12 Monsoon Superfoods: Essential Nutrients to Include in Your Diet to Boost Immunity

After the scorching heat of the summer, cool monsoon showers delight all of us. However, with the arrival of the monsoon, a plethora of infections loom around and challenge our immunity. The monsoon weather is breeding for various harmful microbes that can make you suffer from infections easily. So, we need to strengthen our immune system and choose foods carefully to improve our resistance to various diseases. When relishing foods in monsoon, we also need to choose nutritious options to strengthen our immunity, combat infections, and achieve a speedy recovery. So, you might be wondering which superfoods should be part of your monsoon weight gain diet, aren’t you? Check out the list of nutrient-dense foods to eat in the monsoon.

12 Superfoods to Savour in the Monsoon:

The renowned nutritionist Anjali Mukherjee explains how monsoon affects us. She guides us by mentioning, “We need to be careful about the food we eat and the water we drink during monsoon. During monsoon, our digestion gets weakened and the dosha, which is most likely to go out of balance is vaata. Vaata aggravation leads to gas formation and indigestion, which most of us unknowingly experience during monsoon.” So, when planning our diet in the monsoons, we need to choose nutrient-dense foods that can improve our health and immunity largely. Here is a list of superfoods for the rainy season to count on.

1. Bananas:

Water-borne diseases and gastrointestinal infections are common in the monsoons. The nutrient-dense fruit – banana offers the best defence against harmful infections. Banana is abundant in minerals and vitamins. The retinol and vitamin C content in bananas helps strengthen our immune system. Vitamin B6, magnesium, potassium, and other nutrients in this fruit nourish you, while the fibre content in bananas improves your digestion.

2. Corns:

You can’t stay away from a hot, roasted corn cob seasoned with spices and lemon juice when it is raining outside. Corn is a healthy monsoon food that you can add to your diet plan for weight gain. Being high in fibre, it helps improve your digestion. Corn is also a rich source of lutein and a couple of phytochemicals that help improve your vision.  It also comprises B vitamins and crucial minerals, such as iron, zinc, manganese, magnesium, and copper, that help strengthen your immune system. You can roast, steam, or boil corn and include it in your regular meals and salads.

3. Eggs:

Packed with proteins, eggs are another superfood that you can go for in the monsoon. The high protein content in the eggs helps you build muscle mass, fight off infections, and strengthen your immune system. The expert nutritionist Anjali Mukherjee offers us monsoon diet tips by mentioning, “The cardinal rule about eating during the monsoon is that you should never eat when you are not hungry.” This is why, when you are choosing foods for your regular diet, you should prefer to go for nutritious foods, such as eggs, that deliver a good dose of crucial nutrients.

4. Oranges:

Oranges are a powerhouse of vitamin C, which is an essential nutrient to boost immunity and combat various monsoon infections. Vitamin C also helps in the absorption of iron and improves your overall health. So, add fresh slices of oranges to your breakfast and monsoon recipes with Indian veg options, such as salads, smoothies, and oatmeal.

5. Bitter Gourd (Karela):

The well-known nutritionist Anjali Mukherjee suggests, “Vegetables recommended during the rains are the non-leafy ones such as turi, dudhi, parwal, suran, gavaar, tinda and karela.” So, you can choose bitter gourd or karela for your diet. Although it may taste a little bitter, bitter gourd offers a plethora of health benefits. It is a great source of vitamin C, which helps enhance your immunity to ward off infections in the monsoons. Additionally, bitter gourd provides you with strong antiviral benefits that offer a boost to your health.

6. Ginger and Garlic:

Adding raw ginger to your diet is another effective monsoon diet tip to improve your health and immunity. It offers you powerful antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal benefits that help you keep various infections at bay. You can also have ginger tea as a solution to alleviate sore throat, flu, nasal congestion, sinus pain, flu, and colds.

Garlic is another natural ingredient that you can count on to beat monsoon infections. It has potent antibacterial and antiviral effects that help you combat monsoon infections. Regular inclusion of fresh garlic in your diet can help you keep various monsoon-prevalent respiratory infections, such as cough and common cold, at bay. So, ensure that you include fresh garlic in your regular cooking preparations.

7. Coconut Water:

One of the simple yet overlooked ways to stay healthy and keep bacterial infections at bay in monsoon is maintaining your body hydrated. Develop the healthy practice of sipping coconut water regularly. Abundant in electrolytes, coconut water is a healthy fluid that helps flush out toxins from your body. Also, it provides you with potent immunity-boosting effects that help you keep your heart and skin healthy. Have coconut water available at room temperature. Having a little lemon juice or pineapple with it can help you have a boost of vitamin C.

8. Pomegranates:

Loaded with essential nutrients and antioxidants, pomegranate is a nutritious fruit that safeguards you against various infections by boosting your immunity. Vitamin B content in this delicious fruit boosts the production of red blood cells (RBCs) and improves your blood circulation. Pomegranates also supply you with proteins, carbohydrates, and healthy fats that help improve your health in the monsoon. So, include pomegranates in your monsoon recipes and Indian veg options.

9. Yoghurt:

The intake of probiotics is another easy way to stay in the pink of health in the monsoon. Yoghurt, buttermilk, and curd are loaded with probiotics that help improve your gut health naturally. This helps you combat bad bacteria, have smooth digestion, and ensure good gastrointestinal health in the rainy season. Along with promoting good health of your gut flora, yoghurt and probiotic foods also improve your psychological health and keep your heart healthy. So, enrich your weight gain diet in monsoon with probiotic foods.

10. Cumin Seeds:

Cumin seeds are a powerful addition to your monsoon recipes Indian veg options to keep food-borne diseases at bay and improve your digestion. They contain essential nutrients, such as iron, and beneficial plant compounds that help boost your immunity. The flavonoid content in cumin seeds acts as antioxidants that boost your immunity. The consumption of these nutritious seeds also helps your body combat bacteria and parasites prevalent in the monsoon.

11. Turmeric:

Widely used since ancient times, turmeric is the healthiest spice to strengthen your immune system in the monsoon. It helps your body fight against bacterial, fungal, and viral infections effectively. The curcumin content in the spice offers anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antifungal effects. So, it helps prevent or fight flu and other monsoon infections. Also, turmeric is a natural antibiotic used in Ayurvedic medicine. So, include this medicinal spice in your regular monsoon recipes in Indian veg meals.

12. Apples:

The adage “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” holds water. Apple is rich in essential nutrients that help boost your immunity, improve digestion, and enable you to stay healthy naturally. The year-round available fruit is a great source of minerals, such as iron, potassium, calcium, and iodine, and vitamins, such as vitamins A, C, B1, and B2. So, make it a point to munch on a fresh apple daily in the rainy season.

Now that you know these superfoods that can help you beat monsoon infections and ailments naturally, make sure that you add them to your regular diet. Consulting certified nutritionists and dieticians, such as health experts at Health Total, can help you receive customized monsoon diet tips to help you achieve the best health benefits. Our diet plan for weight gain not only helps boosts your immunity but also meets all your nutritional needs and prevents or lowers the potential health risks. So, waste no time, reach out to us at Health Total and enjoy the monsoon showers without worrying about your health with our personalized monsoon diet tips and superfoods.

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