I don’t know about you, but I am tired of being sick all the time.  One of the worst things about being a dad of young children is that you are constantly under assault from a vast swath of germs.  After being sick nearly the entire month of February, I decided enough is enough.  I dove into the research on how to not get sick, and it turns out that – surprise, surprise – vegetables can play a huge role!  This challenge is to not get sick this month (or any month) by incorporating these three elements into your routine.

• Eat a shit-ton of vegetables
• Wash your hands
• Take Vitamin D

What to eat to not get sick

I picked up Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s Super Immunity, which makes some bold claims about “no sick days” and how to “become almost totally resistant to colds, influenza, and other infections–and if you did ‘catch’ something, you bounced back to wellness within 24 hours.”  It sounds pretty good to me, and despite veering into some borderline anti-vaxxer territory in one of the chapters, the overarching message, to eat a shit-ton of vegetables, seems sound.  The good doctor included the following “Nutrient Density Score” table to help us eat the vegetables with the biggest bang for our buck.

Food	Nutrient Density Score
Kale	100
Watercress	100
Collards	100
Brussels sprouts	90
Bok Choy	85
Spinach	82
Arugula	77
Cabbage	59
Broccoli	52
Cauliflower	51
Romaine lettuce	45
Green and red peppers	41
Onions	37
Asparagus	36
Leeks	36
Strawberries	35
Mushrooms	35
Tomatoes and tomato products	33
Pomegranates/pomegranate juice	30
Carrots/carrot juice	30
Blackberries	29
Raspberries	27
Blueberries	27
Oranges	27
Seeds: flax, sunflower, sesame, hemp, chia	25
Red grapes	24
Cherries	21
Tofu	20
Lentils	14
Cantaloupe	12
Beans	11
Plums	11
Walnuts	10
Iceberg lettuce	10
Pistachio nuts	9
Cucumbers	9
Green peas	7
Almonds	7
Cashews	6
Avocados	6
Apples	5
Peanut Butter	5
Corn	4
Bananas	3
Oatmeal	3
Salmon	2
White Potato	2
Skim milk	2
Whole-wheat bread	2
Olive Oil	2
White Bread	1
Chicken Breast	1
Eggs	1
White pasta	1
Ground Beef	-4
Low-fat cheddar cheese	-6
Potato chips	-9
Cola	-10

The Plant Powered Dad’s Kale-tastic Health Elixir

The top scoring veggie is Kale, and the best time to make sure you are getting your daily dose is first thing in the morning.  I have developed a smoothie recipe that I call the kale-tastic health elixir to make sure I am filling up on cruciferous vegetables first thing in the morning.  This is the easiest way to make sure you are beginning your day with veggies.  Here’s what you do, mix the following up in blender:

• 1 banana (this provides the smoothness to the smoothie)
• 1 apple (this adds some sweetness)
• ½ cup frozen berry mix
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp ground flax
• 1 medium carrot (if you get some baby carrot you don’t need to peel them, just throw in 4ish)
• 1 cooked beet (I make these in advance.  It’s not on the list, but look at that red juice it has to be good for you!)
• Kale – Fill up the rest of the blender with kale, serious pack it in there. 
• Add 2-3 cups water, adjust to get the consistency that you like.

This recipe makes a tolerable smoothie that is like a trojan horse for consuming mountains of Kale.  Really the whole point is to get as much Kale into you as possible and the immunity boosting phytochemicals therein.

Wash your hands

The second part of the challenge is to wash your hands, and more importantly make you kids wash their hands all the damn time.  I have a standing rule that everyone must wash their hands first thing after coming into the house. 

Take Vitamin D

I think that vitamins are mostly bullshit.  The only vitamins that I take are Vitamin D, which actually has some science behind its efficacy for boosting immunity and longevity.

That’s it!  I have been doing this for a couple weeks, and have not been sick.  That seems like a major accomplishment for me.  I will keep you all up to date on how my immune system holds up and if I get sick.  So go grab a jumbo bag of Kale and make your smoothies and let me know how it goes in the comments.

Photo by Saymom Leão on Unsplash