Immune System Overview
The immune system is an essential tool that helps to keep our bodies happy and healthy. It is naturally present in all humans and plays a key role in working to fend off sniffle-causing microorganisms. When pathogens see an opportunity, they quickly pounce, hoping to find a new home inside of our body. Fortunately, this is when our natural defense system kicks into action, recognizing and responding to these foreign invaders.
Why is immune health important for children?
Kids are a primary target for invading microorganisms for 2 main reasons:
- Children have immature immune systems
- While newborns naturally possess some form of an immune system, it takes time to truly develop into a fully functioning defense mechanism. It takes years of practice for our immune systems to acquire a proper understanding and memory for how to deal with foreign invaders.
- Children come into contact with… everything!
- Kids play with other kids – and dirt! Unfortunately, our youngsters often forget what it means to practice proper hygiene.
For these reasons, we should emphasize the importance of handwashing and cleaning up after ourselves. But what about when we’re not there? Despite our best efforts, kids need to develop some sort of independence. They need to go out into society; live, learn, and experience all of what life has to offer. To further set them up for success, let’s take a look at the impact that food can have on the development of a stellar immune system.
Foods For Immune Health
Food can be a tough battle, especially with younger children who may be picky eaters. For this reason, we need to provide options. Here are some of the best examples of foods to help boost the immune system in kids.
- Berries
- Nuts and Seeds
- Citrus Fruits
- Fatty Fish
- Green Leafy Vegetables
- Yogurt, Kefir, and other Probiotics
Tips For Immune Supporting Foods
Some tips for effectively implementing new immune-bolstering foods into the diet of children include:
- Introduce new foods with familiar foods
- Building complete plates, offering some new and some classic favorites is a good way to ease a child into trying some new ingredients.
- Mix some immune-supporting ingredients into old recipes
- Picky eaters may have no interest when it comes to trying out new foods. As caretakers, we can try to modify some of their favorite recipes by adding in small amounts health-promoting ingredients to the point that even the pickiest of eaters may not be able to pick up on the difference.
- Develop fun seasonal recipes
- Is there a holiday coming up? How about a birthday, family party, or event? Use this as an opportunity to make a fun seasonal treat with foods that boost immune health in kids. This can be a fun and exciting way to stimulate your child’s interest in cooking and overall thoughts towards food. Developing a healthy relationship with food early can be a major benefit in young children.
- Continue exposing them to new immune boosting foods
- As an adult we have to be willing to try, try, and try again. Over time youngsters may begin to warmup to certain foods.
- Refrain from force-feeding
- Picky eaters can be tough. They may not budge when it comes to mealtime. Patience is key but force-feeding new foods can actually do more harm than good. It may cause kids to associate negative thoughts around certain foods that can stick in their minds for long periods of time.
- Set an example
- Kids often imitate those around them. Try incorporating family meals into your routine. Have others try new ingredients and recipes. Focus the discussion on including immune boosting foods to promote healthy habits.
Try Kids Vitamins
- Many consider this the easiest option when it comes to ensuring our kiddos get the proper immune support they need. Children’s multivitamins can come in so many different flavors, shapes, and delivery formats. We can let our children pick out their favorite kid vitamin to implement into their daily routine. Gummy vitamins for kids and liquid vitamins for kids are some great options for kiddos that might not like the idea of pill or tablet.
- Looking for the best kids vitamins? Check out GNC kids vitamins to cover a number of key nutritional categories.
- Beyond covering your nutritional bases with a kids multivitamin, you can try implementing these foods rich in vitamins and minerals to help build up a strong immune system:
- Vitamin D: Vitamin D, the one we classically call, “the sunshine vitamin,” is a great tool for immune support. While kids can soak up plenty of Vitamin D from the sun’s rays, Vitamin D for kids is a great way to give our youngsters a leg up when it comes to fighting off foreign invaders. Diary products like milk are often fortified with Vitamin D.
- Vitamin C: Vitamin C for kids can go a long way in aiding the development of their immune systems. More than just oranges, vitamin C can be found in several citrus fruits, strawberries and vegetables.
- Zinc: Zinc is another great way to optimize the overall immune system in our kiddos. Look for vitamin and mineral supplements that contain zinc for its immune supporting benefits. Meats, shellfish, legumes, nuts, dairy and whole grains are excellent food sources of Zinc.
