What do you think happens in your body when someone in a crowded tube sneezes right in front of you?

The little microscopic bacteria come into contact with your body mostly through the mucousal surface of your nose and mouth. This is the first chance for your immune system to put up a fight.

Your immune system is one of the most amazing and complex systems within the human body. It is able to distinguish between the 'good' and the 'bad' and can react within seconds of coming into contact with an invader.

Making sure you get the right nutrients to keep your immune system working at an optimum level is your best insurance against the winter colds.

Top Tips for Boosting Your Immune System

1. Exercise regularly, but not too strenuously. Overtraining can suppress your immune system.
2. Keep your good bacteria healthy by regularly eating live yoghurt. Good bacteria are an essential part of a healthy immune system.
3. The unwanted bacteria feed on sugar. Make it harder for them to thrive by reducing your sugar intake.
4. Increase your nutrient intake by making sure you get at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables each day.
5. Preserve more of the nutrients by steaming instead of boiling the vegetables. Many vegetables are also delicious eaten raw.
6. Supplement with vitamin C when you feel a cold coming.

Vitamin C is one of the key nutrients for a healthy immune system. It helps immune cells to mature, it improves the performance of many of the immune fighting mechanisms in the body, and in addition is anti-viral and anti-bacterial in its own right.

To optimise your intake when you feel a cold coming supplementing with some extra vitamin C is a good idea. Beware of many of the cheaper vitamin C preparations though. Many of them can be very acidic and cause discomfort in the stomach. The water soluble ones are also often high in sugar. As sugar tends to feed the unwanted bacteria you could be canceling out the beneficial effects.

One of the better forms of vitamin C is Magnesium Ascorbate. It is gentler on the stomach and easily utilised by the body. The one I use is called BioCare Vitamin C Powder (Magnesium Ascorbate). The powder dissolves easily into water or you can mix it into juice if you prefer.

The usual dose is 2 scoops (2g) a day, but you can increase the dose if you feel a cold coming. Just a word of warning - increased amounts of vitamin C can sometimes cause loose bowels. If this happens, just reduce the amount until your bowel movements return to normal.

The easiest way to get this product is to order it from the Nutri Centre at 020 7637 8436. By quoting a reference ZZSAA010 you will get 10% off the normal price. They will send the products directly to you at home and you don't even have to pay postage. Otherwise you can always try some of the better stocked health food shops.

If you would like some further advice on how to boost your immune system, contact me for a one-to- one consultation.

This is one of my favourite soup recipes. The coconut gives the soup creaminess and the puy lentils make it substantial enough for it to be a meal in its own right.

Serves 4
150g Puy lentils
1 litre vegetable stock
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
250 ml canned coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
around 50g baby spinach
freshly ground black pepper

Put the lentils in a large saucepan and add enough water to just cover them. Boil for 5 minutes, then add the remaining ingredients except the spinach. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the lentils are tender.

Puree the soup in a blender or use a hand blender. Add the spinach leaves, mix them in and serve.

The soup keeps well over-night and just makes the taste even richer. You can also make it creamier by using a whole tin of coconut milk (400ml) and reducing the amount of vegetable stock you use accordingly.

Sanna Anderson is a Nutritional Therapist trained at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, a leading establishment in the field of nutrition education.

She spent the first 10 years of her career in the financial industry enjoying the challenges of the corporate world. She's always been a keen cook and is passionate about good food, but it wasn’t until experiencing the dramatic effects of a diet change on her own health that she realised the impact good nutrition can have on the quality of life.

She is now sharing this knowledge at her nutrition consultations and through this newsletter and believes that good nutrition is the corner-stone of health and well- being. She is passionate about making healthy food appetising and easy to prepare and her approach is to work with her clients’ unique circumstances to help them achieve their goals.