Coronavirus is taking a toll on our immunity. As a result, hundreds of people are getting affected by COVID19 every day in the country. The worldwide researches targeting COVID19 Vaccines are yet to come in fruition. In the meantime what we can do is strengthen our immune system so that it can create antibodies to kill coronavirus; but how? Let’s focus on our daily life. Many of us start the morning with sipping from a cup of hot tea. Some people enjoy having refreshing tea in the evening after work. What if we create a habit of taking immune-boosting tea every day? It will not only freshen up the mind but also tone up the immune system of the body to knock out any viral infection. Read this article to know about some immune booster herbal teas.
Immunity Booster Herbal Tea Ingredients
Green Tea
If you are looking for the healthiest tea to start the morning with, drink green tea. It is a great source of caffeine which can provide an energy boost. What keeps green tea ahead of coffee is its amino L-theanine property, which delivers the body sustained energy for several hours preventing caffeine rush. Furthermore, Green Tea is rich in a variety of vitamin and mineral properties, like potassium (K), iron (Fe), calcium (Ca), protein, vitamin C, and vitamin A, which are necessary to better up the overall health.
Besides these, dried green tea leaves contain some other active substances like catechins, polysaccharides, fatty acids, essential oils, flavanols, chlorophyll, and many more plant substances. By virtue of these substances, green tea is blessed with diverse anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-enzymatic activities. Thus green tea can strengthen our immune system by preventing oxidative stress and autoimmune diseases.
How to Prepare Green Tea
Boil 2 cups of water for around 10 minutes. Put 1 tea bag or 1 tsp of green tea into the boiled water and let it steep for 3-5 minutes. Then remove the tea bag or strain the tea. For added flavor, you can add 1 tsp of lemon juice and 1 tsp of honey to the green tea.
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Chamomile Tea
If you are suffering from sleep deprivation, drink Chamomile tea every night before going to bed. Chamomile tea can calm nerves and release stress. What is it's magic? Chamomile tea contains an antioxidant called apigenin, which binds up to certain receptors of the human brain promoting sleep and reducing insomnia. After having sufficient sleep, the human body can make cytokines, a kind of protein that creates an effective immune response through fighting against infection and inflammation. Additionally, Chamomile tea can ease stomach pain, promote digestive health, control blood sugar levels, and clear up skin problems.
Chamomile tea has more to offer! You may know that White blood cells (WBC) play a vital role in the human body's immune system. When a foreign virus, bacteria, or fungi invades into the blood, WBCs search, recognize and destroy those invasive particles before they can cause disease. Chamomile tea can boost up your body’s production of WBCs that can destroy viruses, bacteria, and fungi. You can add Chamomile tea to your diet, to prepare your immune system in the impending war against COVID19.
How to Prepare Chamomile Tea
Put 1 tea bag or 1 tsp of Chamomile tea into hot boiled water. Then let the tea leaves steep for about 4 minutes. Then remove the tea bag or apply a filter. Adding 1 tsp of lemon juice with 1 tsp of honey can make your Chamomile tea more refreshing.
Turmeric (Haldi) Tea
Besides applying as a cooking ingredient in curries and other dishes, Turmeric can be consumed in the form of tea to strengthen your immunity in a natural way. Turmeric is rich in Curcumin, a bioactive compound, which serves as an anti-inflammatory agent. Curcumin may help the immune system of your body to knock out diverse viruses, especially flu.
As a powerful antioxidant Turmeric contains a high amount of anti-inflammatory properties that can soothe your nerves and heal the body-cells from within. Turmeric has many other benefits like lowering blood sugar levels, which can prevent type 2 diabetes. Some researches show that turmeric can reduce LDL "bad" cholesterol offering heart-protective possibilities. Turmeric is praised worldwide as a natural immune booster for its detoxifying ability that flushes out toxins from the blood cells.
How to Prepare Turmeric Tea
Mix 2 tsp of natural turmeric to 2 cups of water. In this mixture, you can also put some more spices like 1 tsp of ginger, a pinch of black pepper, 1 tsp of cinnamon, a pinch of clove, and a pinch of nutmeg. Now boil the mixture for 10 minutes. After straining the drink, you can also add 1 tsp of honey to enhance the taste.
Lemon Tea
Whenever you experience cold ailments like sore throat, constant headache, body pain, jammed nose, or watery eyes, one of the best home remedies you can opt for is having a steaming cup of Lemon tea. It can provide instant relief to your health system. In addition to this, Lemon tea can offer innumerable benefits like reducing pain and inflammation, lowering blood pressure, functioning of blood vessels, increasing urination to minimize fluid retention, improving digestion, etc. What is more? Lemon is used in the treatment for the common colds, flues, H1N1 (swine) flu, sinus inflammation, tinnitus, stomach upset, nausea, kidney stones, etc.
During the recent Coronavirus pandemic, doctors are applying vitamin C doses to treat COVID19, as there is no approved vaccine yet. The health specialists are suggesting people consume vitamin C every day to prevent COVID19 and other common kinds of viral infections. As lemons are good sources of Vitamin C, you can drink lemon tea instead of taking supplements.
How to Prepare Lemon Tea
First, boil 2 cups of water for about 10 minutes. Then simmer the heat and add 1 tsp of tea leaves. Let the tea leaves steep for a couple of minutes. After straining the tea, add 2 tsp of lemon juice. For extra flavor, you can add 1 tsp of honey to your lemon tea.
Ginger Tea
In traditional medicine, ginger root or powder has been widely applied to cure a variety of health issues like asthma, colds, coughs, nausea, morning sickness, arthritis, gastrointestinal disorders, travel illness, depression, etc. Ginger can not only halt the growth bacteria like E.coli, shigella, etc but also prevent virus infections. Ginger is loaded with Gingerols, an active compound that can save your mouth from oral bacteria. Ginger may help your immune system to fight against chronic diseases including lung disease, high blood pressure, heart problems, etc.
Ginger can help the immune system of your body in breaking down the stored toxins inside different organs. Ginger is naturally enriched with antioxidant properties that prevent damage to the DNA structure of your body cells. To toughen your immune system against COVID19, you can add ginger tea into your diet plan.
How to Prepare Ginger tea
Add 1tsp of ginger powder or fresh ginger to 2 cups of water. When the water comes to boiling add 1 tsp of black tea. Steep the mixture for a minute, then strain it. To make the drink healthier you can add 1 tsp of lemon juice and/or 1 tsp of honey.
Bottom Line:
There is no single ingredient that can serve as a magic pill to protect us from COVID19. To fortify the immunity system of the body, it is essential to reorganize your regular diet chart with immunity booster foods and drinks. So far we have discussed 5 types of herbal teas that can be prepared with common ingredients. Besides, refreshing the mind, these beverages can make your immune system stronger to fight off viral infections. However, the beverage-recipes might vary depending upon your precise taste and health conditions. Stay healthy!
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