With the beauty of fall comes the beginning of flu and cold season. You can protect yourself by eating foods that boost your immune system. Plan your family menus with these immune boosting foods that help fight off attacking cold and flu “bugs.”

• Vitamin C: Works by increasing the production of white blood cells, which fight off infection. A good source is orange juice in our Washington State Squash and Lentil Soup or Texas Wrangler Black Bean Soup.
• Vitamin E: Enhances the production of immune cells that produce antibodies that destroy bacteria and is in grains like our Montana High Plains Wheatberry Chili
• Beta Carotene: Works by increasing the number of infection fighting cells and is in sweet potatoes like in our California Gold Rush White Bean Chili.
• Zinc: Studies have shown that a zinc deficiency can impair a number of white blood cells. Zinc is in beef, lentils, garbanzos, as in our Dakota Beef Barley Bean, Hungarian Goulash, Indiana Harvest Sausage Lentil, Italian Wedding Soup and New Mexico Mesa Spicy Fiesta Soup.