The events of the past months have highlighted the importance of keeping yourself healthy. Making the right lifestyle choices are essential now more than ever. One of the most significant changes you can make is to start eating healthier.
The right dietary choices can significantly boost your immune system, helping your body resist diseases and fight off viruses. These four ingredients are full of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that help you be healthier than ever. Learn how you can incorporate these tasty morsels into delicious recipes.
Citrus Fruits
Everybody knows that citrus fruits are the most prominent sources of vitamin C in every diet. Oranges, lemons, and grapefruits are full of ascorbic acid, a nutrient that acts as a powerful antioxidant and shields cells from the harmful effects of pollution and other chemicals.
Citrus fruits taste divine as salads. Serving them uncooked helps preserve their nutritional value. Combine sections of tangerines, grapefruits, and navel oranges with a small fennel bulb, lots of salad greens like endives, or radicchio. Sprinkle them with white vinegar, honey, ginger, and some pepper. Finish it with a cup of crushed parsley, and you have a refreshing salad full of zing and tang.
Spinach
Spinach is a favorite of people who subscribe to a healthy eating lifestyle. And they have good reason to love this delicious green plant. Popeye’s strengthening meal is full of vitamins K, C, and B2. Its also brimming with nutrients such as calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium.
One of the tastiest recipes that use spinach comes from the Mediterranean, specifically Greece. Known as spanakopita, the delicious meal is made of phyllo dough stuffed with spinach, tasty feta cheese, scallions, and tangy dill. The rolls are then baked until browned, and you can enjoy this rich Greek dish.
Garlic
Garlic is used in nearly every dish that has a rich aroma. Unfortunately, eating garlic does have the side-effect of carrying its distinct odor in your breath. This odor comes from allicin, and it’s also linked with significantly improving your immune system. Aside from that, allicin is also used to treat cardiovascular illnesses.
You can serve a very healthy, if also very fragrant meal that involves a lot of garlic. Start by frying many cloves of garlic in oil and stir-frying several cups of cooked rice in it. Set aside and sprinkle some crispy garlic chips on top. For the main course, coat your favorite chicken parts with garlic oil and put them in a roasting pan with a few whole cloves. Drizzle with lemon juice and bake until brown and tender. Voila! You can now eat a delicious meal full of essential nutrients.
Papaya
Yet another favorite of the health-conscious, a single papaya contains copious amounts of ascorbic acid, as much as 60 milligrams in a single serving. The creamy fruit is often used as a dessert or a topping, but it can also take front and center of the right meal.
One of the best ways to enjoy papaya is part of a wrap. Cook some shrimp in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mince slices of papaya until it resembles chutney. Arrange the cooked shrimp on large lettuce leaves and cover with a generous amount of papaya before folding. These shrimp and papaya wraps are high in protein and low in carbs.
Eating healthy is one of the easiest ways to strengthen your body. These ingredients help you accomplish that in the tastiest ways possible.