Essay Example on Can Diet Strengthen Immune System & Prevent Illness?

According to (Fuhrman 2011) a proper diet is essential for a strong immune system which will offer protection from a regular illness for instance flu and other various health problems which include abnormal cell development, arthritis, cancer, and allergies. Moreover, by taking a good diet, it helps you protect yourself against dangerous infections as well as boosting your immunity by simply including the following nutrients in your eating routine.

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Taking diet rich in vitamin A will help much in regulating the immune system as well as protecting the body from the infections by merely keeping the tissues in the mouth, skin, intestines, stomach, and respiratory system healthy (Fuhrman 2011). The immune boosting vitamin can be gotten from foods like kale, spinach, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Moreover, protein is also part of the body's defense mechanism. It's highly recommended that one should eat a variety of protein foods such as beans, peas, lean meat, and seafood.

Also, by feeding on foods rich in vitamin C will protect your body from certain infections by merely stimulating the occurrence of antibodies hence boosting the immunity (Watson et al. 2010). It's highly recommended that one should take much of foods rich in a vitamin such in his/her diet with fruits such as grapefruit, oranges, citrus, tangerines, tomato juice, strawberries as well as food rich in vitamin C like some cereals. Furthermore, by taking vitamin E in the diet enables it works as an antioxidant which helps neutralizes the free radicals and improves the immune function. It's also advisable to include food rich in vitamin E such as sunflower seeds, vegetable oils, almonds and peanut butter in your diet.

Lastly, food rich in zinc helps the immune system typically to work properly as well as aiding in wounds healing (Watson et al. 2010). The examples of food rich in zinc are beans, milk, seeds, lean meat, and nuts. Certain nutrients such as folate, iron, vitamin B6 also influences the immune response.

Are the Foods that we choose to eat potentially damaging our Bodies?

Currently, there is confusion more so in churches and families about which foods are regarded as being healthy, as well as those who are not. For instance, if one wants to avoid chronic diseases and lose weight then he/she should not take the following foods:

Sugary Drinks

A large amount of sugar when consumed can facilitate insulin resistance which is strongly associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease as well as severe diseases like heart disease and two types of diabetes (Fuhrman 2011). Moreover, sugary drinks are currently regarded as one of the fattening aspects of the modern diet and taking them in large amount can lead to fat gain and obesity.

Ice Cream

It's one of the sweetest foods on the planet, and unfortunately, it's also one of the unhealthiest since it's loaded with sugar, high in calories and also very easy to take in the large amount.

Processed Meat

People who take processed meat have the highest risk of certain serious diseases like two types of diabetes and colon cancer. However, there are other unhealthy foods which should be avoided at any cast for the human consumptions, i.e. coffee drinks, candy bars, low-fat yogurt, cookies and cakes, margarine, most fruit juices and white bread which contains the protein gluten (Watson et al. 2010)

References

Fuhrman, J. (2011). Super immunity: The essential nutrition guide for boosting your body's defenses to live longer, stronger, and disease free. New York: HarperOne.

Watson, R. R., Zibadi, S., & Preedy, V. R. (2010). Dietary components and immune function. Totowa, N.J: Humana.