Boosting Immunity with Healthy Habits: Tips and Insights
There is no such thing as a “central immune system.” It is all about cells, proteins, tissues, and organs all around your body. These components work together to defend you from outside invading bacteria, viruses, parasites, and more! It can detect intruders that are unwanted or hazardous to your health. It can then arouse your “army” to gather defenses and get ready to fight to eliminate the invader.
Two Special Parts to our immune system:
There are actually two parts of your immune system. Your inner immune system (innate, which is inherited) is our first-on-the-scene, a first-responder. This is a group of cells. They will multiply when an invader is found. They will surround it. They will cover it, and they will kill it! This system is inherited and is here from the moment you are borne.
There is another immune system “part,” called the adaptive immune system. This develops over time as you become exposed to different germs, bacteria and viruses. This particular system actually grows stronger as you challenge it more. This “system” has a great memory and a good range of defenses against all kinds of invaders.
Your immune system produces anti-bodies. These are copies of past invaders. They create a pattern of how your body responded to the “invaders.” This is where you can get quite sick with an illness. The next time, you may not get as sick with the same illness. Your defenses have great memories.
Our immune system goes hand-in-hand with your gut!
And there’s more to your defenses! Your immune system has co-helpers!
The majority of our immune system is directly connected to your gut. Over 70% of our immune system lives in our gut! Inflammation in your gut will have a bad effect on your immune system as a whole. In this case I’m talking long-term stressors. (I’ve talked about that in past blogs.)
Chronic Inflammation:
Chronic inflammation in your gut causes the gut walls to stop working as they should. This weakens and loosens the tight structure in your intestinal walls that keep nutrients in and toxins out. When your gut’s walls become inflamed, the intestinal walls become porous. This means the intestinal walls then have openings for invaders to get in and cause all sorts of problems.
Good Gut Health
Good gut health can come with proper foods: raw fruits and vegetables. Low saturated fats. And low sugars. Sugars are awful for your gut. Learn to drink water, perhaps flavored with fresh fruit or a squirt of lemon or lime. Hydration is almost as important as a good diet.
Immunity begins at home first:
Healthy foods are good for your gut. Start with raw fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts, low-processed meats, low sugars, and high fiber foods. Your daily diet is important to your immune system.
Pro- and Pre-biotics:
What are Pro– and Pre- Biotics? An answer From Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.: Probiotics are foods or supplements that contain live microorganisms intended to maintain or improve the “good” bacteria (normal microflora) in the body.
Prebiotics are foods (typically high-fiber foods) that act as food for human microflora.
Pre- and Pro- Biotic foods: We need both in our diet.
Some healthy foods contain pre- and pro-biotics. These are essential for a happy, functioning gut. Superfoods for the gut contain both pre- and probiotics. They are fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, aged cheeses, yogurt, pickles, and kombucha.
Prebiotic-rich foods like garlic and onions. You can add apples as they contain pectin. This is a soluble fiber that can reduce inflammation. Apples can also enhance beneficial gut bacteria, block harmful bacteria, and decrease weight gain. Don’t forget bananas, asparagus, leeks, onions, barley, oats, legumes, nuts, pomegranates.
Oh I can imagine good foods from the above list: soups with barley or leeks. Cool weather breakfasts with oatmeal with apples. Great food choices. All good pre-biotics for a healthy immune system.
Finally, there are probiotic-rich foods like yogurt and sauerkraut. These foods contain beneficial bacteria that support the growth of healthy gut flora and promote digestion and nutrient absorption. (But be certain to read your labels as many yogurts are full of sugars, and that’s a negative.)
Serving suggestion: Soft cheese (gouda, cream cheese, marscapone) with sour-dough bread. Serve your sour-dough bread and cheese with perhaps a pickle. Have a fresh apple for dessert! All great pro-biotics. Don’t forget saurkraut as a side dish to pork? Again with apples for dessert. (Apples aid in the digestion of pork!) Or for dessert: a spoonful of yogurt with fresh fruit and a dollop of Redi-Whip on top?
What else can I do?
And we have talked about the importance of sleep, rest and restoration. When you sleep you are not “just renewing cells,” you are also developing a strong cellular defense system. Children who don’t have a priority of sleep do seem to “catch” whatever is going around. Sleep is so important not just for children, but adults too.
We live in a society that exposes us to many gut-harming factors:
Colds and flu:
These gut-harming factors can include chemicals such as glypsoate exposure. (This common pesticide-chemical is in Round-Up and has many harmful side-effects.) Many farm-used pesticides, antibiotics in our meats, environmental pollutants, and other airborne toxins are also included in the list of harm to our foods. Add to that the surface germs and bacteria we touch every day. Yikes! We are daily exposed to many different immune challenges on a daily basis.
Children have about 6-10 colds a year! Adults average 2-4 colds a year. An estimated 10-20% of Americans come down with the flu each season that goes from November to March. Children are 2-3 times as likely to get sick with the flu than adults. Children spread cold/flu viruses easily from one to another. It is always a good suggestion for everyone to get a flu shot. Flu shots give the “pattern of defense” to your immune system.
Small but large steps to help our immune system:
- Eat your anti-oxidants: that means consume a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Learn to serve them at every meal. These foods contain the range of anti-oxidant nutrients needed for a healthy immune system.
- Take a multi-vitamin. Even with a diet rich in anti-oxidants, it can be difficult sometimes to consume the recommended daily amounts. A vitamin-mineral multi-vitamin supplement may be necessary to keep a healthy immune system. This supplement can help fortify your body with the missing nutrients of the day.
- Take immune boosting herbs to enhance your immune system.
- Elderberry: may help you recover faster! (Great tea! Get it pure)
- Cinnamon: Add to desserts, and even your coffee!
- Garlic: best known for lowering your cholesterol and reducing the risk of heart disease, can also help prevent colds. (Add garlic to as many of your meals as you can, especially in the cold-inside months.)
- Echinacea: Serve in a cup of tea. Add to herbal mint teas.
- Oregano and Turmeric: Great herbs to add to foods.
- Watch your weight. Learn how to eat healthy. Watch carbs and sugars, and of course saturated Fats.
- Hydration cannot be emphasized enough. Proper fluids can help your system remove toxins. Good hydration can also help your body process nutrients easier.
- Sleep! Cannot be stressed enough. Especially take note of the number of hours your children sleep. Unplugging may not make you popular, but then neither will the family getting sick make life fun.
- Exercise: Get a Move On! Get off the couch. Get off the video games. It only takes 45 minutes a WEEK of moderate exercise to improve your health and your immune system.
- Reduce your stress. Our kiddos, too, have daily stress; perhaps more stress today than yesteryears, especially before iphones. Learn and teach your family a sleep routine for a good night’s rest.
- Meditation goes along with sleep. Meditation can be done before sleep. Take the time to empty your mind of today’s worries. (I find, for me, reading positive-themed books. You want to put soothing thoughts into your brain before sleep.) Stay away from falling asleep with TV on.
- Sociability and humor. It can be a lot of fun to join a group: play cards, book clubs, or community theater? Do something for your community. Helping your community can definitely affect your mental state in a very positive way. The above-mentioned activities don’t have a magic wand, but they do enhance your immune system. Stay social.
All-around healthy habits can encourage and enhance your immune system. This includes what you eat and how you rest. Staying sociable is also important. Who wants to be sick?
If you would like more immune-healthy suggestions: join my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wellnessmakescentswithmarycommunity/
References:
https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/colds-flu-and-complementary-health-approaches
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/21196-immune-system
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279396/?report=printable
Mary Jessen: Wellness Makes Cents 