Immunity Salad

Posted by Dana McMahan

The flu has taken a heavy toll this year. I was down with it myself for nearly a week. So when my husband Brian told me today that he felt achy and really tired, I knew we had to take action quickly.

We were already out and about so we popped into Kroger for our weaponry. I picked up a piece of fresh ginger root and garlic while my husband hit the salad bar with instructions to create an immunity salad.

Once home I whipped up some blue cheese dressing (while a spoon full of sugar may make the medicine go down, creamy blue cheese dressing will make a salad lots more appealing – and help the garlic go down. Following Dr. Weil’s advice, I chopped a clove of garlic to release the allicin – a sulfur compound with strong antibiotic effects – and mixed it in a spoonful of dressing for my patient to swallow.)

While Brian prepared his salad I brewed a cup of ginger tea. According to Dr.Weil, “ginger is warming, anti-inflammatory and anti-nauseant. Ginger root tea helps relieve head and chest congestion while staving off chills.” I simply peeled the ginger root, added to a cup with hot water and sweetened it with a large dollop of honey.

Brian dug into his salad while the tea brewed. It was an immunity-boosting dream with powerhouse broccoli at center stage. One cup of this cruciferous green packs the daily requirement for vitamin C, a boost of beta-carotene — a powerful phytonutrient that boosts the immune system’s production of infection-fighting natural killer cells and T cells — and small but useful amounts of zinc and selenium, helpful little partners in immune defensive actions. Green peppers and cauliflower also kicked in some vitamin C. Hardboiled eggs contributed more zinc and carrots served up some more beta carotene. Onions packed with Quercetin, a flavonoid that fights a variety of illnesses, brought up the rear guard.

All these powerful foods, mixed in with an abundance of greens and topped with blue cheese dressing, are hopefully fighting infection on Brian’s behalf as I type. And if nothing else, the salad tasted great!

TAGS: Broccoli, Immune System, Immunity, Salad, Vitamin C
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[ READER COMMENTS ]

1

Brenda said:

Wonderful salad, great ideas on Dr. Weil's site! Thanks for posting this.
I make a great huge mug of healing ginger and lemongrass tea when I feel a cold or 'flu coming on...just add quite a few rounds of chopped lemongrass to your mug of ginger and honey tea. Then squeeze in a generous squoosh of juice from 1/4 of a lemon...or 1/2, if you're brave.
Sometimes, I add in a bag of green tea and let that steep for a few minutes.
Salut!
Good health, long life!

Posted at 07:51 PM, on March 2 2008

2

Dana McMahan said:

The lemongrass and ginger addition to ginger sounds wonderful! I've not cooked with lemongrass. Do you get it fresh?

Posted at 06:51 AM, on March 3 2008

Immunity Salad

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