5 Vegan Foods That Would Protect You from Cold and Flu

Everybody gets cold and flu from time to time, even vegans. Contrary to popular belief vegans get cold and flu too. When your body begins to ache, your throat is getting sore, headache, cough and runny nose you should expect a few rough days as the cold and flu are about to take over your body. Stress, vitamin and nutrient deficiency, lack of sleep can cause your immune system to weaken. Flu and the common cold are often caused by the corona virus, rhinovirus, parainfluenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and the influenza viruses. Luckily, there are many plant-based foods that can help you prevent and treat common cold and influenza. Here are top 5 vegan foods recommended to help prevent and treat cold and flu.

 
1. Fungi
Not all fungi are bad for you. There are fungi such as mushrooms and nutritional yeasts that are both delicious and can help you get well faster when you have a cold and the flu as fungi break down dead organic material. In fact, fungi are a major component of penicillin. The nutritional yeasts, for example, can boost your immune system and at the same time controls the inflammatory response of our body which causes the immune system to raise its defense. According to medical research, eating a single serving of nutritional yeast can reduce your chance of getting cold and flu by 25%.

 
On the another hand, a mushroom, which is a fungus are beneficial in boosting the natural killer-cell activities. The natural killer cells are white blood cell that attaches to virus-infected cells and then kills them. In simple terms, mushroom helps in killing cells that do harm to your body. Take note that all mushrooms are fungi, but not all fungi are mushrooms and you have to cook mushrooms before you eat them. Eating raw mushroom can be poisonous. You have also to be careful in choosing mushrooms because not all mushrooms are edible.

 
2. Kiwi fruit
This amazing and peculiar fruit is jam-packed with vitamins C, E, and antioxidants, which are beneficial in preventing and treating common colds and flu. The Vitamin C present in kiwi fruit increases the production of white blood cells and antibodies which aid in fighting infection while, the Vitamin E essential in the production of immunoglobulins. Immunoglobulins serve as our bodies’ own personal bodyguards against pathogens that cause harm to our body.

 
3. Garlic
Garlic is a natural antibiotic and it is effective in enhancing the body’s immune system. Garlic stimulates immune systems such as lymphocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, and eosinophils. These cell types are important in keeping our body healthy.

 
4. Pumpkin seeds

Who does think pumpkin seeds can be great against cold and flu. I love snacking on pumpkin seeds without realizing that it is rich in vitamin E, zinc and essential fatty acids which are amazing in boosting our immune system. It is also rich in anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and omega 3. Its powerful zinc content helps to increase the production of infection-fighting white blood cells and T cells.

 
5. Cruciferous vegetables
Cruciferous veggies are vegan staple foods. Broccoli, cabbage, kale, collard greens, arugula, rutabaga, bok choy is just of the cruciferous vegetables that known for their anti-cancer properties. These vegan foods are also great for boosting immune system that helps prevents the infections such as common cold and flu. These amazingly delicious crunchy vegetables also help the interferon activity. Interferon is a protein produced by our cells when it is being invaded by a pathogen and other viruses, thus alerting the neighboring cells to increase their defenses. This means it “interferes” the virus’ replicating ability. For more info about vegan foods and organic juice visit Juice-2-u.com.