My Top 5 Everyday Foods for Boosting the Immune System

With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing it’s more important now than ever to ensure you and your family are eating healthy foods everyday that are high in antioxidants to support your immune system.

You will be pleased to know that my favourite immune boosting foods are not weird, hard to find or expensive!! They are actually just simple, everyday foods, many of which you would have in your pantry, fridge or freezer right now!

You know I love to include something from each of the 5 food groups in the lunchbox each day and that’s why my top 5 everyday foods for boosting the immune system includes my top pick from each food group! Here they are:

Berries

So delicious, great as a snack, mixed through yoghurt or added to smoothies! Berries are bursting with vitamins, minerals and most importantly antioxidants. They are super high in vitamin C and are a good source of fiber too! Fresh can be expensive when out of season but frozen varieties are just as good!

Yoghurt

When choosing a yoghurt pick one with live active cultures listed on the label - these live cultures stimulate the immune system to help fight disease. Also aim to avoid yoghurts with added sugars (check the ingredients list), we love plain Greek yoghurt sweetened with berries or a little drizzle of honey or maple syrup. I also love Five:am Simply 550g tubs of flavoured yoghurt. They are flavoured with fruit and are sugar free and were the top rated flavoured yoghurt tub when I recently compared 14 of the most popular brands.

Click here to see my yoghurt comparison results.

Sunflower seeds

A plant protein and versatile seed that’s incredibly high in vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant. They are great sprinkled on cereal or yoghurt, added to smoothies or my favourite… blitzed up into a bliss ball! Click here for my delicious raspberry bliss ball recipe.

Carrots

All vegetables contain antioxidants differing in quantity but the vegetable that will provide your child with the most antioxidants is the one they will eat most. I was going to list Broccoli here as my top pick for vegetable because it’s a great source of vitamin C and super high in antioxidants but to be honest the amount of broccoli my children will eat is very minimal unfortunately – but they do love carrots! Carrots are also high in vitamin C and antioxidants, especially beta carotene which the body converts into vitamin A important for our immune system.

Oats

Rich in beta-glucan a type of fibre helps boost our immune system. It’s also a versatile whole grain that can be used in many ways. We often have them for breakfast but I love to cook with them too. Oats often make an appearance in our biscuits, pancakes and bliss balls!