Te Piki Oranga nutritionist Brittani Beavis explains how you can boost your health through kai
With COVID-19 in the community and winter on the way we need to make sure that we are as healthy as we can be, to get through.
To start with we should look at kai that can support our te taha tinana (physical health). This includes eating lots of whole foods (unprocessed foods) and ensuring we’re eating ‘all the colours of the rainbow’.
You don’t need to break the bank by purchasing a tonne of fresh fruit and vegetables – frozen, canned, and dried kai works just as well!
The main immunity-boosting vitamins and minerals we want to include in our diets are vitamin C, vitamin D, all the B vitamins and zinc. Here is the run down on these vitamins:
Vitamin C
This is the one most people know and talk about. Think oranges, kiwifruit, kumara and silverbeet. Vitamin C is super important because it helps to protect our bodies from toxins in the environment (such as pollution, sun exposure and cigarette smoke). As a bonus, it supports our skin health to keep us looking youthful!
Vitamin D
The beautiful sun is the best place to get vitamin D and living in Te Tauihu we’re blessed to get lots of it! However, if you’re mauiui (sick), have dark skin, or spend a lot of time indoors, then it’s important to get enough vitamin D from kai instead of relying on the sun. Canned tuna and salmon, eggs, and dairy products are a great source of vitamin D, and they are relatively inexpensive. Vitamin D helps to strengthen our bones, helps to make us happy, and boosts our immune system!
Zinc
Zinc has so many functions in our body and is important for hair growth, a healthy immune system, wound healing and even taste! It can be a little difficult to find zinc in kai, but mussels, milk, and lean steak are a good starting point! If putea is tight then wholegrain bread rolls with peanut butter provide a small amount of zinc in your diet.
B vitamins
There are many different types of B vitamin and all of them support our immunity, as well as break down all the kai we eat! Eating a good range of kai including wholegrains (get oats), nuts, meat, fish and dark leafy vegetables will keep you topped up on B vitamins. If you’re hapū (pregnant) then folate (B9) is vital for helping pēpī to grow a strong spine and nervous system. If you are a vegan then B12 can be really difficult to include in your diet, as it comes from animal products, and supplements might be needed.
