5 Foods You Think Are Immune “Healthy” But Actually Are Not
Dr Livingood
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Imagine this: you’re run down. You’re sick. You’re not feeling well. What is your go-to food? It may not be as good for you as you think, especially when you’re sick.
In this blog, I’m going to break down 5 foods that you were told were healthy, but actually aren’t, and some healthy alternatives you can eat instead.
1. Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken noodle soup can actually be super toxic!
Homemade chicken noodle soup might be fine, but when it’s bought from a shelf, it’s a problem.
When you flip over a can of soup, here’s a breakdown of the ingredients:
Noodles – Made from wheat, which is a direct source of gluten and the herbicide glyphosate. These also have carbs and sugars that can fuel immune problems.
Eggs – Not from free-range chickens, which could potentially mean arsenic, hormones, and antibiotics.
Chicken Meat – The low quality of the meat means you’re getting antibiotics, hormones, and toxins that come with the chicken.
Carrots – Finally, the first good thing about the soup!
Starch – Turns to sugar
Unstable Oil Flavoring – Turns rancid in your body
High-Fructose Corn Syrup – Increases appetite and weight gain
Maltodextrin – If it’s not tapioca, it’s going to spike insulin.
Milk Solids – Dairy can create phlegm, contains hormones, and antibiotics.
Soy – Introduces xenoestrogens and estrogens into the system.
Yeast extract – Contains monosodium glutamate
Monosodium Glutamate – Excites brain cells to death.
As you can see, this has nothing to do with immune health.
If you want soup, you should try making your own bone broth, which is good for the digestive system and bolsters the immune system.
Bone broth is relatively easy to make, and I have a quick recipe for you:
Get the bones from a healthy source, ideally from the butcher. You can try to get free range chicken bones for a higher quality chicken.
You could also add the feet for some gelatin if you want. Then, add onions, carrots, celery, pepper, and salt. Apple cider vinegar is also fantastic to put in as well.
Steep all of these ingredients in a pot for anywhere from 12-24 hours. You can add any kind of seasonings like thyme, basil, or parsley. This is excellent for giving you high doses of amino acids that will repair your digestive system.
80% of your immune system is found in your gut, so this is how you repair it. You can also purchase bone broth in either beef or chicken, but the best way to do it is by making it yourself.
2. Crackers
Many turn to crackers as something light to eat that they can even dip in their chicken noodle soup.
If you do this, you may want to flip over the package and look at the ingredients. Many crackers are made of unbleached enriched flour stripped of all of its nutrients.
This means wheat, gluten, herbicides, glyphosate, and a large carbohydrate spike. This all happens within four seconds of being in your mouth and spikes your insulin levels, which works against your immune system.
There’s fortified synthetic vitamins added to it as well, but what’s really dangerous are the soybean-based oils.
When soybean goes from a bean to an oil, it becomes rancid and unstable inside of your system. The same goes for cottonseed oil.
This congestion can sit in your system for almost half a year. These oils create discomfort and promote oxidation in your body, leading to big drops in immune health.
There is sea salt in many crackers, which I like better than table salt, because it isn’t stripped of needed minerals. Unfortunately, there is table salt included as well.
If you’re going to have toast or crackers, whether you’re sick or not, you have to make sure it’s whole grain or seed-based. I like to get mine with no oils, or at least a stable oil.
If you want to know more about what oils are stable and which ones are rancid, you can check out my video on it here.
My favorite brand of cracker is Simple Mills. It’s made with a high-oleic sunflower oil. Not all sunflower oils are stable, but “high oleic” means it’s organic and safe. It also doesn’t have sugars in it, because it’s made with almond flour.
This is a good example of what you can be eating instead of more common saltine crackers, especially if you’re putting them into your broth.
3. Orange Juice
Orange juice has been branded as an immune powerhouse because of its vitamin C content, but there are dozens of foods that have much higher amounts, without any negatives.
One average glass of orange juice has 45 more calories than an orange.
The fruit has 9 grams of natural sugar, which is reduced by the 2.3 grams of fiber content. This lowers the carb count, the impact of sugar on the body, and even provides a bit of protein.
The glass of orange juice has 26 grams of carbs, and 23 grams of sugar. This is basically a sugar bomb that’s going to increase phlegm, increase coughing, and decrease immune system health.
So what should you drink instead of orange juice? Drinking water is one of the most important things that you can do.
If you’re looking for vitamin C, there are things you can add to your water to achieve this, including:
Lemon
Lime
Strawberries
Acerola Cherry
You could also make a smoothie out of these fruits to give your body vitamins, minerals, and a healthy dose of vitamin C.
I also like to drink a low-carb green juice packed with nutrients and vitamin C that includes foods like broccoli, cucumber, and celery.
4. Vitamin C Powders/Chewables
Most common vitamin C tablets/powders that you can find available, are incredibly toxic. The following can be found on their ingredient labels:
Fructose – Increases triglyceride levels and is hard on the liver.
Maltodextrin – If it’s not tapioca or organic, then it will heavily spike insulin.
Citric Acid/Malic Acid – These are fine for the most part.
Orange Juice Concentrate – Has a lot of sugar.
Tocopherols – Protects freshness
You are getting vitamin C, but there’s ethylene glycol, which is a known toxin. There’s also Ace-K (acesulfame potassium), which is an artificial sweetener.
I would rather you use actual sugars than use artificial sugars, because artificial sugars have chemicals that trick your body.
They make you gain more weight, are hard on the brain, and deplete your immune system.
You can also get your vitamin C from food sources like acerola cherry, strawberries, lemons, limes, and broccoli.
5. Nutrient Shakes
A lot of people drink these when they’re in a hospital, trying to lose weight, or just trying to get nutrients in.
But the only thing that this is going to ensure is sickness. They advertise it as having 9 grams of protein, 250 calories, and 26 vitamins and minerals.
When you look at the ingredient label, you also find 23 grams of sugar, and two rancid oils, which congest cells and cause oxidation.
It has a neurotoxin in it, and two sources of toxic dairy. It does have 250 calories, but you’re taking in hormones, antibiotics, sugar, and known chemicals.
So what can you take instead of this?
I would make your own smoothies and use full-fat canned coconut milk for calories.
Blend it with your favorite berries, because they have a lot more vitamins and minerals, but lower sugar content. When you use fruits like pineapples, papayas, and bananas, you’re going to increase sugar content.
You can also add in coconut oil or collagen protein, which helps bolster the immune system and repair the gut.
This way, you can strengthen your immune system, as opposed to using whey protein or other proteins that introduce dairy.
You can then add in vegetables like spinach, which you can’t even taste. There are several smoothie recipes that you can find on drlivingood.com.
You can even make these smoothies chocolate or fruity, and they are a good option to drink if you’re not feeling very hungry.
Summary
Those are my top 5 foods that a lot of people eat when sick that actually just make the sickness worse.
We can do a lot better; we just need to identify these bad foods and get your habits changed to really support immune health.
If you want to learn about 13 other foods that people generally consider healthy but aren’t, check out my video on it here.
