Boost Your Immune System:
Being sick is no fun!
As we head into winter and the holiday season, we also head into cold and flu season. We tend to gather more indoors and spend longer hours inside. Being sick is no fun. It can be costly by causing time away from work. And it can derail you from your life, fun holiday festivities, and holiday travel. So, many people are looking for ways to boost their immune system this time of year. There is so much information out there, it can be hard to know what is accurate and what to do. You may be wondering how your immune system works and how to support it. If so, read on!
The immune system’s primary job is to tolerate. You want it to not react to self and to normal environmental factors, foods, and innocuous microbes. Then it needs to accurately identify a real threat, such as a virus or bad bacteria that you picked up on that shopping cart handle, that potluck spoon, or in the air from a sneeze, and respond. Inflammation is how the immune system communicates. Inflammation is your immune system saying there is a problem. It initially reacts with proinflammatory markers and then it counters with anti-inflammatory markers, so your immune system doesn’t become dysregulated and overreactive. Out-of-control inflammation leads to oxidative damage caused by our immune system. This leaves our immune system weak and not able to respond to real threats. Inflammation and oxidative stress can overwhelm our immune system. To have a robust immune system, you must keep these in check.
In addition, 2/3+ of our immune system lies in our gut. Our gut is constantly sampling what passes through it and deciding if it is friend or foe. Crap food looks like a toxin and alarms the immune system. What are crap foods? They are often edible food like substances such as highly processed foods, that are laden with chemicals and toxins. They usually have labels with “ingredients” that don’t sound like food and that you can barely pronounce.
Heading into the holiday season and winter, I recommend the below lifestyle practices to support your immune system long-term:
Get plentiful high-quality sleep- we need good regular sleep to balance our immune system.
Keep your stress levels in check- we need balance between our sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. Our parasympathetic system allows for maximum immune function. This is the system for rest and repair. Stress affects our cortisol levels first by raising them. If the stress it long term, our cortisol levels are then lowered. (See my recent blog on Adrenals). Low Cortisol levels promote immune dysregulation. But high levels of Cortisol also suppress the immune system. I recommend a regular practice of deep relaxation like yoga, deep breathing, meditation, or a massage.
Staying hydrated- this supports our gut lining, where 2/3+ of our immune system resides.
Eating a nutrient dense diet full of a variety of vegetables- to ensure you get the nutrients needed to run your immune system. Nutrients are best absorbed in combinations that are naturally found in whole foods.
Keeping your sugar consumption low- spikes in sugar suppress your immune system.
Keeping your inflammation levels in check- by eating whole, real foods, not consuming foods you are sensitive to, and taking things like a high quality Nrf2 activator and Omegas. click here for a high quality Omega: Omega+
Keeping your oxidative stress levels low by once again taking a high quality Nrf2 activator. Click here for a high quality Nrf2 activator: Nrf2 Activation
Taking a high-quality Daily Wellness support with a combination of immune boosting nutrients. Click here for the high-quality Daily Wellness that I recommend: Daily Wellness
Testing and ensuring you have optimal levels of Vit D, Vit A, Zinc and Magnesium. This is more complicated than it first appears because of the complexity of interactions between nutrients. Just take Vit D for example. Correct levels of Vit D help to create a robust immune system. But excess levels of Vit D suppress the immune system. In fact, a surge of Vit D can lead to Magnesium and Vit A deficiencies, which are also critical for immune function. You also need sufficient Magnesium to convert Vit D to its active and usable form. You also don’t want to take nutrients with coffee or black tea as it affects absorption. Is your head swimming yet? Nutrients need to be taken in combinations to be best absorbed AND utilized. Therefore, to keep things simple, I recommend the previous bullet above. But if you really want to target what YOUR specific body needs, test first. Don’t guess.
Taking a daily high-quality probiotic to support your gut. Click here for the probiotic that I recommend: Probiotic
If you feel run down, have been around sick friends or family, or feel something such as a cold coming on, temporarily boost your Vit C, D, and Zinc for a few days to a week and get religious about the above practices.
But……..Do you frequently get sick? Do you always seem to be fighting something? This is a sign that your immune system isn’t working properly, and you may need a more targeted and personalized approach. Please reach out. Together we can figure out what your specific body needs and develop a plan to help you create a bullet proof immune system.