We have been hearing and reading a lot of news lately to know and understand about the epidemic COVID19 and cure for Coronavirus. Some of the basic things that we have understood so far are, there is no cure for Coronavirus. But the good news is Coronavirus does not kill you, if your immune system is able to fight with it and win the game.
While the scientist and government are doing their part of work, let us do our part by following social distancing and taking care of ourselves.
So how can we strengthen our immune system? Definitely there is no magic trick but there are certain anti-viral foods and herbal medicines that have been used for ages by our ancestors.
While we follow all the precautionary methods given by the Government and WHO, it is also advisable to eat healthy food and have a healthy mind.
Go organic! As always said, organically grown grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, pulses provide you with maximum health benefits. We need to get a good amount of vitamins, minerals, proteins, micronutrients, photochemical, antioxidants, flavonoids, calcium, iron from our daily diet to give our body the necessary stuff to keep our bodyguard immune system fit and perfect. And Organic products provide us with all these necessary nutrients without toxic chemicals.
At this point of pandemic time, it is essential to know and understand what we intake. Consuming grains, pulses and vegetables which were grown using chemicals, is going to bring us more harm than good.
Fill up your plate with organic food!
Here we list down some of the antiviral food that will help us fight against infections.
1. Coconut oil
Cook your food with wood pressed oils. Virgin Coconut oil has a special lauric acid and caprylic acid that is well known to boost up your immune in many ways and fight against viral diseases. Make sure that you use pure coconut oil which was extracted from sun-dried coconuts and not sulphur dried!
While checking on boosting your immune system, it is also important to remove the unwanted toxins from your body. One of the popular methods used for removing toxins is oil pulling.
Tips: Take a spoon full of Organic Coconut oil / Sesame oil and gargle your mouth for about 15 mins before brushing. Spit it out into the closet, when the oil turns watery. This method of regular oil pulling is said to pull the toxins out of your body and boosts your immune system.
2. Pro-biotic foods
A healthy gut is the base of a healthy body. Foods rich in probiotic provide you with a healthy gut. Alter your morning breakfast with rice flakes instead of corn flakes. Rice flakes such as Red rice flakes, Black rice flakes, Bridegroom rice flakes are rich in probiotics. Along with the goodness of Red rice, Black rice, Bridegroom rice, these also have the additional feature of pro-biotics and are easy to digest which makes these a gut-friendly and diabetic friendly food.
Tips: You can consume these organic Rice flakes along with Milk/ Yogurt and healthy nuts, to supply you the necessary nutrition, calcium and iron right from the beginning of the day.
3. Antioxidant-rich foods
This COVID19 lockdown period could be the right time to change from usual white rice, white sugar, refined, polished ingredients to traditional brown rice, red rice, bamboo rice, organic wheat flour, millets such as barnyard millet, finger millet, foxtail millet, little millet, pearl millet and proso millet. As these foods are well known – not only for its antioxidant properties but also to remove unwanted toxins from our body. The fibre content in these foods makes it gut & diabetic-friendly and also helps in providing the right amount of daily nutrition which definitely strengthens your immune system.
Tips: Additionally using an earthen clayware to cook and to store the cooked food will help your food to retain its natural nutrition and moisture content.
4. Honey
Including a teaspoon of honey to your daily diet improves your overall metabolism as Honey is a well known Antiviral, Antifungal, Antibacterial, Antimalarial, Anti-oxidants, Immuno-stimulant. A teaspoon of Hill Honey/Naval honey can be mixed with warm milk to induce good sleep. All the breaking news has been creating panic attacks and anxiety to elderly and middle-aged. Consuming Honey will aid in curing insomnia and provide you with a night of good peaceful sleep. A good amount of rest plays a vital part in removing the unwanted toxins from our body in a natural way. Additionally Muringo Honey, Tulsi Honey, Neem Honey have extra goodness that helps in treating various respiratory problems like asthma and bronchitis.
Tips: Crush fresh ginger and boil it with a cup of water. When the water is warm add a teaspoon of Neem/ Tulsi Honey to soothe sore throat, cough and help in clearing the respiratory tract for easy breathing.
5. Spices that spice up your immune..
Spices such as Whole Pepper, Star anise, Cinnamon are foods that remove the toxic build-up from your body and create an invisible shield from the viral attacks by strengthening the body’s immune system.
Tips: Make a Wholesome immune booster soup with organic vegetables, ginger, garlic and a dash of Organic pepper. Garlic, ginger, pepper and turmeric have been used from age-old days to treat the common cold and to prevent many forms of infections.
6. Good proteins..
Most of us know about calcium deficiency, Vitamin D deficiency and iron deficiency. We easily swallow some Vitamin D tablets instead of standing under the hot sun for 20 mins every day exposing at least 40% of your body. But there is a silent killer which is unknown to most common people and that is protein deficiency. In most of the vegetarian diet, we tend to miss out on proteins and concentrate on carbs.
Protein deficiency can lead to many complications starting from weak muscles to bone fractures and it also keeps you hungrier which leads to fatty liver and creates an impaired immune system that may disable your body to fight infections.
So taking a good source of proteins such as whole green gram, whole Bengal gram, Toor dal, Urad dal, Chickpeas, Horse gram will provide you with the right amount of healthy protein along with the important micronutrients that is much necessary for an everyday balanced diet to make you hale and healthy. It also aids you to heal from many types of infections and chronic diseases.
Tips: Make healthy salads with spinach, beetroot, carrots, fresh homemade sprouts, lemon juice/apple cider vinegar.
You can also consume Health Mix/ Porridge in the morning or in the evening which will provide you the necessary prote https://www.ulamart.com/flour/health-mix-porridge.html?utm_source=blog_links&utm_medium=ulamart_blog&utm_campaign=blog in content required for a day. Make use of milk and organic country sugar to boost the immune system in an easy, tastier and natural way.
7. Healthy Herbs
Introducing healthy magical herbs to your diet will naturally boost your immune system and keep you away from infections and illness. Antiviral herbs such as neem, tulsi, Karpooravalli, Triphala, Vallarai helps in keeping viral infections at bay. Though these may treat and cure the common cold and many forms of infection we do not have any scientific proof to say that these herbs could cure coronavirus. But it will definitely provide you a healthier metabolism with its rare medicinal properties that will help you heal faster and fight many forms of viral and bacterial infections.
Here we provide you with some herbal Kashayam or soups that have been traditionally used /practised to cure/treat/prevent Dengue, Swine flu and other forms of infections that need the healthy immune system to fight the disease.
1. Kaba sura kudineer:
Nilavembu (Andrographis paniculata), kanduparangi (Clerodendrun serratum), chukku (dried ginger), thippili (piper longum), Ilavangam(Syzygium aromaticum) , adathodai ver(root of Justicia beddomei), Cirukancori Ver (Tragia involucrate), seenthil (Tinosporia cordifolia), karpooravalli (Anisochilus carnosus), koraikizhangu (Cyperus rotundus), kostam (Costus speciosus), akkara (Anacyclus pyrethrum) Vattathiruppi Ver (Sida acuta), Mulli Ver (Hygrophilla auriculata) and Kadukkaithol (Terminalia chebula) . Make a decoction out of these ingredients and drink it once a week.
2. Immune boosting soup:
Drumstick leaves, Tomato, Ginger, Garlic, Pepper, Chilli, Cumin. Make a healthy soup with these ingredients and drink it once a day.
3. Steam up:
Inhale essential oils like eucalyptus, star anise. Make use of a diffuser. Boil neem, tulsi, turmeric and inhale its steam to clear the respiratory passage out of pathogens, virus and bacteria.
4. Gargle out:
Mix a teaspoon of Sea salt and turmeric to warm water and gargle your throat and mouth before going to bed. This helps in easing the symptoms of sore throat and cold symptoms. And induces the healing process. Doing this on a regular basis can aid you to stay away from infections.
At present we may not be having cure, treatment, medicine or vaccine for coronavirus but we have the opportunity to cook wholesome homemade food to boost our body’s most precious immune system. Keep yourself hydrated by consuming enough water, fresh juices from citrus fruits and Tender coconut water.
Also, don’t forget to..
Breathe! Yes, breathe fresh air. Luckily Coronavirus does not spread through the air and that’s good news. Prana is the vital most energy to keep you healthy and fit. Meditate at least for 15 mins a day just by focusing on your breath and taking deep breaths. To make it simple use the 4-4-4-4 rule. 4 seconds to breath in, 4 seconds to hold your breath, 4 seconds to release the air and 4 seconds to hold, before starting the next cycle. This will help you to concentrate on your breath and helps your mind to relax without the disturbances of the outside world and overwhelming media. A healthy, stress-free mind will focus on the right things that are in our control instead of things that are beyond our control.
Last but not least..
Laugh and spend precious time with your family. Laughing at least 15 minutes a day naturally boosts your metabolism by secreting the necessary hormones. Protecting ourselves from negative news/myths / fake news about coronavirus / COVID19 is extremely essential to shield ourselves from fear and anxiety.
