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Ep 22: Feed Your Immunity - Daily Foods That Protect You
25 Plays8 days ago
In this episode, we’re building on Episodes 18 shifting from how to stop suppressing your immune system to how to nourish and strengthen it every day. We’ll talk about simple, realistic ways to weave immune-supportive foods into your meals so it never feels complicated. From spicy, mucous-clearing ingredients like ginger and cayenne to antimicrobial powerhouses like garlic, honey, and oregano, you’ll learn how to layer these healing foods into your routine with ease.
Cruciferous vegetables — like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, arugula, and bok choy. These veggies are rich in compounds that help your liver detox and strengthen your body’s natural defenses.
Kim’s Immune Boosting “Shots” - Here
Tanya’s delicious dip recipe: Here
The Consistency Collective - doors are open!
Join us for a 6 week program to help you stay ground, nourished and connected this holiday season. We often know what we need to do to support ourselves but year after year we fail during the holidays. The Consistency Collective is intended to support you with accountability, provide tools to help keep you going and a supportive community to cheer you on.
Each week you will receive:
- Weekly video introducing the theme of the week providing tools and ideas to keep you accountable
- Nourishing recipes or resources
- A weekly touch point with Kim and Tanya to keep you accountable
Click here to join us: JOIN US! We can’t wait to see you inside the Consistency Collective!Plus, for those listening in real time, here’s a big announcement!!!
👉 This is the year to break the cycle.
Accountability is the missing link between knowing what to do and actually doing it, and you don’t have to do it alone.
Where to find us:
IG @whatsmyageagain.podcast / FB - What’s My Age Again Podcast
Email us at: wmaapod@gmail.com
Where to find Tanya:
IG @tlcholistic / FB @tlcholistic
Book with Tanya: https://tlcholistic.janeapp.com/locations/tlc-holistic
Join the TLC Community: https://www.patreon.com/tlcholistic
Where to find Kim:
IG @kimdesmarais.nutrition /FB @KimDesmarais
Book with Kim: Complimentary Connect Call
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Mission
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to What's My Age Again, the realest podcast for women who are done chasing trends and ready to feel empowered. Hi, I'm Kim. And I'm Tanya, holistic nutritionists and childhood best friends who've been there, done that, and bought the collagen.
00:00:16
Speaker
more than once. Each week we provide actionable steps that you can start today to help you thrive through every decade to come. We're cutting through the wellness noise to bring you honest conversations about aging, hormones, health, beauty, mindset, and everything in between.
00:00:33
Speaker
You see, we're also on a mission to age gracefully one WTF moment at a time, backed by research and real life. We're here to share
Navigating Midlife Transitions
00:00:42
Speaker
what actually works, what's a waste of time, and how to truly thrive through the messy, magical midlife transition.
00:00:49
Speaker
We're so happy you're here. Let's dive in.
Immune Health and Nutrition
00:00:53
Speaker
Hey friends, what is up? Welcome back to the podcast. um Kim, how are you? I'm good. Thank you. ah Hi, everyone. Welcome back. So good to be here with you today.
00:01:06
Speaker
in the thick of sugar and stress season. yes. The holiday season is upon us. The holiday season is upon us. And so is the colds and the flus and the viruses. So we talked a lot about not suppressing our immune systems in the past episodes.
00:01:28
Speaker
um And we opened up our medicine cabinet. Yes, we absolutely have. And I think today that we are going to talk about foods as promised when we were talking about sugar and suppressing the immune system. We briefly kind of went over some foods, but we were like, that needs another episode.
00:01:49
Speaker
And my friends, today is that episode. Immune supportive foods, but we'll do you one better. how you can actually incorporate them into your daily diet without them being weird, like with it being easy, you know?
00:02:05
Speaker
Yes. And you know, Tanya, you and I say all the time, food is medicine. And what I love about these foods, and we're going to dive deep into some of the, some of these great immune supportive foods is that they're so, yes, we're talking about them doing one thing, but they do so many different things.
00:02:24
Speaker
So, you know, love this episode. Exactly. That's such a good point. They wear a bunch of different hats. So we're going to kind of categorize them, but they will not be put in a box.
00:02:36
Speaker
So like that being said, in general, I think it's good for us to note, which we're probably all pretty much aware, a general diet that is whole food based, you know, when our plates are full of these beautiful foods, the fruits, the veggies, the complete proteins, all of the magic,
00:02:56
Speaker
This is a way that we should be eating not only to support immunity, but to support our general health. But we're going to take these foods and we're going to break them down even more to show you how they actually are supporting your immune health and why you need to have them on your plate.
00:03:14
Speaker
Exactly. And Tanya, you and i i think we've said in a previous episode, but it warrants saying again, you know, for your immune health, for your hormone health, for your gut health, variety is so important. So, you know, going into that grocery store, taking a look at all that produce and picking a wide variety and multicolored is going to get you different vitamins and minerals to support not only your immune system, as you said, Tanya, but your overall health, gut health, hormone health, everything.
00:03:46
Speaker
Eating the rainbow means something entirely different to me than it did when that was eating Skittles. Or Lucky Charms. Or Lucky cut Charms.
00:03:57
Speaker
Now we eat the rainbow of real, real foods. That's hilarious. Oh yeah. Taste the rainbow. I forgot about that. That was like their hashtag. Yes. Skittles.
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah. That was the rainbow I used eat, man. Good one. Which is we're here. Okay. Okay. So I say we start to break our foods down. Kim, you know we went back and forth on this.
00:04:22
Speaker
And I may or may have not um Google pronounced this word right before. so I'm going to say it probably once and then we're going to say what it is and we're never going to say it again. um So I've done it in my spelling that I can do it phonetically.
00:04:37
Speaker
So, mucolyctic foods. Mucolyctic is the word of the day. um Really, what this word means is we're referring to foods that actually have the ability to help break down that thick mucus.
00:04:52
Speaker
make that mucus thinner in the body and easier for us either to either cough it out, depending on if it's in your lungs, blow it out, et cetera. These are the foods we want when we are sick to get rid of what is inside the mucus. Of the congestion. The congestion.
Mucolytic Foods and Benefits
00:05:09
Speaker
Let's go with congestion. No one wants to hear the M word. Ew.
00:05:13
Speaker
No one wants to hear the um word. Ew. All right, first first um food to support congestion. Take it off. Cayenne.
00:05:24
Speaker
Cayenne pepper or capsicum can help actually thin out that mucus and clear, oh, there's the M word, thin out the mucus and clear the nasal passages. And also, like we said in the beginning, foods are like mother nature is just amazing.
00:05:41
Speaker
And foods have many different properties. Cayenne is also wonderful for blood flow. also great for your cardiovascular system. it does so much for our body. So yeah, that would be number one.
00:05:53
Speaker
Which makes sense because when you're not sick and eat a spicy taco, that nose is a run-in, right? And that's little bit of science, right? Absolutely. So, yeah, that's a good one, Kim.
00:06:05
Speaker
um Here's one where Kim is going to have a plethora of fun facts for us because I know she uses it a lot. And I use it as often as I can. But, Kim, you're my motivation.
00:06:15
Speaker
Is ginger. Yes. So ginger, again, has many hats, but when we're talking in terms of clearing out the M word, um it acts literally as nature's decongestant and it's an expellerant.
00:06:30
Speaker
because it is anti-inflammatory. So it also helps thin the congestion and reduce that inflammation. So when we're reducing inflammation, we're allowing things to flow a lot easier out of our body, right? And when we have the flow, it's easier for us to expel and to get rid of that congestion that is inside of us.
00:06:52
Speaker
Totally. And it won't get stuck and lead to even more infections, right? Like a sinus infection. You want to keep it moving. I, like you said, ginger is one of my favorite medicinal foods. um It's also, when we're talking about cold and flu, it's also antitussive, which means it's great for supporting a cough.
00:07:11
Speaker
So for example, when I have a sore throat or cough, I always make a ginger lemon honey tea to help coat the throat and reduce that coughing. As you said, ginger is also super anti-inflammatory and amazing for nausea as well. So coming off maybe like you know, um ah the stomach flu or something like that, ginger may be a first kind of gentle tea that you can have when you're starting to feel better.
00:07:39
Speaker
helps get rid it. And also pregnancy and all of that sort of stuff. Great for nausea, many hats aside from just being, you know, like a mucolyctic food, but yeah, many, many hats get it in your diet. So let's stop there for a little time out though, Kim, can you give me the best ways that you're getting ginger in your diet? So we can kind of get some examples to make it easy for people to incorporate it.
00:08:03
Speaker
Absolutely. i um, Well, I personally have ginger as a tea almost every day. So usually in the morning. What does that entail? Yeah. How do you this? So in the morning, well, first of all, one thing that can be really easy is if you take a little nub of fresh ginger, put it in your kettle, let it steep for about 20 minutes, and then you have your ginger tea. And you can actually take that once it's cooled and leave that in your fridge.
00:08:29
Speaker
It can make a nice mocktail in the in the holiday season as like a base, or you can heat it up and have it um every morning as your tea, just add, you know, heat up the water, add some lemon, and there you go.
00:08:45
Speaker
I also have it in a lot of stir fries, soups, so many different things. So really, it is really actually accessible. Like it's, you know, not, it's not as, I know people see myself included, not now, but like, you know, earlier on you see this like gnarly route and you're like, how does one peel this and deal with it? But it's, you know what I mean? It's not as difficult as it seems. And I think Kim has a tip for us. Have a tip.
00:09:13
Speaker
you know It's so funny. I have a tip and I think I should reference it. I think it was Megan Telpner who gave this amazing tip that changed my life. Okay. Peel your ginger with a spoon.
00:09:24
Speaker
Yes. Take that spoon and scrape it and just wash it really well and do a quick scraping. And if it's organic, pop it in there. Like you just scrape off the gnarly bits and there you go.
00:09:37
Speaker
Super simple. Yeah, I do that too. And yeah, it's definitely not my tip. Came from somewhere, but like yeah So ginger is actually really accessible a thousand percent. um So something else that's really accessible that also helps that we might not even think about in this sort of way is um certain fruits that contain the phytonutrient corserton, which is absolutely magical. It is so helpful in so many different alleys and avenues, allergies, allergies.
00:10:06
Speaker
but to kind of keep it close to what we're talking about today for helping you to know, drain your sinuses, drain your lungs, apples and berries contain a really good amount of Corserton and it really helps have that flow out. And that's an easy one. An apple a day, and apple a day we talked about in our episode of blood sugar, you know, the, again, Kim, this keeps happening. Those old sayings becoming true. An apple a day keeps the doctor away, right?
00:10:34
Speaker
Our grandparents knew best. Really. seriously So this one's an easy one to incorporate an apple a day, toss some frozen berries, you know, ah organic frozen berries from Costco during this winter season into your smoothies, let them thaw, put them into your yogurts, but like eat these foods abundantly. Because again, aside from helping when you are sick to expel the M word.
00:10:57
Speaker
They do yeah so much more. Absolutely. And love quercetin as that antihistamine. So this apples and berries and quercetin rich foods really carry you into spring when allergy season starts as well.
00:11:11
Speaker
It decreases the inflammatory response and histamine response to allergens. Another great source of quercetin and another mucolytic food would be onions.
Antimicrobial Foods and Preparation Tips
00:11:26
Speaker
Absolutely. I think that onions deserves a deep dive from Kim because I know she is biting at the bit to talk about onions because they also fall under. We'll talk about these next foods in a second, but we can mix this up a bit under antimicrobial foods as well, which are foods that naturally help the body fight microbes, bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites. So take it away on the onions, Kim.
00:11:51
Speaker
Absolutely. You said it best. And onions are antimicrobial, so antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal. They're also a great source of quercetin, which we just said, which helps reduce inflammation, reduce the histamine response.
00:12:08
Speaker
um It's full of volatile oils and helps the respiratory system. Onions are a superfood. They are like, honestly, part of the OG medicine, like along with gar garlic, like back in the times of like Plato and like ancient, like Rome, like you read about these people using onions, even on their feet. I do this when I'm sick. I cut up onions.
00:12:32
Speaker
I put them, my husband loves this because he hates onions. So we make an onion bed and he's just thrilled about it. Let me tell you. But you cut up onions and I put them on my the soles of my feet with socks.
00:12:45
Speaker
And let me tell you what that does when you are sick, because that is transferring through your skin and entering your body in different ways as well. And it amps up detoxification and elimination, which we really need to support on the day-to-day, but obviously even more when we're sick, because we don't want, as you said earlier, to think for things to get worse and worse. We need to keep those pathways moving.
00:13:10
Speaker
absolutely love onions um so add onions to your diet and that's an easy one too guys tip for me if your husband doesn't like onions or your kids or whatever either do what kim does dice the crap out of them and make them tiny when she has to hide things for her children because i see this on her social media or for me i can't necessarily hide them from my husband but when you cook onions well in soups and you know stews and stuff like that like the properties are still there within the broth but it's not like you're eating a raw onion and you know it you're still getting that inside just delicious absolutely any other foods under this category tanya that you want to talk about
00:13:51
Speaker
I think that we can just lump in Pineapple is one that can be important. And if we're trying to fill up our um plates with fresh fruits and vegetables, phytonutrient bromelain, which also is very anti-inflammatory and can help but expel mucus, would be one of my favorite things when I am sick, to be honest with you. And also sometimes I'm craving fruit when I'm sick.
00:14:16
Speaker
So it's going with those apples, berries, and pineapple. to kind of expel that mucus inside. Totally. And to go a little further with the fruits, everybody thinks of oranges, high in vitamin C, the acidity in this in in the citrus fruits can help break down the mue mucus as well.
00:14:33
Speaker
All right. and Amazing. Since we were talking about antimicrobial, let's go there. um So antimicrobial foods are are foods that naturally help the body fight bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
00:14:49
Speaker
And I think my number one, maybe above onions, maybe, would be garlic. um'm I'm high-fiving you from here. That's my personal number one over onions. And I see that's, yeah, that is part of, just like we said, that's the OG.
00:15:07
Speaker
Garlic and onions are like the OG food is medicine. Like we see that when we're looking back and, oh my gosh, so much yes for the garlic. So much yes. So the active compound in garlic is allicin.
00:15:21
Speaker
And so when garlic is crushed or chopped, allicin is released. And that's a sulfur compound that has strong antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal effects.
00:15:34
Speaker
So one thing that I love to do, and it's actually kind of a medicine cabinet thing in my house, time preventatively ideally, but as soon as someone gets sick, most definitely is I take honey, um local organic honey, and I add if it's in a If it's immediate that I need it I actually chop up the garlic.
00:15:56
Speaker
If I can do it ahead of time, I'll put the full cloves in and to let that sit on your counter. And then the honey helps release the allicin. And honey also has antiviral, antibacterial properties as well in it.
00:16:12
Speaker
If you get unpasteurized and local. um And that we have a couple of teaspoons per day. And that is a medicinal thing that we do in our home.
00:16:23
Speaker
I love this. So I have a quick question, not asking for a friend, asking for myself. So I want to do this. I've seen you do this in years past on your social media and how magic is that?
00:16:34
Speaker
So for me, when I'm preparing garlic, as you had just mentioned before, like it is when the garlic is chopped or crushed, that's when the most sulfur compound that healing Alison is released.
00:16:47
Speaker
So when you're putting whole cloves, in the honey, do you crush them a little bit first or the whole clove and that honey still draws it out somehow? The honey draws it out.
00:16:58
Speaker
Yes. And so, but, but if, if it's, it takes a while, like you need to leave that on your counter for a few days. So if, if you want to take it today or tomorrow, I would chop it up, not letting that juice, you know, when you like crush it, I would keep everything intact, cut it up, put it in the honey.
00:17:20
Speaker
And let it sit on your counter for a few hours and then for it. love that. Thank you for the clarification on that. think. And you know what? We can look that up to make sure it's the truth, but this is just the way I've been doing it.
00:17:32
Speaker
We will. Honestly, we will. Because we can't know everything. We're pretty darn smart, but like, yes. yeah No, but Kim, that makes sense with that honey drawing it out, right? Exactly. Can i also say a quick note about garlic?
00:17:47
Speaker
Garlic broth. It's so funny. So many people like, I can't have too much garlic because the garlic breath. And I want to just give a little love to garlic breath because what's so interesting is garlic contains volatile oils, which is essentially what happens with garlic breath.
00:18:04
Speaker
But when your body, when you eat the garlic, it is absorbed into your bloodstream. It goes through our respiratory system. All that antiviral antibacterial properties are literally going through your lungs.
00:18:17
Speaker
and then come out as garlic breath. That means it's working its magic. So think of garlic breath in a different way now. Heck yeah. It's like a badge of honor when I have garlic breath. I'm like, garlic breath, y'all. I'm not going to apologize for it. Just letting you know, garlic breath. So thank you for that explanation. It's so true.
00:18:38
Speaker
And so amazing for our respiratory health. So colds, all those things, garlic. garlic which actually brings us which we'll briefly touch upon exactly um as kim so amazingly described how that honey is also in itself an antimicrobial food again not pasteurized not billy b i don't even know if billy b is a honey anyways that's what i grew up on billy b honey and in the squeeze jar i don't think it's honey kim but anyway, glen I don't know. It's probably corn syrup, but honey, real honey is, um, and especially Manuka honey and cha-ching.
00:19:15
Speaker
If you're listening and you're like, yeah, I looked at the Manuka honey. It's expensive. I mean, it is for a reason. It's healing properties are different and elevated over that raw unpasteurized honey, but raw unpasteurized honey is still an absolutely amazing tool. And it's so cool how it works. It inhibits the bacterial growth.
00:19:35
Speaker
And it actually, this is such a side note, but promotes wound healing. And I just need to tell you this really fast. um My old dog, Pete, had something going on with his paw and the vet wanted to put him on antibiotics.
00:19:47
Speaker
And I didn't want to, so I didn't. so But I spoke to my vet and she's awesome. I just love her so much and she's so open and she's magic. So anyways, I said, I think I'm going to treat this with honey.
00:19:58
Speaker
I think I'm going to put the honey on and then put a sock on and just repeat this several times a day. And she was like, that is such a good idea. And it healed. It was gone though within like five days because of honey, because it's a medicine.
00:20:13
Speaker
So it does inhibit um bacterial growth and it promotes wound healing. And it's really cool. When we're talking on a cellular level, it actually works to draw the fluid out of the cells, the the bacterial cells, and then that directly damages the cell walls and the cell dies.
00:20:32
Speaker
So cool. It's so magic. Absolutely. Love it as a cell. Love it as something like like we were talking about with coughs soothing soothes a sore throat where you've been coughing for a while and that honey like when we were talking about the garlic and honey mixture if you're using and you must use the unpasteurized because when we pasteurize things we take those properties that that we take those properties out it won't go but like it's antibacterial and not antimicrobial so keeping it on your counter is okay
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah, it kind of goes back to our what the O when we talk about how we don't cook with certain oils because heat's going to damage them. Pasteurized honey is delicious. I'm sure it tastes the same, but it's just a sweetener now.
00:21:18
Speaker
There's no magic in there. Exactly. Love it. No magic. Okay, continuing with antimicrobials. Ginger also falls into this category. I know we talked about that as well, um but it inhibits microbial growth.
00:21:34
Speaker
And biofilm formation, for those of you who have heard of, you know, when somebody is resistant to an antibiotic, it's because there are biofilms. Our bacteria gets really smart.
00:21:47
Speaker
So if somebody is taking antibiotic after antibiotic after but antibiotic, the bacteria gets smart and creates biofilms around it. Ginger is a compound. Ginger has compounds in it. that actually helps break through those biofilms to help you get rid eventually of that bacteria.
00:22:06
Speaker
Again, also magic. The body is magic and food is magic as medicine. Like just, I love talking about this. Absolutely. Can you tell our nutritionists when we're so passionate about ginger?
00:22:20
Speaker
I love it. We're so passionate about ginger. We're going get matching sweatshirts. We love ginger. Like, and we'll wear them loud and proud. um You were talking earlier, Kim, about citrus fruit. So let's zero in on one. And I bet you you can guess which one it is.
00:22:35
Speaker
Our friend, the lemon. Mm-hmm.
00:22:40
Speaker
i'm using lemons i lemons daily i have lemon water daily but when it comes down to being sick i definitely put lemon juice in all of my hot tea mixed with ginger and manucka honey and lemons a really easy one guys for you to get into your day-to-day life not just with lemon water but it's so easy to use a bit of lemon in a salad dressing. Heck, it's so easy just to squeeze fresh lemon on your veggies. Like that's something that you guys should be getting in every day that is really, really simple. And as you mentioned before, Kim, because it has an acidic pH, but it's not acidic in the body. So it's not going to increase your acid, another podcast, but just trust us on this.
00:23:22
Speaker
It helps inhibit the bacterial growth. And again, that vitamin C helps helps to support and boost that immune immune function and repair the mucous membranes, which are often really sad. Those are ones that are in our nose when we're sick, you know, and they get all ripped to shreds and irritated. So it's like a repair and a remedy all in one.
00:23:46
Speaker
And I love what you said. And I think it demands repeating Tanya, because I think I had this conversation yesterday with a friend who was talking about acid reflux and avoiding lemons. And And I think the, you know, it's a citrus flip fruit, which seems acidic, but in our bodies, it's actually so alkalizing lemons.
00:24:08
Speaker
So that I think not a lot of people necessarily know. No, I think a lot of people think it's the first on the list of not having for, you know, when you're trying to alkalize your body, but surprise, surprise, it's the exact opposite. So you're right.
00:24:23
Speaker
Worth repeating for sure. Okay, what's next on your top list, Kim? Next, and I think we talked about this in our medicinal cabinets because we both have oil of oregano, but oregano as a food is also on the list of antimicrobials. And so antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, it helps break down bacterial membranes and inhibit viral replication. So it helps stop and prevent bacteria colds from going, you know, when you just have that cold that drags on and on and oregano really helps shorten the duration of a cold or cough.
00:25:01
Speaker
Yeah, and with that um inhibiting viral replication, yeah so even when you're at the start, so you're either you're in it and it's going on and on and on, or when you're at the start, you can halt it, you know, if you're doing the right things. And oregano is such a food to do that. The virus can't replicate, so it doesn't go any further than maybe minor sniffles for a day, and you're huh.
00:25:22
Speaker
yes I thought it was getting thick. Yes, I didn't. So oregano, for me, ah I felt used to always be challenged. I'd buy these bunch of organic herbs and be like, hmm.
00:25:33
Speaker
what the crap am I going to do with these? Use a little bit and watch them die a slow death in my fridge. But now I've learned that um they're so easy to incorporate in like salad dressings, blended salad dressings.
00:25:46
Speaker
They're really easy to incorporate into smoothies. And no, I don't want a cilantro smoothie in the morning, but when you have your berries and your other stronger flavors, some of the less potent herbs like oregano, you can blend in there and not even know about it.
00:26:02
Speaker
And Kim, you want to know my favorite indulgence lately? I am obsessed. making dips for like Mary's crackers or like homemade sourdough where I'm just using a beautiful olive oil and I'm adding all these fresh spices. So yeah, so I've been doing a bowl of olive oil, putting all this chopped oregano in, chopped dill, roasted red peppers. You can do olives. You can do sun-dried tomatoes.
00:26:28
Speaker
And then adding for me, some plant-based um cultured cashew feta. And like, I'm getting all these herbs and ah it tastes like I'm having takeout to me. Like it's just delicious.
00:26:40
Speaker
So it's been easier to incorporate herbs. Oh my, you got to post that one on your social for everybody because that, or put it in your community, Tanya, because that one is, that's a great idea. No, thank you. So yeah. love it And just like we said about veggies, sorry interrupt, but just like we said about veggies for all you out there, try and sort of have an abundance of different herbs. Like once a week, try something different because just like oregano is antiviral, so is thyme.
00:27:09
Speaker
So is rosemary. So are chili peppers, right? So we want to just have a variety of different veggies and fruits as well as herbs and spices.
00:27:20
Speaker
you're That's amazing, Kim. And for me, like rosemary, you can't make a good like um roasted potatoes or even sweet potatoes without like that fresh rosemary on there. So very easy to get those in and such a good point. Variety in all things, including our fresh herbs. So I love that idea. That's amazing.
00:27:39
Speaker
um Speaking about things that are herbs and normally green, i think this is a good one for us to say every time we're like, oh, we're grabbing a matcha. Me and Kim We're like, oh, we'll be there in one second when we go to start recording.
00:27:51
Speaker
Just grabbing a matcha. Someone is always grabbing a matcha. And surprise, surprise, it's not just delicious. I've got one right here. You can't see it because we're not on video, but I've got one right next to me. You're absolutely right.
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah. So
Antioxidants and Detox Foods
00:28:07
Speaker
we love matcha because it does not only, again, many hats, does it fall under that antimicrobial food? So green tea as well. So I mean that green tea too, but also matcha, the full leaf, the full beautiful leaf in a powder.
00:28:21
Speaker
And again, other hats, as we know, super anti-inflammatory, which will also help when you're sick. a beautiful antioxidant in general. And again, this has the power and ability to actually bind to the bacterial membranes in your body of the virus.
00:28:39
Speaker
And it completely disrupts their function. It's, it's wild. And it's showing too, to have antiviral effects, um, on things like the common flu and other common cold viruses out there. So yes, it's fantastic. And it's, it's,
00:28:55
Speaker
You know, at we when we talk about like, for those of you who want to decrease coffee consumption, and there are some of you out there that do, matcha does have caffeine in it. It does sort of give you that little bit of energy that you might like, but also it's a calming energy because it also contains L-theanine. So, so many different reasons to love matcha.
00:29:17
Speaker
And love matcha, we do. um Here's one that maybe we don't all love as much, but we're going to learn to love. is cruciferous veggies.
00:29:28
Speaker
So we're actually going to put a link in the show notes that will just take you to show all of the different kinds of cruciferous veggies. But for the most part, we're talking things like broccoli, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and these specifically also are very high in sulfur. and indole-3-carbinol, which Kim has has talked about before. So amazing for so many other reasons, including hormones, detoxification, but also antimicrobial.
00:29:58
Speaker
So for a second, i just want to talk about usage on these because we said we're not just going to preach to you the foods, but just give you some ideas. Listen, I'm a nutritionist.
00:30:09
Speaker
Surprise if you didn't know that. Hi, I'm a nutritionist. I don't want a plate of steamed broccoli. I don't want it. I don't want a plate of steamed cauliflower because the second that starts to get cold, I just want to drop it out of my mouth.
00:30:22
Speaker
And I am somebody who eats so many cruciferous vegetables, but I've learned over time, there's so many ways to eat them that you can love them. If you're not a huge fan of broccoli or cauliflower,
00:30:36
Speaker
make them into soups. They're delicious that way. And once you start to add different ingredients and that allows you to add other things like the onions, the garlic, that really helps. You don't like raw kale.
00:30:47
Speaker
Try to lightly saute it in some grass-fed butter or ghee, a little bit of Himalayan salt. My favorite is coconut oil. Yes. Which Kim, I think is going to be next on our list now that heard that.
00:30:58
Speaker
Um, There's ways that you can incorporate these veggies. You don't like Brussels sprouts? Cool. Well, then check the list. I know the reason why I'm saying that is because I don't like them.
00:31:10
Speaker
I haven't found a way to like them, but guess what? The good news is there's so many different other cruciferous vegetables like cabbage that I have every day that you can incorporate and you don't have to hate it.
00:31:21
Speaker
You don't have to hate it. Yeah. Find different ways to make them. I mean, I love, I think some of the easiest ways to just incorporate in your diet is to put one pan, cut them up, bake them in the oven with a little sea salt and coconut oil or avocado oil. And it's delicious.
00:31:39
Speaker
Or like Tanya said, adding them to salad, even like the roasted vegetables, add the roasted vegetables salads and then great with Tanya's dips ideas or, or homemade dressing.
00:31:51
Speaker
And one thing too, for those of you who, you know, cruciferous vegetables can be hard on the stomach. For those of you with IBS or some, or digestive, you know, sort of imbalances, steaming, as Tanya said, or roasting or cooking them down a little bit can help with digestion and incorporating them slowly until you can tolerate them.
00:32:13
Speaker
But again, cruciferous vegetables, I would say are a superfood. They do so much for our bodies. I couldn't agree more. And that's why I wanted to make the point to say, like, if you don't like a lot on the list, you're going to find ways to like them. it it Literally, there's so many different ways they can be cooked and prepared. Like you don't have to say, I don't like broccoli and that's the end of it, you know? So start experimenting, start looking for all those different recipes that are out there. You will find ways to love them if you don't already love them.
00:32:44
Speaker
Because I'm with you, Kim, top superfoods. Absolutely. And I think we briefly talked about coconut oil there. i use coconut oil daily, sauteing any type of leafy greens, again, variety, kale, bok choy, you know, collard greens, Swiss chard, a little bit of coconut oil, a little bit of sea salt, do a little saute and they're delicious as a side for every meal.
00:33:10
Speaker
um
Gut Health and Fermented Foods
00:33:11
Speaker
Coconut oil is antibacterial, antiviral. It is so wonderful for our bodies. Yeah. And some other spots, if you're not sauteing or doing stuff, you know, one certain day, ah use your coconut oil for baking to make your baking a lot more healthier and put a little bit of coconut oil, let's say in a smoothie.
00:33:33
Speaker
Those are some other ways that you can get it in nice and easy into your day. And while you're at it, you can put some on your, and you can use it as a moisturizer. Kim's like, while you're at it, slather that baby on. Cause I actually agree. actually When it comes to colds, there's nothing like a little bit of coconut oil under your chopped, dry, bleeding nose when you've been blowing it for a week.
00:33:55
Speaker
That is like instant relief. So there you go, guys. mu you for the coconut point oh my gosh. Okay. Next on the list. Cause I know we could talk, four years on this. There's so many medicinal foods. We love them. We talk about them all the time. Mushrooms, they are immune modulating. They ramp up. They're just, again, mother nature.
00:34:16
Speaker
So smart. They will literally ramp our immune system up when needed, when we're exposed to a virus or bacteria, and then also modulate or calm down our immune system when we're faced with allergies or you know autoimmune response, that sort of thing. They are a I'm going to keep saying superfood. They're an amazing food to incorporate in our diet.
00:34:39
Speaker
Yeah. And if you don't love mushrooms, again, you can look into a high quality work with a practitioner, um, mushroom powder. You know what I mean? So I'm not going to go into detail about those, but there are ways to get mushrooms in, even if you don't like mushrooms, right?
00:34:57
Speaker
Yeah. you can hide them. If you're thinking my kids hate mushrooms, I hide them, chop them up really fine, saute them with some onions and garlic, two more superfoods, and then add them to your pasta sauces or add them to your taco meat or whatever it is that you're making.
00:35:13
Speaker
Stews, chili, anything. Kim most likely is sauteing them in coconut oil. So boom, boom, boom. She's just rocking these up, baby. Rocking these up. So another one I want to talk about briefly before we yeah kind of wrap her up.
00:35:28
Speaker
probably two more. Let's pick our top two that have left. There's so many, but fermented foods and with fermented foods, a little goes a long way. So we're talking things like, um, sauerkraut, kimchi, um,
00:35:43
Speaker
ah actual cultured real yogurt, tempeh, kefir. So because these active compounds in there, the lactic acid and the bacteria, AKA probiotics, these literally compete.
00:36:01
Speaker
Fast analogy, Kim, fast. I haven't had an analogy for a while. Your gut is a huge house party. There are so many microbes in there. A lot of them are bad and they're trash in the house.
00:36:12
Speaker
The more good microbes we are introducing, AKA in these fermented foods, they are coming into the house and saying, you gotta go, you gotta get out. And they are taking over and helping balance these bad kinds of bacteria.
00:36:27
Speaker
And then they are giving us a whole bunch of benefits. um And this is absolutely necessary in lowering pathogen growth, ah sorry, growth and overall health.
00:36:39
Speaker
we strengthen the gut barrier and we know the gut basically is the immune system. Absolutely. The gut is, well, we talk about it so often. It is the foundation of our health, right?
00:36:52
Speaker
Hormone health, immune system, all the things. So a brain health, mood, you know, ah it's just so important. And as Tanya said, I like to think about adding fermented foods in condiment sizes. You're not having a bowl of sauerkraut here.
00:37:12
Speaker
um You're having a side, a small side of sauerkraut and ah little goes a long way, right? You just have to think about adding little bits of fermented food daily ideally to support your gut health yeah and I love that size and can be as simple as a mix-in I made a chickpea salad today for lunch or i just mashed my chickpeas you know what i mean a little bit of avocado mayo and whatever I like to dice pickles in there and instead of pickles I do like a tablespoon or two of sauerkraut and I mix it in and it's absolutely delightful so you're right and you know what pickles
00:37:48
Speaker
Speaking of pickles, they are one of the easiest ferments to make at home. So, you know, if you're interested in learning more about fermenting foods, you can reach out to us. We'll give you some of our fave recipes, but ferment you're your own pickles.
00:38:02
Speaker
And I mean, we could go on and on about fermented foods and what an actual ferment is versus a pickle. um But yeah, just adding little bits and experimenting with different types of fermented food is so amazing for your gut health.
00:38:17
Speaker
Noted, it's going to be an episode. I just added it to our list. So let's finish off this with one last antimicrobial food that we think is easy to put in our diet every single day.
00:38:29
Speaker
um'm I'm going to say that's ACV, apple cider vinegar. yeah Yes, yes. Good one. And this one actually does create an acidic environment and it literally actually kills bacteria and like fungi in the body. Mm-hmm.
00:38:47
Speaker
And again, talking about an acid, the bonus is this apple cider vinegar, again, many hats. We're not going to go into them for the purpose of this podcast. The bonus is it really does help balance that pH in the gut, supports digestion, microbiome, as Kim just finished saying, one of the roots and foundations of whole body health.
00:39:11
Speaker
So easy. Put it in, use it in a salad dressing, you know, incorporate in sauces, a little dollop in your soup. Like if you want to take a little shot of it, if that works for your body, very easy to incorporate.
00:39:25
Speaker
Totally. And Tanya, you you little bit mentioned it, but so many of us don't realize that the majority of us actually have low stomach acid.
00:39:36
Speaker
So you may have heard or seen people taking those apple cider vinegar shas shots as sort of like it helps support increasing that stomach acid before we eat our meals to then help with digestion.
00:39:49
Speaker
Um, so yes, so um as you mentioned, so many hats, we could get into so many things, but also, yeah, amazing for the immune system and killing that bacteria. So
Conclusion and Engagement Call
00:40:00
Speaker
I think we're going to sign off and end it here.
00:40:03
Speaker
ah I think that you have a really great list of foods. We hope that you do to start to incorporate if you not aren't already on your plate every single day. And now you have a little bit more of an understanding of what they do in your body. And when you're sick, ramp them up even more.
00:40:21
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you, Tanya. I think this was great. So fun, Kim. And if anybody wants recipes, I mean, I have an amazing, I'm going to put it on my Instagram. I think I put it as a real eons ago, but there's a, there's, we have a different type of shots in our house and we do immune supportive shots.
00:40:40
Speaker
So check the Instagram. I'll show that. And Tanya, you need to do, um, you need to put that, um, the oil dips on there too. I want to see that one. Yep. We'll link both of those as Instagram posts in the show notes. That's super easy for us to do. And then you guys can click away and have some shots as perimenopausal 45 year old instead of the 20 year old. Times changed, Tanya. Times have changed. Got shots.
00:41:08
Speaker
All right. All right. See you everyone next week. Bye. Bye. Bye. Hey guys, thanks so much for hanging out with us today. If this episode resonated with you, we would love it if you would hit like, subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend.
00:41:25
Speaker
We love to hear from you because let's be honest, this show is for you. If you have a topic you'd love us to tackle or want to learn more about something we talked about today, send us a message. We got you.
00:41:37
Speaker
Stay connected with us on social media at what'smyageagain.podcast for even more knowledge and inspiration between episodes. Kim and I aren't doctors or your healthcare practitioners.
00:41:50
Speaker
Everyone's body is unique, so always consult your own healthcare care provider before starting something new.