Everybody has been ultra-aware of their immune system lately, which I can’t complain about. I know it can be a struggle to know what’s best for your body, though, so I will break it down for you. We are completely capable of bettering our immune system through nutrition and lifestyle, so keep reading to find out how!
Heal your gut
I gotta start with gut health because it is the foundation of ALL health. The easiest way to feel less-than-amazing is to have an unhealthy gut. Our gut is what digests our food, fights off pathogens, absorbs nutrients, etc. That makes it quite important.
In fact, about 70% of your immune system is in your gut!
So, you may be wondering… How can you make sure your gut is healthy?
Follow these guidelines:
- Eat whole foods that agree with your body. Pay attention to how you feel after each meal and maybe even keep a food journal if you really struggle with digestive issues. Over time you’ll learn the patterns and figure out what food makes you feel best. And remember – our bodies are always changing – so always stay in tune!
- Eliminate sugar and eat a colorful array of natural, properly prepared food. Sugar is an anti-nutrient and it steals nutrients from the body such as zinc, magnesium, and b-vitamins. It’s okay to live a little but make sure that eating sugar isn’t a daily or even a weekly habit.
- Prepare your own meals – this way you know what’s going into it AND you get the benefit of your body preparing for digestion while you’re making your meal. Our saliva has an incredible amount of enzymes that are essential for digesting our food properly. So you’ll want your body to see and smell your food as you make it so that your body can prepare to digest it.
- Eat probiotic-rich foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and low-sugar kombucha (some kombuchas can be way overloaded with sugar, so watch out for those! Ideally, you want one that just uses fruit juice as the sugar).
- Don’t dilute your stomach acid. We are led to believe that too much stomach acid is a common condition, when it’s actually quite uncommon. Stomach acid is essential for our wellbeing. It allows our body to efficiently break down food so we can absorb the nutrients, kill off parasites (parasites are everywhere – even on fruits and vegetables – they’re just microscopic), kill off bacteria and viruses, and so much more. If we don’t have enough stomach acid then digestion is slow and can cause lots of issues such as bloating, lack of nutrient absorption, overgrowth of bacteria, parasites, etc. We want to have stomach acid – it’s a good thing! Another issue that arises when there’s not enough stomach acid is acid reflux. Many people are misinformed about this – thinking that acid reflux is caused by too much stomach acid when it’s actually caused by too little stomach acid. Acid blockers then make you think that you’re not having acid reflux anymore because it dilutes your stomach acid so much that it is no longer noticeably acidic – meaning you no longer know when you’re getting reflux because it doesn’t burn. It covers the symptom, not the issue. Read this book if you want all the science behind it!
Stress less and rest
Ahhhh… to cozy up by the fire without a worry in the world. When’s the last time you did that?
In the world we live in, it’s acceptable to assume that we’re stressed 90% of the time. Sometimes it feels like you’re doing something wrong or not working hard enough if you’re not stressed. Can anybody relate?
That is NOT how we are supposed to live our lives!! We are supposed to enjoy life. Can you believe that? Yes, we have to make sure to pay our bills, take care of our kids, do our laundry and dishes, etc. But we also need to be intentional about carving out time to do nothing. Just sit in silence and breathe. Even if it’s only 10 minutes a day. And what else? We also need to carve out time to play. And play in whatever way you love! Whether it’s going outside for a walk, going to the beach, painting, singing and dancing, or running around with your kids or dogs. Find a way to feel young again, and your health will thank you! Our immune systems function best when we are able to relax and enjoy life doing our favorite things and surrounding ourselves with our favorite people.
Avoid sugar and eat colorful food
I know I already mentioned this in the Heal Your Gut section above, but it’s important enough to list on its own. I can’t stress this enough! Sugar suppresses our immune systems because it causes undo stress on our bodies and depletes nutrients within our body, such as zinc, magnesium, and b-vitamins — all of which are important for immune function! This doesn’t mean you can never, ever have a cookie again though. Still enjoy life in moderation, but routinely eating sugar on a daily basis will take a toll on your body and mind.
If you eat colorful, nutritious food, then your body will function better than you can imagine and therefore your immune system will take a nice little boost. Get in those nutrients, baby!
A bonus will be that you will stop craving all those unhealthy foods – they’ll begin tasting too sweet and processed and you will enjoy eating healthy food instead. Heck, why not make yourself a healthy, delicious dessert that’s free of processed sugar and grains? Food full of nutrients will become your best friend and you’ll start seeing how food from factories are your backstabbing (or shall we say immune-stabbing) wannabe-friend.
Take a multi-vitamin and multi-mineral
Speaking of nutrients, we live in a world that is unfortunately devoid of the proper amount of nutrients we best thrive off. That doesn’t mean that you can’t possibly have a diet that gives you all the nutrients you need, but it’s definitely less common than it used to be and it takes an incredible amount of consistency to eat a fully nutrient-dense diet that is full of whole foods that are local and fresh. Consider taking a multi-vitamin to fill in the voids.
And please… not just any multi-vitamin! The crappy vitamins you find at the grocery store won’t cut it and are a waste of your money. But don’t let that discourage you — there are TONS of supplement companies that actually do create high-quality supplements that work!
Are you interested in learning more about multi-vitamins and which ones are best? Check out this post. I am a practitioner through Fullscript, which is the dispensary I use to provide my clients with professional-grade supplements. Click here to access my dispensary of supplements.
Go outside often
Good ol faithful fresh air… there’s really nothing like it! Breathing fresh air and standing in the dirt outside is a great way to ground yourself and boost your immune system.
And vitamin D too? Yes please! Vitamin D is very important for immune function so be sure that you’re sufficient in it. To ensure this, just go outside for a little while every day when it’s sunny! We all have different requirements for how long we have to be in the sun for optimal vitamin D. For example, I’m so pale I literally only need 15-30 minutes to get what I need… But the darker your skin is, the more time you’ll technically need to be in the sun to get enough vitamin D absorbed. You can also get a lab test done to see how your levels are and supplement if you’re deficient. Again, you’ll want a good supplement for it to work properly. But also be careful not to overdo it on the Vitamin D because it can become toxic, especially if it builds up in your system over time.
Move often
Just imagine when you sit in a chair for lengthy hours every day. You start getting stiff. Bloated. Inflamed. You feel sluggish. Puffy. Icky in every way possible.
You’ll want to move often to have a high-functioning immune system. It’s not good for everything in you to become stagnant and sluggish. You want your lymph to move, your blood to move, your muscles to be challenged, and your digestive system to be kicked into gear.
This doesn’t mean you have to run around like an energetic kid though (don’t feel guilty if you don’t have the same exact energy levels that you did when you were a kiddo). If you work a desk job, then get up and walk around for 5 minutes every hour. Go for a walk on your lunch break, get in a nice workout before or after work. Go for a hike or bike ride. Join a boxing gym. Lift weights. Whatever it is that sounds refreshing to you and do it consistently. It’s also great to switch it up so you have a well-rounded amount of activities to enjoy!
Give yourself a digestive break
This simply just means don’t eat on the hour every hour every day. It’s good to give yourself a break, even if this just means not eating after dinnertime until you wake up for breakfast in the morning. Let your body repair and reset overnight while you’re sleeping rather than having to constantly work at digesting your food. However, do not take this too far. I never recommend “intermittent fasting” longer than the usual overnight fast we naturally do while sleeping.
Disclosure: Not eating constantly throughout the day does not always apply to women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or growing children. Listen to your body but also be willing to acknowledge if there’s an imbalance that makes you hungry so often. Do you have blood sugar issues? Did you not sleep enough? Are your hormones imbalanced? Are you living in a restrictive mindset? Are you not eating enough healthy fat or protein to keep you full? Assess your regular diet and see what small positive changes you can make to feel better, if you need it.
