The Cooking Cardiologist

Flu season is here. Outside of popping vitamin c, eating your vegetables and staying active with regular exercise, is there anything else you can do to keep healthy, staving off illness?

Yes there is!

Preparing meals with health-boosting ingredients can provide you with extra minerals and vitamins that you may otherwise miss out on, strengthening your immune system and in turn defending your body against viral invaders.

Our greatest defense against flu and colds is our immune system. When functioning properly, it rapidly kills bacteria and viruses. To do this work, our immune system produces several types of cells, antibodies and chemicals to fight infection, however, we can give it a helping hand by eating foods rich in restorative properties.

Below you will find a tasty recipe that is not only tantalizing to the taste buds, but will help your immune system perform at top-notch:

Try my Tagine Lemon Chicken. This recipe is full of the ingredients that will help your body defend itself against the flu.

Vitamin A This vitamin works to induce a properly functioning immune system. The nutrient, commonly found in carrots, increases white blood cell production and protects cell membranes to keep infection out.

Ginger: This food source has anti-inflammatory properties. It has been shown to limit nausea and motion sickness, ease muscle aches and act as a decongestant, which is perfect for if you happen to catch that cold.

Lemon: Not only does lemon contain vitamin c, but it also amps up the production of stomach acid and relaxes stomach muscles.