Foods That Fight Pollution

Pollution affects us all. Here is a list of natural remedies and foods to help fight pollution

The air pollution in Delhi gets all of us. No matter what air purifiers we have, it does affect us and also our kids. 


From a diabetes standpoint here is a recent quote from a study published in The Lancet"The global toll of diabetes attributable to PM2·5 air pollution is significant. Reduction in exposure will yield substantial health benefits."


So what can we eat to reduce the effects of pollution ?
In a quick summary we can eat things that relieve congestion, open up airwaves or boost immunity. Except for broccoli (read below) nothing we read described a food which will remove pm2.5 from your body.


Here are foods that you should eat to make life better during pollution months :

1. Amla : Amla is super high is vitamin c and anti-oxidants. Both of these will help your body remain strong and boost immunity. It also helps maintain your sugar level.
2. Ginger, Jaggery, Turmeric : All 3 have different benefits. Ginger warms up your system, turmeric reduces inflammation and jaggery is a traditional medicine to counter pollution. All 3 of these are traditional boosters in Indian medicine and specially ginger and turmeric are highly appreciated around the world for their beneficial effects. 
3. Black Pepper, Tulsi, nutmeg : Again, strong spices and strong benefits to relieving your chest congestion and cleaning up your airwaves.
4. Onion juice and jaggery - yum ! Good luck making your kids drink this one, but it is rumored to to help protect from onset of colds. This is useful. Your body's immune system gets compromised during pollution and gets more susceptible to colds. These type of natural boosters therefore become more important during these polluted days.
5. Raw Garlic : Moving up the ladder of "things that taste good" we come to raw garlic. Garlic if full of anti-microbial agents and confers all types of positive effects, specially against colds and bacteria. A high powered way of eating this is to suck on the garlic clove. To make it more enjoyable soak with a slice of a clove, in organic honey. After sucking, chew and swallow the garlic. If you can get yourself and your kids to do this it will bring great protective benefits.
6. Fermented Foods : Fermented foods help your gut. A healthy gut will help you maintain s stronger immunity. From this perspective fermented foods will allow your immune system to focus on infections in your lunch and protect you more.
7. Honey : Honey is one of nature's medicines for general well being. From being an anti-histamine to helping with cough suppression honey has lots of beneficial uses. Mix honey and lemon juice and possible ginger for a great power packed booster. 
8. Vitamin C : Fruits and vegetables rich in Vitamin C will be specially beneficial during this time. These include - tomatoes, oranges and carrots
9. Broccoli : What we have found most interesting is that eating broccoli is supposed to help your system clean itself. It will help expel a carcinogen known as benzene through our bowel.
10. Spinach : A very powerful food and will generally help build your immunity.

How to Make Pollution fighting foods part of your kids life every day

You know you cannot take all of this, every day. So How do we make it work.
Find the things you like. Create a ritual. Like have Honey with Lemon and Ginger every morning or afternoon. Suck on a raw garlic every morning or make the kids do this on the way to school. Drink the onion juice with jaggery at night. Pick a few and possibly do 2 of these every day and another 2 the next day.
Eat extra tomatoes one day and extra carrots the next. Or make a carrot and tomato juice every day.


We have fresh, healthy salad dressings for your tomatoes as well as fermented foods for your gut health. Be sure to ask us for these.


We hope you found this article helpful. If you have some tips and tricks that work please do share it with us.

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