What Not to Eat for your Immunity!
There is plenty of information around, at the moment, to point you in the right direction to improve your immunity. It has almost become a fashionable phrase “immune boosting foods” in these crazy Covid19 lockdown days. By now we should be aware that vegetables, and plenty of them every day, as well as fruit and proteins all tick the box for building our immune systems. But let’s just take a step back and remember what not to eat and why!
Bad habits inevitably creep in at times and we have been checking our nutritional choices with more frequency at Gut Happy of late, just to be sure we are optimising every chance we get to build our immunity and to keep it strong. Saints we ain’t, and we get it wrong just like everyone else, so whilst discussing a few misdemeanours earlier we thought we’d blog a few of the bad nutritional choices we can all fall for.
Chocolate, lollies and sugar filled sweets - If I had a dollar for every time I’ve indulged in one sweet treat and then the packet is gone, I’d be a millionaire by now. Anyone relate? Anything that has processed sugar and mountains of the sweet stuff in it, can increase inflammatory markers and the higher the amount of inflammation in your body the more compromised your immune system can become. Sorry, but the research don’t lie on this.
A key to resisting this temptation is if I’m craving something sweet I might try a bowl of blueberries with some coconut kefir to fill me and also to give myself a shot of vitamins and antioxidants. I always feel better and know that I’ve done my body the world of good. Another sweet alternative is a handful of nuts as a snack when feeling tempted. Nuts are a great snack, are highly nutritious and are a much better alternative for the 3pm sweet snack attack.
Soft drinks - yep it’s an obvious one, but also one that many people find it incredibly hard to say no too. One can of Coke has 10 teaspoons of sugar! Would you walk into your pantry and eat 10 teaspoons out of the sugar bowl? Once again that processed sugar is going to send your body into an inflammatory meltdown and research has established that soft drink consumption is one dietary factor that is directly linked to weight gain and obesity. Obesity opens up a myriad of health issues such as diabetes, coronary artery disease and hypertension to name but a few.
One key when you want to grab a can of soft drink and glug away is to find an alternative drink. For example a herbal tea. Now stick with me on this one. I’ve actually found that having a herbal tea mid afternoon is not only satisfying, but also filling and has stopped me snacking or looking for something sweet. Remembering that it takes time to rewire the brain, your body and tastebuds, but it can and will happen.
Alcohol - excessive intake of alcohol has found to be connected to compromised immunity. Let’s face it some of us just want to have a drink, so trying to keep consumption moderate is definitely a key.
Some keys for consuming less or stopping altogether is to find a substitute. I know people who are wine drinkers and have switched to spritzer (sparkling water and wine) to reduce intake. Drinking soda water out of a wine glass is one other method as it almost fools your body into thinking you are having a drink! Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. The old herbal tea replacement can sometimes help, as well as choosing to be alcohol free on “school nights” for anyone wanting to cut back.
Fried foods - who hasn’t fallen for the “I’ll just have a few chips” and polished off the whole plate? My hand is firmly raised in the air on this one and I have felt so unwell post pig out! Anything fried is not going to be good for you or for me, even in small portions. This is due to the fat that the food is cooked in (usually trans-fats) and the fat content of the food eaten. A diet high in bad fats (and fried food is full of bad fats) has been proven to impact your gut microbiome negatively, not to mention what it is doing to your arteries.
One great key to limit fried foods is try baking your own homemade fries or shallow fry in good oils, but keep that to a minimum as well. Homemade sweet potato fries are a staple in our home and they are even on the menu tonight. I always coat them in coconut oil (which is a good fat) and bake them and I have yet to hear a complaint about my home baked fries.
This list is not exhaustive and should also include fast foods, foods high in sodium, such as processed meats, ice creams which can also be high in sodium as well as sugar, energy drinks and packets of chips to name a few other nasties. At Gut Happy we are not the nutritional police, but at times we let things slide and it’s easy to do and it is always good to check in with what is going in our mouths and the ultimate effect it has on our entire body.
If today has been a bad day, we get it. It’s strange and unusual times we are living through and we want to come out of this time and this year better than when we started. I choose to work on my immunity and well-being every day and hopefully this can be your focus too.
Stay safe and stay Gut Happy.
The Gut Happy Girls
xxx