Autumn brings with it an increased risk of illness, so it is worth paying particular attention to health issues at this time. Prevention is better than cure, so prevention should be the basis during this period. We suggest how to boost your immunity in autumn.

Can’t remember an autumn when you didn’t get sick? Time to change that! Taking care of your immunity in autumn is extremely important. It is during this period that we are particularly prone to catching colds due to temperature fluctuations, precipitation or strong winds. Boosting immunity in autumn is not difficult, it just requires a little commitment. Learn about ways to boost your immunity naturally in autumn, recommended by our nutritionists.

Immunity in autumn – a healthy and balanced diet

The basis of looking after your health and immunity in autumn, is a good diet and this is not in dispute. Look at your body as a car. What you eat is your fuel – if you fill up with poor quality fuel, you won’t get far on it. So is there a special diet to boost immunity in autumn? Yes and no, because in fact any healthy, well-balanced diet will support the body’s condition. However, it is worth knowing that there are products that, due to their content of specific compounds, have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Because of this, they can be a kind of recharge for the immune system. You can find out more about these products in the article 8 superfoods to include in your diet. 

If you want to improve the quality of your diet and are not sure how to go about it, we also recommend the article 4 rules to help you easily compose a balanced meal? You will learn from it about the basics of composing healthy meals and, consequently, your entire diet. However, if you don’t have the time to do this and are looking for a quick, ready-made solution to compose a menu full of healthy and tasty meals, the Fitatu app is the tool for you. It offers 7 different menu plans. Each one is a flexible solution that will leave you free to choose what you fancy. By choosing a specific plan, you will be offered a selection of dishes per meal, tailored to your calorie needs*, also taking into account the required restrictions associated with a particular type of diet, such as the exclusion of lactose or gluten.

*+/- 200 kcal

Menu suggestions in the Fitatu app:

Balance

• ideal for a person who does not follow any elimination diet
• offers meals made of valuable products rich in nutrients

Gluten-free

• addressed to people who have to eliminate gluten from their diet due to coeliac disease, allergy or intolerance.
• offers recipes for delicious gluten-free dishes

Lactose-free

• aimed at people who have to eliminate lactose from their diet due to an allergy or intolerance
• you will find ideas for dishes using lactose-free products, as well as many recipes for dairy-free dishes

Keto

• suitable for people on a ketogenic diet
• ensures exclusion of carbohydrates from the diet (carbohydrate content of meals up to 8% RDA)

Less sugar

• dedicated to people who want to reduce the intake of white sugar in their diet
• offers recipes for desserts using sugar substitutes (does not exclude fruit)

Vege

• dedicated to people on a vegetarian diet
• offers recipes without meat or fish

High-protein

• for people with a high level of physical activity or who are building muscle mass
• the proposed meals contain min. 30% protein

Physical activity

According to current World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations, an adult aged 18-64 years should do at least 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or at least 75-150 minutes of high-intensity aerobic exercise per week. In addition, at least twice a week, the WHO also recommends exercise that engages all major muscle groups. Studies show that regular, moderate exercise, can reduce inflammation and help immune cell regeneration.

Regeneration

Even if you take care with diet, exercise and supplementation, but forget about regeneration, it will be difficult to build immunity in autumn. Regeneration is an essential part of functioning, affecting health. Take care to get 7-8 hours of sleep a day and your body will thank you for it. Studies show that shorter sleep duration has the effect of making you more susceptible to viruses, and can also lead to chronic inflammation, thus leading to the development of diabetes or atherosclerosis, among others.

Supplementation

If you are considering starting supplementation but are not sure if you even need it, we encourage you to read the article Is it worth supplementing? You will learn from it how to approach supplementation, whether it is safe and which supplements are worth using throughout the year. However, when looking at supplementation in the context of boosting immunity in autumn, we can think about starting probiotic therapy (preferably individually tailored), as well as zinc. In addition, it is important to remember that the autumn and winter months, when we do not spend much time in the sun and are additionally dressed thickly, are not conducive to the synthesis of vitamin D. Therefore, its supplementation during this time is advisable and even mandatory. You may also want to consider supplements containing extracts of turmeric, green tea, as well as other antioxidants that have proven anti-inflammatory effects. However, this is not necessary if you ensure that your diet is rich in these compounds on a daily basis. You need to remember that the basis of good health is always diet, and that supplementation should only be a supplement when you are unable to cover your needs for certain compounds.

Also read:

Probiotics

Health begins in the gut

Are supplements for weight loss safe?

Fitatu App

Download the application from the Play Store or Apple Store and start counting your macros with us!
Do you prefer the web version? No problem. A basic web version is prepared for our subscribers. And now you can use the AUTUMN-4 discount code by going to https://www.fitatu.com/app/order-and-payment and get 29% off your monthly Fitatu Premium.

What else can you find in Fitatu Premium?

• over 2000 recipes plus several new ones every month
• additional plans for intermittent fasting
• the ability to create shopping lists
• a choice of six ready-made menus full of meals to choose
• filtering products and recipes
• more synchronization with fit apps
• access to your Meal Plan in the web version
• no ads!

Bibliografia:

1. Richard J Simpson, Hawley Kunz, Nadia Agha, Rachel Graff, Exercise and the Regulation of Immune Functions, Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2015;135:355-80.
2. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
3. Aric A Prather, Denise Janicki-Deverts, Martica H Hall, Sheldon Cohen,Behaviorally Assessed Sleep and Susceptibility to the Common Cold, Sleep. 2015 Sep 1;38(9):1353-9.
4. Luciana Besedovsky, Tanja Lange, Monika Haack, The Sleep-Immune Crosstalk in Health and Disease, Physiol Rev. 2019 Jul 1;99(3):1325-1380.