Summer CSA farm share program.
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