Build Your Immune System by Interacting with Microbes of Nature
Build your immune system by interacting with the microbes of nature! In other words, get outside and play in the dirt. A terrific way to do this is with a garden, especially an immune-boosting-vitamin C-rich-garden.
Here are some final Vitamin C garden recommendations.
Cauliflower (51 mg/1 cup):
Who would guess that cauliflower is high in Vitamin C? I wouldn’t, but it too, has a decent amount of this vitamin. Think immune protection when you reach for this vegetable.
Gardening Tip:
It’s a bit late to plant these seeds, bedding plants are still available at Kennedy’s greenhouse.
Cabbage (32.6 mg/1 cup, red cabbage:40 mg/1 cup)
What can I say? This is a versatile vegetable that can be eaten in coleslaw throughout the summer, harvested in the late summer for sauerkraut (24 mg/.5 cup) or stored for soups and pot roasts later in the fall.
Gardening Tip:
Think color, if you want the maximum Vitamin C from cabbage. Red cabbage actually has twice the amount of Vitamin C.
Parsley (79 mg/1 cup):
Though I bet you don’t sit down and eat a cup of parsley at one time, just knowing that this herb is packed with Vitamin C can be a motivator for munching on a stem or two. Small amounts accumulate, so feel free to add a splash of colorful parsley to your garden and plate.
If you really don’t have time to plant a garden, just get outside, sit on the lawn and think to yourself, “Farmer’s Market is just around the corner.”
Building my immune system with you,
Mary Lou
Mary Lou Block
Registered Dietician
