There are many foods that may help boost your immune system and support overall health. Here are a few examples:

1. Fruits and vegetables: Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which can help support immune function. Some good options include citrus fruits (such as oranges, lemons, and grapefruits), berries, leafy greens, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes.
2. Whole grains: Whole grains, such as whole wheat, oats, and quinoa, are rich in fiber and other nutrients that can support immune health.
3. Lean proteins: Lean proteins, such as chicken, turkey, fish, and tofu, are rich in amino acids that are important for immune function.
4. Nuts and seeds: Nuts and seeds, such as almonds, walnuts, chia seeds, and flaxseeds, are rich in healthy fats and other nutrients that can support immune health.
5. Fermented foods: Fermented foods, such as yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi, contain probiotics, which are beneficial bacteria that can help support the immune system and overall health.

It is important to note that no single food can guarantee immunity, and the best way to support your immune system is to follow a healthy, balanced diet that includes a variety of nutrient-rich foods.

There’s something besides viruses and bacteria that can weaken your immune system and make it more difficult for you to stay healthy - stress. Every season can be one that brings on a different type of stress.

When the fall season rolls in, it brings with it back to school and the holidays. There’s Thanksgiving and then Christmas. While these can be times of celebration, more often than not, they bring in a lot of stress.

Unmet expectations during holidays can cause stress. Many people have a picture of what they’d like the holiday to be like, but inevitably, it falls short. There can be family strife, relationship issues, or work deadlines that are tighter due to the holidays.

Many people also experience a lot of financial pressure. It can be stressful and expensive to spend the money to travel to be with family during the holidays. On top of that, there are gifts to buy for relatives, friends and coworkers.

The demand on your time increases, too. All of a sudden, the number of commitments you have to deal with can double. It seems that there’s always something to take care of, another store to visit or a purchase to make.

You may start to feel that you’re running yourself ragged. This can easily cause stress and anxiety during the holidays. You want to enjoy them, but you’re too tired physically. If there’s drama or family strife going on, you can also end up worn out emotionally and may find yourself just wishing the holidays were over.

During these winter months with less light, some people are affected with SAD, which can make everything feel even more stressful and depressing. Other seasons bring other challenges.

During the summer when the kids are out of school, if you work full time and your kids are younger, then you have to deal with childcare issues. You may find that you’re having to pay more money for childcare....

It’s beneficial to choose the best foods to eat each season that will boost your immune system. When your immune system is strong, you’re less likely to get sick, regardless of whatever is going around.

There are plenty of great foods that can aid your immune system. During the fall, you can find an abundance of pumpkins. This food is loaded with plenty of vitamins. For example, it’s rich in vitamin A.

This vitamin is necessary to help with your body’s cellular health - including boosting the ones for your immune health. Make sure you eat plenty of squash as well. This vegetable is also loaded with vitamin A.

Plus, it contains a B vitamin, which can help fight against the winter blues. Don’t neglect eating fruit in the fall, even though some may not be as plentiful as they are in the summer.

One fruit that you should have plenty of during the fall are apples. Be sure to eat the skin, too - since apples contain flavonoids that fight inflammation and boost immune health.

In the winter, many people stop eating the foods that help the immune system and that’s a mistake. There’s plenty of produce that you can choose that will help keep you healthy through the season that’s known for colds and the flu.

Eat a diet that’s rich in vitamins, like kale. This is plentiful for antioxidants and other nutrients that boost immunity. Have some spinach and other leafy greens, too. These foods contain plenty of vitamins - including the important vitamin C....

You may not realize that when seasons change, so does your ability to achieve good sleep. There are physiological changes that take place. For example, as the days get lighter and longer, this affects the amount of melatonin in your body.

Less melatonin means less sleep. In the spring season, Daylight Savings Time can disrupt your sleep. The changing time can throw off your sleep schedule. You can also have trouble sleeping due to the allergies that this season often ushers in.

In the summer months, the light also causes sleep changes. A lot of people find that they develop insomnia when summer hits. That’s because, just like in spring, your melatonin levels are altered.

The amount that you have in your body lessens when it’s light out and this is what affects your circadian rhythm. In the fall and winter, there’s not as much sunlight and people aren’t outdoors as often.

This can cause drops in the amount of vitamin D your body has. Once this level drops, the body doesn’t have as much of the neurotransmitter responsible for producing melatonin.

If the vitamin D level drops low enough, it can even bring on SAD. It’s important that you get enough sleep. When you don’t, it impairs your immune system because sleep boosts your T cells.....

The changes that happen in your immune system in the seasons have a lot to do with how many UV rays you’re exposed to. In the summertime, it’s a lot easier to get access to UV light.

This is another reason why illness is less prevalent. When the days are warm and the weather is good, you’ll find more people outside. They’ll work out in the yard, and engage in outdoor activities like swimming.

More time is spent outdoor than inside. The exact opposite happens when winter hits. The majority of people want to stay inside where it’s warm. The overcast skies and chilly weather just don’t have the same pull that the warm, sunny days have.

But that’s exactly what the body needs. To be soaking up sun. When you have exposure to UV light, it works to help boost the body’s production of vitamin D. In turn, this vitamin is what works to aid the body in being able to process other helpful nutrients and vitamins.

Plus, it works as a warning to the body’s immune system when there’s an infection or viral invader. Sunlight boosts your T cells through your vitamin D. This is why your immune system is stronger in the summer months.

It’s also why you need to make sure you get or replicate that light in the winter as well as during the other times of the year. You can do this by planning outdoor activities regardless of the season...

When the winter chill sets in, you may have heard people talking about how they have more body aches and health issues. Certain health problems, such as arthritis, act up more in the winter months than in the warmer spring or summer ones.

That’s because when the seasons change, your immune system does too - at a cellular level. This can be particularly hard on certain diseases that are autoimmune in nature, but even someone who has no current health problems can find themselves struggling during seasonal changes.

That’s because the parts that make up the immune system are busier at different degrees when it’s the summer months versus when the season changes to winter. In the summer, these parts of the immune system work more aggressively in the way that they function.

This activity helps to squash reactive symptoms that stem from conditions such as arthritis as well as health issues such as the common cold. But when winter hits, the immune system doesn’t work as aggressively.

It’s much easier for an inflammation to hit and get the upper hand. This is why, when you’re exposed to an illness, you’re more likely to get it in the wintertime...

The following plan is to help you build a healthier lifestyle that can help you maintain a robust immune system. The 21 days are divided in three weeks, and each week, you will add a little something to help you build on your new healthy lifestyle.

Before you start this plan, ask yourself how ready you are to make that lifestyle change. Your motivation to change will be the number one reason if you can maintain the 21-day plan.

Answer the following questions to assess your change readiness.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being not motivated, 10 being highly motivated), how motivated are you to disconnect from the digital world?

1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8       9       10

If your answer was below 10, what would help you move one score higher? In other words, what would make you more motivated to change?....