LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — "Stay Healthy" is a phrase we're hearing a lot these days. Both at home and as you get ready to head back to work. As 13 Action News prepares for The Rebound, anchor Tricia Kean shows us eating right is a big part of building a strong immune system.
"I feel like we have been pretty good. There are sometimes where the cookies look tempting," says Henderson teen Karsyn.
She and her mom, Wendy, say they're making a conscious decision every day to eat right.
DO MEAL PREP
"Well I have the time. So I'm kind of doing the meal prep. Cutting up all the vegetables, putting them in containers. So it's easy enough for her to go to the fridge or myself if we do want to snack," says Wendy.
They admit they still love their fast food. But Wendy says she's trying to cook more.
"I've brought in old recipes I used to do when the kids were little," says Wendy.
BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY
"70% of our immune cells stem from our gut. So if you want to boost your immunity, you need to feed your stomach, your gut, the healthy foods," says registered and licensed Dietician, Jennifer Trevino.
She says we all should be taking time to prepare healthier meals. It begins with lean meats like salmon, chicken and turkey.
LEAN PROTEINS
"You definitely want to get protein in your diet. Lean proteins over red meat are preferred. You want to decrease your saturated fat content," says Jennifer.
Then Jennifer says, eat lots and lots of fresh vegetables. You want to make sure you're getting plenty of vitamin C.
GET VITAMIN C
"All fruit and green leafy vegetables have vitamin C in them. So if you don't like citrus fruit it's fine. Pick up an apple, a pear, watermelon, they all have vitamin C in them," says Jennifer.
And don't worry if the fresh vegetable aisle is limited.
FROZEN VEGETABLES
"If you can't find fresh, the next best option is frozen. Frozen vegetables are picked at their prime and then flash frozen. Actually a lot of times frozen vegetables have more nutrients than fresh vegetables," says Jennifer.
Stay away from prepacked foods when you can like cookies, breakfast cereals and soda.
SIMPLE CARBOHYDRATES
"Simple carbohydrates when you break it down are basically just sugar. It spikes our glucose super super fast. That will lead to inflammation and kind of feeding your bad bacteria, that don't produce the good immunity we need," says Jennifer.
WATER, WATER, WATER
Whatever you decide to eat, good or bad, just don't overdo it. Jennifer says practice portion control and drink plenty of H2O.
"Water, water, water is the elixir of life. We're in the desert. The weather is starting to warm up. So we're gonna need more if it," says Jennifer.
As for Karsyn, she says she enjoys her mom's healthy cooking. Even when she doesn't actually know what it is!
"I love salmon so much. I love chicken. My mom makes this really good broccoli stuff and these noodles," says Karsyn.
