Best immune boosting foods for babies
5 Immune-Boosting Baby Foods
Colds, flu, and stomach bugs are no fun for anyone, of course, but these chilly-season illnesses can be especially challenging (or even a bit scary) when they infiltrate your family’s tiniest tykes. Parents, siblings, and caregivers can help prevent spreading sickness to babies by getting a flu shot (babies can get the vaccine, too, after six months), frequently washing their hands, covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue, and distancing themselves from little ones if they do get sick.
If your baby is eating solid foods, you can also support her good health by dishing up tasty foods that boost her immunity.* Add these five ingredients into your family’s meal rotation and help everyone keep those bad bugs at bay!
1. Whole-Fat Plain Yogurt
Plain yogurt is a great way to get probiotics, the good bacteria that help your baby fend off harmful bacteria in the digestive system, promote overall immunity, and ease side effects if she ends up needing antibiotics. (Look for products labeled with a “Live & Active Cultures” seal from the National Yogurt Association.) Yogurt is also a good source of the immunity-boosting crusader vitamin D and protein, which helps grow, maintain, and repair every single cell in the body, including infection-fighting white blood cells.
You can serve yogurt by itself (but don’t use sweetened varieties) or stir it into fruit or veggie purées as a healthy way to balance the tartness.
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2. Sweet Potatoes
These in-season yellow-orange tubers are packed with beta carotene—our bodies convert this nutrient into vitamin A, which is essential for healthy immune system function. Carrots, squash, pumpkins, mangoes, and dark, leafy greens are other good sources of beta-carotene.
Find out how to prepare your sweet potatoes with our easy guide.
3. Avocado
This deliciously creamy fruit is a good source of both vitamin E (a potent antioxidant) and vitamin B6, which helps build the cells of the immune system and increase immune response. The omega-3 fatty acids in avocados also help the body better absorb immune-boosting nutrients, so including it in baby’s dinner will make the most of all the healthful ingredients that go in his mouth.
Purée or mash avocado well before serving. If baby is around 10 months old, you could also try the Spunky Coconut’s simple DIY avocado-pear ice pops—they might even help with teething!
4. Brown Rice
These nutritious little grains are packed with the essential minerals magnesium (a macromineral—you need a lot of it) and selenium (a micromineral—you need it, but not a ton), which both enhance immunity and bolster resistance to viral infections.
Purée cooked brown rice with meats, veggies, or fruits—brown rice blended with roasted bananas, a dash of cinnamon, and a little water is so good we would eat it! It’s also delish mashed up with stewed dried fruits.
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5. Blueberries
Whether fresh or frozen (winter is coming), blueberries are a super source of multiple antioxidants (especially the flavonoid compound, anthocyanins), which can help fight off all sorts of illnesses. Blueberries are also a good source of vitamin C—and while research has found that vitamin C actually does little to prevent colds, it may help ease symptoms if your child is already sick.
Whole blueberries are a choking hazard, but you can blend these sweet-tart beauties up alone (if sweet enough) or mix them with apples, bananas, pears, yogurt, oatmeal, or beef for a heartier baby-friendly meal.
* Check with your doctor before serving any new foods to your baby: Most little ones take their first bites around six months, but regardless of age, he should be able to sit in a high chair and have good head control. The standard advice is to start with single-ingredient purées—wait three days before introducing another food to confirm your baby isn’t experiencing an allergic reaction such as rash, diarrhea, or vomiting. Never add salt or sweeteners.
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Top 10 Immune System Boosting Foods For Babies and Kids (with ideas and recipes)
last updated: by Kalyani
Immunity-Boosting Foods For Babies And Kids - We are already dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and we have been worried sick about getting infected and are kids getting infected as well.
With the onset of monsoon season, more infections are going around like dengue or malaria or a common cold, which means that the chances of kids getting one of the viral infections is high.
We should take the right precautions for COVID-19, but you cannot be safe from common cold or malaria/dengue as they don’t care if you are inside your home. They can attack you anytime, and thus, keeping your kids safe this is essential, now more than ever.
Therefore, trying to increase the immunity of your child is imperative right now. It doesn’t guarantee that your kid won’t get sick, but it can ensure that the body is powerful enough to fight those infections.
Here are several food items that can help you increase your kid’s immunity. Let’s check them out.
1. Almonds
This dry fruit is a superfruit as it contains manganese and vitamin E, they both are known for their immune-boosting power and for enhancing the activity of natural cell killers.
Here are the ways to make your child eat almonds
Recipes:
- Almond Milk (1 year+)
- Almond Powder (8 months+)
- Almond Halwa (1 year+)
- Almond Cookies (1 year+)
- Almond Muffins (1 year+)
- Almond Milkshake (1 year+)
This spice is known for its healing properties in India. It has an active agent known as curcumin which is rich in antioxidants. Turmeric helps with healing, inflammation, and is also an immune booster spice. It is best to use this spice daily in your recipes(at least a pinch).
Recipes:
- Turmeric milk (1 year+)
Yogurt/Curd is full of probiotics that help with our immune system. You can easily make yogurt/curd at home, Make sure the curd/yogurt has low or no sugar as sugar if buying in stores as it can decrease your immunity level. Do avoid giving curd to your child if the kid has a sore throat though.
Recipes:
- Curd Rice (8 Months+)
- Curd Oats (8 Months+)
- Curd Khichdi (8 Months+)
- Curd Poha (8 Months+)
- Dahi Chura (8 Months+)
- Mango Lassi (8 Months+)
- Cucumber Lassi (8 Months+)
- Strawberry Lassi (8 Months+)
- Blueberry Smoothie (8 Months+)
The best food for immunity boosting is leafy vegetables. They are rich in nutrients like Vitamin A, C, K, calcium, magnesium, beta-carotene, and more. Also, they help fight infection and keep the body healthy.
Try to include foods like spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, broccoli, and more into your kid’s diet.
Recipes:
- Broccoli Recipes for babies and kids
- Spinach Recipes babies and kids
They have flavonoids which help with building immunity. Different active agents in all three help with seasonal illness and also cancer.
The best way to use them is to use them liberally while cooking up any dish.
Recipes:
- Tomato Rasam (8 Months+)
- Pepper Rasam (10 Months+)
- Pepper kulambu (1 Year+)
- Dry ginger milk (1 Year+)
- Garlic Milk (1 Year+)
Eggs are low in calories and are the natural source of vitamin D. If your body has low vitamin D, it is more susceptible to illnesses. Also, it has other nutrients like selenium.
Recipes:
Top 22 Egg recipes for babies, toddlers, and kids
7. Fruits
All fruits are great for boosting immunity, and berries are a part of them too. Make sure your kids eat all seasonal fruits, and apple, and papaya especially.
Recipes:
- Fruit salad and fruit custard (1 Year+)
- Fruit Smoothies(1 Year+)
- Fruit Dessert (1 Year+)
- Fruit Jam(1 Year+)
- Fruit Purees (6 Months+)
- Fruit Milkshakes (1 Year+)
Sweet potato
Sweet potato is enriched with beta-carotene and also has vitamin c. It helps the body increase the number of white blood cells in the body, which helps fight infections.
Recipes:
Sweet potato recipes for babies, toddlers, and kids
9.Oats
Oats are fulfilling and rich in fiber. The beta-glucans can help activate killer cells which keeps our body safe from viruses and bacteria and other infections.
Recipes:
Oats recipes for babies, toddlers, and kids
10.Fish and meat
They are rich in protein which helps muscle building. It also activates white blood cells which are critical for fighting infections.
Recipes:
Non-veg recipes for babies, toddlers, and kids
Boosting the immunity of your children and yourself is imperative for better safety and healthy life.
Make a planner in which you can add your daily recipes for your baby that includes all these immunity-boosting foods.
Author Bio:
Kavita is an Outreach Specialist cum Content writer. When not glued to her laptop, she can be found making travel plans that rarely happen 😉 Connect with Kavita on Twitter @dreamerkavita
Foods that increase immunity. Expert answer. - City Clinical Hospital 7 Kazan
Spring is the time to strengthen the immune system. Can certain foods lower, and vice versa, strengthen the immune system and prevent viruses? They can! Dilyara Gabdrashitovna Iskhakova, a gastroenterologist, head of the gastroenterology department of the City Clinical Hospital No. 7 of Kazan, answers:
Food should be as varied as possible so that it contains all the necessary substances, vitamins and minerals. Usually these are vegetables of different colors, greens, fruits in moderation (a lot of fruits are a lot of simple carbohydrates, sugars), berries (including frozen ones), meat, fish, nuts, legumes, cereals.
Any severely restrictive diet is not desirable during a virus outbreak. Prolonged total avoidance of animal products, for example, can lead to deficiencies in protein, iron, and vitamin B12.
Restriction of protein in the diet is dangerous, can impair the immune response, since many of the mechanisms of the immune response are provided by protein molecules.
B vitamins, vitamin C, A, E, D and minerals such as zinc, selenium, iron and copper, healthy fats - omega-3 fatty acids are the most important components of immunity. Storage and prolonged heating destroys vitamins in foods, so it is advisable to use fresh foods, and with little heat treatment.
Vitamin and mineral champions:
Vitamin A - carrots, egg yolk, green vegetables, butter, caviar
Vitamin D - fish oil, mackerel, salmon, tuna, herring, egg yolk
Vitamin E - nuts , nut and seed oils, olives, salmon, dried apricots
Vitamin C - rose hips, sweet peppers, fresh green vegetables and herbs, berries, citrus fruits
Zinc - liver, red meat, nuts, legumes, cheese, buckwheat
Selenium – liver, eggs, corn, legumes, nuts, green vegetables
Iron - red meat, liver, nuts
Copper - liver, nuts, legumes, rice, buckwheat, oats
Omega 3 - fatty fish, cod liver, flaxseed, olives, avocados, nuts they tolerate dairy products well, it is useful to use a variety of fermented milk products (kefir, yogurt, katyk, acidophilus, yogurt).
Probiotics found in fermented milk products improve the intestinal microflora and improve the intestinal wall barrier. Beneficial intestinal bacteria synthesize vitamins necessary for the body and help to absorb vitamins from food.
- What foods can help the body protect itself from viruses?
- Garlic, spices and spices, eg turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, pepper.
- Is it true that lipids, that is, fats, are of great importance for immunity? What products contain them? How many of these products per day do you recommend to use, so that it does not affect the figure?
- Indeed, fats are of great importance for the body, and their long-term strict restriction can adversely affect the body. Fat-soluble vitamins cannot be absorbed from food without fat.
Fats are the building material of the cell wall, they are a source of energy for the body, and fats are also involved in the synthesis of bile acids and sex hormones.
Fat should be at least 1g/kg of body weight per day in the diet, of which about 30-40 percent are saturated fats (animal fat: butter, ghee, lard, dairy products), and 60-70 percent unsaturated fats (fatty fish and vegetable oils: olive oil, linseed oil, avocado, nuts, etc.).
In order for the use of the right fats not to affect the figure, you need to get rid of other high-calorie junk food (fast carbohydrates - sugars, sweet drinks, flour, fast food, trans fats - oils after prolonged heating, industrial palm oil, hidden fats in chips, cookies , sausages, etc.)
- What foods reduce immunity?
Sugars, chemical additives, pesticides, substances contained in plastic packaging.
Be healthy!
Which foods strengthen the child's immunity, healthy menu for preschoolers, children's menu examples | 74.ru
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Borsch is good for the nervous and circulatory system.
To make the child eat it more willingly, you can add crackers
Photo: Alexander Oshchepkov / NGS
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Everyone knows that children's nutrition should be complete and balanced in terms of the composition of proteins, fats, carbohydrates. But not everyone knows that with the onset of the autumn-winter period, foods that help the body resist viruses and infections should be present in the child's diet. Proteins, amino acids, probiotics and fiber strengthen the immune system. The winter menu has a few more differences from the diet in the warm season. Our colleagues from Parents.ru, together with the therapist and candidate of medical sciences Dmitry Sirotenko, have compiled a list of products that must be given to children during the cold season. We begin to cook borscht and smear butter on bread.
The winter diet should be about thirty percent more caloric than the summer diet in order to replenish the body's energy losses.
These are hearty and nutritious dishes made from meat, poultry, fish, dairy products and nuts. Also in winter, you need to reduce the amount of light carbohydrates from sweets and desserts. In addition to being overweight, they are more likely to cause allergic reactions. Give preference to warm dishes and exclude cold snacks.
The most important vitamins in winter involved in the formation of antiviral immunity are A, B2, B6, C, D, PP E, folic acid, selenium, zinc, iron, calcium and magnesium.
An important protector of health in winter is vitamin C, it helps maintain immunity, enhances recovery processes in the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, and reduces inflammation. Children, as a rule, do not like foods that have a lot of ascorbic acid: bell pepper, herbs, sorrel, sea buckthorn. Therefore, they can be offered an alternative - rosehip tea, blackcurrant berries, citrus fruits. But they should be given with caution to children prone to allergies.
The child's diet should contain proteins and fats (meat, fish, butter, sour cream, eggs, cheese), vegetable oils (as well as nuts and seeds), carbohydrates (cereals, especially buckwheat, rice, pasta, bread), fiber (vegetables, fruits, legumes).
Puree with a cutlet, chicken with buckwheat or pasta - it's great. But take a closer look at these products - they are leading in utility ratings
Root vegetables contain an order of magnitude more nutrients than the fruits or leaves of other plants. And carrots can be called the champion in usefulness. It contains a lot of easily digestible carbohydrates, pectin, essential oils, amino acids and vitamin A. It is called the growth vitamin - an indispensable element for the child's body, in particular, it is useful for vision and heart function. And, importantly in winter, carotene increases the child's resistance to respiratory diseases.
It is recommended to introduce carrots into complementary foods from 6-7 months, but this must be done carefully so as not to provoke an allergic reaction. If there is no individual intolerance, then raw carrot salads will be a good prevention in the winter. Just do not forget that for better absorption of carotene (vitamin A), you need to add vegetable fat (vegetable oil) or sour cream to carrots.
We have written about the benefits of vitamin D (cholecalciferol) more than once. This is the main fighter of the invisible front - it is involved in protecting the body from infections, viruses and other misfortunes. The body always needs cholecalciferol, but in winter, during the coronavirus epidemic, it is especially important to maintain the required level. Recall that most often vitamin D is not supplied with food enough. To determine this, you need to do a blood test. And for the prevention of vitamin D deficiency, it is useful to eat foods in which the vitamin is present. There is a lot of it in salmon, tuna, mackerel. In addition to vitamins, sea fish contains protein, omega-3 polyunsaturated acids and other necessary substances that help the child's body resist colds and viruses. Preschoolers need to eat 60 grams of salmon fish 2-3 times a week.
Babies start introducing fish food at the age of 10 months. A good option is cod, it is lean and it also has vitamin D, however, its maximum concentration is in the liver.
For the daily norm, you need only a few grams. But, since cod liver is a heavy product, especially canned food in oil, it is undesirable for children under 10 years old to try the delicacy. But on the recommendation of a doctor, you can take fish oil, it is made from cod liver. By the way, if a child refuses to take fish oil, then it can be replaced with linseed oil, in addition to polyunsaturated acids, it contains a lot of linolenic acid - an assistant in the treatment of chronic respiratory infections.
If your baby already recognizes a sandwich, you can add a piece of salmon on top. A high-calorie diet, which is high in protein and fat, helped to cope with diseases. Even now, adults can eat a small sandwich with lard for prevention during the cold season. And for children, fat should be replaced with butter - it is easier to digest, has nutritional value and a lot of useful properties. If you remember, in childhood, our grandmothers made us a sweet “cure” for colds: they mixed butter with cocoa and honey.
So a sandwich with butter, which is served for breakfast in every children's institution, is a good preventive measure against various ailments. Note that butter is a high-calorie product, especially in combination with pastries. Therefore, it is better to choose whole grain bread for a sandwich. Every day, the child is recommended no more than 20 grams of butter.
There are hardly many fans of this vegetable among children, and among adults too, the taste of beets is not for everyone. But, if the child does not have allergies, beets should be included in the diet, especially in winter. The fact is that, unlike many crops, beets retain their beneficial elements all year round. And she can’t count them, which has a positive effect on many organs and systems of the body, especially the central nervous, circulatory, and cardiac systems. Beets appear in the baby's diet after a year. Portions should be discussed with the pediatrician, as this is an allergenic product.
Fermented milk products in the diet of a child during the cold season also do an excellent job of strengthening the immune system.
The lactic acid bacteria contained in yogurt maintain normal intestinal microflora, reduce the growth of pathogenic flora, remove toxic substances and stimulate local immunity. For baby food, you need to choose natural varieties of yoghurts and, if possible, unsweetened. The daily norm is up to 200 ml.
If a preschooler constantly sniffles, catches a cold and runs the risk of catching a more serious illness, a set of measures is needed to improve health. Meals on this list will be mandatory. For example, you need to check if there are enough vegetables and herbs in the baby’s diet? Should be up to 250 grams every day. From herbs, you can choose dill, parsley, cilantro, lettuce, basil. The fact is that greenery in itself is an excellent prevention against viruses and infections. It contains a large amount of vitamins C and potassium, dietary fiber and chlorophyll - a source of magnesium, an essential element for the body, is involved in the production of immune cells and macrophages that destroy bacteria.
Milk — milk proteins are involved in the creation of cells, including immune cells.
Apples and citrus fruits is a complex of vitamins and dietary fibers that cleanse the body of toxic metabolic products, pathogenic microbes.
Pumpkin - contains many antioxidants that prevent the formation of free radicals, which lead, among other things, to respiratory diseases.
Rosehip decoction is a storehouse of vitamin C. They drink in courses, and you need to remember that the drink removes potassium from the body, therefore, along with rosehips, children need to add bananas, dried apricots or raisins to the diet.
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