Vitamin c plays a huge role in the immune system. It’s not about boosting your immune system, it’s about having a smart immune system. All of us already have immune systems some are weak, some are strong, but you want a smart immune system. An immune system that can identify viruses, pathogens, germs, and bacteria and do the right thing for you at the right time. So, when we take foods that are rich in vitamin c.
Why should we think of foods? Because our body cannot make vitamin c. It doesn’t know how to make vitamin c so, we must eat foods that are rich in vitamin c. So we think of oranges and citrus fruits, etc. When it comes to vitamin c or we simply pop a nutraceutical or a supplement that’s rich in vitamin c.
We’re going to know about some fun foods today that you can add to your diet, your daily diet. That just won’t give you a healthy dose of vitamin c alone, but it’ll give you a lot of anti-inflammatory properties as well. Because you see as important as the word immunity is inflammation is everything.
Inflammation is part of your immune system, the problem is when inflammation doesn’t know how to switch off or when to switch on when your body or your immune system produces inflammation to protect you. It also needs to know how to switch it off. The problem is when your immune system is low or it’s not trained the right way inflammation stays on and that’s when you have chronic inflammation that leads to inflammatory conditions.
That is, every single lifestyle disease out there is inflammatory in nature. Ranging from most cancers to diabetes to cardiovascular almost every single condition, including the inability to lose weight, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. So, here are some of the foods that you may have not thought is rich in vitamin c but, but it is.
1. Pineapple
How many of you like pineapple? Some people are allergic to it. But pineapple is a very rich source of vitamin c and it also contains something called bromelain. Pineapple contains bromelain which is an anti-inflammatory it is great for people who have arthritis or arthritic pains plus vitamin c and a whole load of other nutrition.
2. Papaya
Yes, papaya is rich in vitamin c. It’s also rich in that deep orange-yellow colour which is rich in flavonoids and polyphenols. Which all play a role in training your immune system.
3. Guava
We have guava, back in India guava was one of the cheapest fruits when we were growing up. You’ll still find a lot of people on the road selling them on the coast. Cut it with a little bit of chilli powder a little bit of salt, one of the richest sources of vitamin c, guavas you can add that to your diet as well.
3. Drumstick
The drumsticks, when you have south Indian food or a samber you have the long little vegetable. It’s like a stick, it’s like a drumstick. Well, that’s the moringa tree the leaf of the moringa is highly rich in vitamin c. So that’s another source of vitamin c for us. We can add moringa powder to our lentils, to our smoothies, to our satu shakes, different ways where you can add moringa.
4. Gooseberry
The Indian gooseberry is also called the amla. So, you have strawberries which are also super-rich in vitamin c. Strawberries are seasonal when you don’t have strawberries growing, you can move on to the Indian gooseberry which is called amlas. Now you can make amlas, you can have them in the raw form, and some people make candy out of them. That’s a super-rich source of vitamin c.
5. Kiwis
Kiwis now, I’m a fan of kiwis because of their ability to repair DNA. When your hair starts to fall, you have pigmentation in your skin, you have cancer in the body, and you’re going through heavy treatments like steroids, chemotherapy radiation or heavy medication that has the possibility of destroying your DNA.
It’s very important that you eat foods that have the ability to repair DNA and your kiwi fruit is one of them. Yes, kiwis while they’re found in New Zealand they also grow in India today and kiwis are also a very very rich source of vitamin c.
6. Broccoli
When you cook them and steam them you will lose a little bit of vitamin c. But they are still rich sources of vitamin c because, you want to be careful of raw broccoli and raw kale, these are crucifers. If you’re a thyroid prey patient, it wouldn’t be good for your thyroid. But if you’re a thyroid patient and you cook or you steam these particular crucifers it’s not a problem for you at all.
7. Green peas
Green peas are a rich source of vitamin c and the snow peas that you find in your foods and can add to your food are a super-rich source of vitamin c again.
8. Bell peppers
Bell peppers the coloured bell peppers, especially red and orange. But you want to look for the chemical-free ones because bell peppers are highly sprayed crops. You want to make sure that you get organic or you get chemical-free.
So, these are some of the foods which are easily available and super-rich sources of vitamin c. You know there’s something else that you can learn from this list of food in different colours we talk about making your plate into a rainbow. Well, you see all of these are colourful foods rich in vitamin c. So it’s not just rich in vitamin c, it’s great for the biodiversity of your gut.
The more variety of colours you feed yourself, your gut microbiome gets stronger and smarter. It’s not on the list of foods but let me throw it in again like I keep reminding you all the time. Something else that’s great for training your immune system. Sleep the quality of your sleep, the deeper your sleep not the quantity.
The deeper your sleep the better your immune system is. The smarter it is, the more trained it is, and the stronger your immune system is. You can be eating all of these fruits and vegetables. But if you’re sleep-deprived they’re practically useless. So, if you can fix your sleep and get a couple of these fruits and vegetables in. Your immune system is going to be strong and smart couple it in with frequent exercise, regular movement, and good emotional health. You don’t have to make community complicated, keep it simple have a great day.