Who doesn’t like preventing colds naturally with an easy homemade immune boosting tea?
You can find many recipes out there, but which ingredients are actually boosting your immune system? There are many studies available for you to find the full list of immunity boosting foods here.
Today, I would like to take some of these foods and prepare them into a flu and cold fighting/preventing tea. This hot drink will help you stay warm and fuel your body with vitamins, antioxidants, flavonoids, and free radical scavengers.
The best way to strengthen your immune system is by living a healthy lifestyle, relaxing your body whenever possible, exercising, and eating an anti-inflammatory diet.
It is easy to influence our immune system with food. In this study, researchers took all fruits and vegetables out of the diet, and the immune function went down within two weeks. The study also showed that it matters which fruits and vegetables we are eating. In general, high intake and variety of fruits and vegetables is correlated with better immune system function
There are 10 natural immune system booster foods you should eat to help prevent colds. Most of these immune boosters cannot be incorporated into a tea but you can include them in your lunch, dinner, or green smoothie.
This immunity boosting tea recipe includes cold fighting and immune system boosting herbs, spices, and high vitamin C content.
Immune Booster Tea Ingredient
Below is a list of all ingredients used in this tea and their immunity boosting properties backed up by science.
Ginger
Ginger is known to promote a strong immune system and is also a great anti-cancer food, antioxidant, and also provides anti-diabetic effects (source). It’s also great for weight loss.
Turmeric
Curcumin found in turmeric is a powerful spice that you should add to any smoothie or meal.
“[…]. This suggests that curcumin’s reported beneficial effects in arthritis, allergy, asthma, atherosclerosis, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and cancer might be due in part to its ability to modulate the immune system. Together, these findings warrant further consideration of curcumin as a therapy for immune disorders.” (source)
Whenever you use turmeric, add a small dash of black pepper as this will boost the bioavailability of curcumin.
Oranges
Oranges are high in vitamin C (69.7 mg, 93% DV), which has long been known for its immunity boosting properties. A yellow bell pepper has the highest content of vitamin C, but is not preferable for a tea.
Green Tea
This study showed those who consume flavonoids (or flavonoids supplements) are 33% more protected from the common cold. Green tea is a flavonoid rich food.
Echinacea
The Department of Food Sciences, mentions echinacea tea as one of the herbs with anti-inflammatory and free radicals scavenging properties, and they improve immune response and our defense system (source)
The Best Immunity Boosting Tea Recipe
Cut the peeled orange in half and add it into the blender with 1/2 cup water. Mix until liquid.
The orange flavor mixes very well with the spices and it is recommended to use the whole peeled orange to get all the nutrients. One orange covers 93% of your daily need in vitamin C and contains fiber and protein (1.2 g). You could probably also use a grapefruit, but make sure not to use store bought juice.
Boil 2 cups of water and all the rest of the ingredients. Let it steep for 10-15 minutes, then remove ginger chunks and tea bags.
Mix with the orange juice and enjoy. This mixture makes 3 cups. You can use a french press to prepare this tea. For this recipe I also used one bag of echinacea tea and one bag of green tea.
The Best Immunity Boosting Tea for Cold and Flu Season
Ingredients
Instructions
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