Plan to optimise immunity

Wimmera dietitians are encouraging people to add more colour into their daily meals in order to optimise immunity as the country approaches the colder months.

As COVID-19 has increased the general public’s attention on health and wellbeing in recent months, Wimmera dietitians are using the opportunity to share their best health tips for supporting the immune system.

Health experts believe an optimised immune system boils down to balanced management of diet, sleep, exercise, stress and exposure to sunlight.

Herbalist Des Lardner said although some might struggle to get a balanced diet, adding more colours was the easiest way to incorporate more fruit and vegetables.

“It’s tricky getting people to eat healthy. I think COVID-19 might be giving us more incentive than before,” he said.

“The rainbow diet is easy to visualise, to get all colours of the rainbow. It looks more attractive, particularly for kids – children won’t typically go to a healthier diet by nature.”

Mr Lardner said to find more colours, there were a number of vegetables people should always have at that their disposal.

“Carrots, orange, cherry tomatoes or capsicums, red, spinach or zucchinis, green, mushrooms, white and red onions for purple,” he said.

“You can use all of these in a taco, soup, stirfry – keep them in your fridge on a regular basis, that way you get all the colours of the rainbow.” Rural Northwest Health dietitian Ilana Jorgensen said less than one in 10 people were getting enough vegetables in their daily intake.

“People often struggle to incorporate enough vegetables if they’re only including them in one meal of the day,” she said.

“Having a cooked breakfast, you might include some mushrooms, tomato or spinach. For ‘wet dishes’ like stews or casseroles, you can add lots of vegetables and still have that base flavour.”

Ms Jorgensen said 80 percent of the immune system was in the gut.

She said sources of fibre, probiotics, vitamin A and omega-3 fats encouraged good gut bacteria.

“Fibre is really important for our immune system because it helps with our gut health, like wholegrain cereals and grains,” she said.

“Yoghurt is the most common source of probiotic. It is recommended we have two or three serves of fish a week. Tinned fish can be a great source in the Wimmera area, because fresh fish isn’t widely available.

“And foods like carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato and eggs are great sources of vitamin A.”

Ms Jorgensen said including legumes in meals was an easy way to gain additional nutrients.

“You might include them in a breakfast, for example baked beans on toast – people might not be aware that legumes actually do count as vegetables,” she said.