Photo: Gabriela Peacock
when you need more hormones to be produced.”
These are the foods to eat to avoid colds and flu this winter By Lauren Taylor, PA Nutritionist to the stars, Gabriela Peacock, has revealed the immune-boosting foods to get into your diet this winter, if you want to starve off dreaded colds and bugs. A lot of people don’t realise just how interlinked winter health and nutrition are, says the 44-year-old, but our immune system “is directly dependant on what we put within the body to create a chemical reaction – it’s really, really important”.
How to add it: Peacock recommends using live yoghurt as a base for homemade ice cream with a dash of agave syrup.
“Sauerkraut goes really nicely with any kind of rich foods, which is what we tend to eat around this time, quite heavy and oily meals, sauerkraut cuts through it,” she says. “Kombucha is just a nice alternative when you get a bit bored of drinking water. Most of them are really, really low in sugar.” Green tea - “This would be one of my one of my hero drinks, especially over this period of the year because tea is nice and warming. Green tea contains catechins which are polyphenols,” explains Peacock. “Polyphenols are phytochemicals – plant chemicals that have numerous health benefits. One of the main benefits is immunomodulating properties [which] stimulate our immune system and decrease the chronic inflammation. Basically, when you’re looking at the immunity, you want to decrease the inflammation.” How to add it: If you drink coffee, Peacock suggests sticking to one or two a day and then switching to green tea afterwards. “A really good to tip is to put lemon in green tea – you increase the absorption of the catechins, plus it gets rid of the bitter taste. Don’t make the tea too hot because the heat will kill the vitamin C.”
Here are Peacock’s hero foods your body needs this winter…
Fermented food - “Digestion support is incredibly important for immunity – 70 to 80% of our immunity actually lies within a digestive system,” says Peacock, whose celebrity clients include Princess Beatrice, Joan Collins, Jodie Kidd and Amber Le Bon. She recommends eating live yoghurts, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi and tofu. “They directly increase the beneficial bacteria in your intestine, which supports the healthy microbiome – and the healthy microbiome will in turn support our immunity.” They also contain protein. “Protein is really important for any kind of repair within the body, so when you have a cold, when you scratch your arm,
40 | mccarthyholden.co.uk
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online