ITG Diet Blog

There are many foods you can eat that will help you obtain the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that are needed to protect and boost your immune system function. As more of the world opens up these days, it's important to make sure your body has the protection it needs, especially if you have not been in many social settings throughout the past couple years of the pandemic.

What are some great supplements that will help boost your immunity and help prevent illness?

Selenium is a trace mineral that is found in small amounts in nuts, meats, and some vegetables. Trace minerals such as selenium are needed for many of the body's processes, including proper muscle development, cell maintenance, immune system responses, and thyroid hormone metabolism.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is both a nutrient we obtain from eating certain foods as well as a hormone that our bodies produce. It has been proven to help the body absorb and hold on to calcium and phosphorus which are both extremely important in building bone. Vitamin D can also combat cancer cell growth, reduce inflammation, and help the body control infections. There may be many other roles that vitamin D may play since there are vitamin D receptors in many of the body's tissues and organs.

Cold and flu season is upon us once again as we enter the fall and winter months ahead. Eating a healthy, balanced diet and incorporating proper exercise can help keep the body in top shape in order to fend off a virus or bacteria that can cause illness. "You can take all the supplements in the world to improve your immune system, and they may help, but if you don't address your lifestyle, you likely will not make any real change," says Dr. DeCosmo, Chief Medical Officer for ITG.

If you've incorporated healthy eating and regular exercise into your lifestyle, you may still be wondering if you have any nutrient deficiencies.

What is vitamin C?

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a vitamin and nutrient your body uses to form cartilage, muscle, blood vessels, and collagen. It also helps with your body's healing process.

Vitamin C is also a powerful antioxidant that helps protect cells against free radicals which are produced by the sun, X-rays, smoke, or as other nutrients are broken down in the body. Free radicals may play a part in causing disease such as cancer and heart disease.

What is the B vitamin complex?

A group of nutrients that the body uses to help turn food into energy, breaking down carbohydrates and proteins.

Why do you need B vitamins?

As a supplement, B vitamins can help treat and even prevent deficiencies due to a poor diet, during pregnancy, alcoholism, and certain illnesses. They're important to help keep the body in good health and are the building blocks of many enzymes, hormones, and DNA.

When we think about our options for protein sources, meat usually comes to mind. Nowadays, there are a lot more options for plant-based proteins that can give your body the nutrients it needs without a lot of the fat, cholesterol, and calories of many animal protein counterparts.

The most popular and well-known plant-based protein source is tofu or tempeh which is made from soy beans by fermenting and culturing soy and soy milk and then pressing the curds into solid blocks. However, if you are allergic to soy, or you are trying to avoid eating too much of it, here are some other popular plant-based protein sources to incorporate into your daily diet.

As we continue to face a future of global pandemics and a plethora of health-related issues around the country, proper immune system function has become an extremely important topic in 2021. By properly supplementing, the body is better able to defend itself from chronic disease. There is evidence that supplements can even reduce the severity and sometimes eliminate those health issues altogether that could arise in the future.