From the Kitchen of Dr. Amy Rothenberg

A lot of my patients ask me, “Dr. Rothenberg, what can I eat to help my immune system?” There are many answers and truth be told, to eat well for your immune system, you are eating well for all of you. Here’s a dinner I made recently—and mind you I consider myself queen of the 10 minute dinner. I always have either a pot of cooked rice, quinoa or barley in my fridge. We want the high fiber that acts as a prebiotic for the bacteria in our gut. Also good for keeping us regular and for feelings of satiety and for energy! Then I often will cook in bulk, like for this meal, earlier in the week I had boiled a big bag of organic beets. If we’re going to “eat the rainbow,” for our health and our immune systems, we have to have some red in there and beetroot fits the bill! It’s packed with fiber, folate and vitamin C among other nutrients.

And a warm sweet potato hot from the oven hits high marks for vitamin A and antioxidants. A pat of butter because it makes you happy and that’s important, too. Butter does contain small amounts of antioxidants, too.

And that veggie mélange is high in the long-legged Shimeji mushrooms that I love for their absolute food cuteness and their satisfying texture. Like all mushrooms, they have immune supporting capacity. The key is not not eat raw (hard to get through the chitin on the outside) and don’t overcook. Here, I sautéed onion, garlic, grated ginger root, and grated turmeric root (all with immune supporting capacity). Then I threw in organic sliced carrots, which I do not peel, and tofu. At the very last possible moment, because I like it just barely wilted, I put in torn up kale and here I have a lovely dinner for Paul & I and leftovers to boot.