How to boost your family's immunity

The body's immune system is sensitive to all sorts of internal and external factors. Luckily, there are lots of easy steps we can take to give ourselves and our families a valuable boost

Eat a balanced diet

Probably the most important thing we can do to protect ourselves from getting unwell is to eat a healthy, balanced diet.

Each food group performs an important function and, when we eat from all the groups in the right proportions, it's like putting top-grade quality oil in a car's engine: everything will run more smoothly and efficiently, with fewer breakdowns!

As a general rule of thumb, breads, cereals and pasta should account for about a third of our daily intake; fruit and veg should make up another third (with at least five portions per day being eaten by each family member); dairy and protein should feature in roughly equal amounts and these two groups - together with a very small amount of fatty and sugary foods if really necessary - should make up the remaining third of your day's food intake.

Fruit and veg contain substances known as antioxidants, which can help protect the body's cells against disease - and the darker the food, the richer it tends to be in antioxidants, so think curly kale and blackberries amongst other things.

Fruit and veg are also rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre, all of which help our organs to function properly.