Immunity-how to improve yours-Episode 1

Immunity - Episode 1

A little while ago I wrote a post about self care called 20 ways to treat yourself. You can read it here. I referred to the fact that if your oxygen mask isn’t fitted and you can’t breathe, then you can be of no use to anyone else either.

Your immune system is the oxygen supply to your mask. It’s one of your most precious assets. If it’s not working then neither are you. So this is week one of ways to boost your immunity to help you to Find Your Natural Groove. We’ll cover off a whole lot more next week.

1. Get Out In The Sun

By now we all know the importance of Vitamin D. It’s been widely publicised as being critical for bone health. But in reality, it is vital for so many other functions within the body that science is only just beginning to understand. One of Vitamin D’s most important functions is to allow the body to produce over 200 anti-microbial proteins that fight off infections. Vitamin D is produced in your skin after you’ve had some sunshine. And just in case you were thinking “now I know its good for bones and immunity!”, we really haven’t even scratched the surface of understanding it’s importance in our bodies. Vitamin D is actually a hormone - it’s not a vitamin, and “it regulates more genes and bodily functions than any other hormone yet discovered” (Dr Mercola). Go get your Vitamin D on! Get out in the sun whenever you can!

2. Stop The Sugar

Or at least reduce the amount of sugar you are consuming. Sugar can have a deleterious effect on our immune system by feeding the very thing that is making you ill. Bugs love sugar and in fact it’s often the bugs (of the harmful variety) that are causing us to crave the sugar in the first place. And it’s not just sweet things that feed these leches either. Any form of starchy carbohydrate gets broken down into sugar in your body very quickly giving them even more to feast on. You can see how easy it is to get caught up in the bad bugs’ web of deceit and allow them to feed off our gravy train (or cup cake, macaroon, potato chip or cola train). We feed them lots of lovely sugar and house them in our lovely warm bodies, they thrive and breed like rabbits (or bacteria) and just don’t want to move out. Why would they? Starve them out I say! Make them leave because it’s just no fun living in you anymore!

3. Get Enough Sleep

It stands to reason that if you are tired and run down, you are less likely to be able to ward off infection. But did you know that sleep is actually an immune response? Put very generally, under normal circumstances, toxins are produced in your body all day and endotoxins are released by the good bacteria to counter these toxins. When the endotoxins reach a certain level in your bloodstream after a hard day nullifying the toxins, they cause the release of a cytokine called interleukin-2 which causes another immune response - it causes you to go to sleep! If you want to know more about this amazing cascade, read this article by the wonderful T.S. Wiley, author of Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival

4 Eat Your Greens!

Kale (is there an article on health these days that doesn’t mention kale?), broccoli, collard greens/swiss chard/silverbeet, and any other cruciferous vegetable are, it seems, vital to the health of your immune system. Research done by our own Walter and Eliza Hall Institute here in Melbourne, has discovered a gene called T-bet that produces vital immune cells in your gut to protect you from pathogens and, it seems, this gene really likes greens. This greens loving gene is responsible for protecting you from the bad bacteria that travel through your digestive system and is also thought to protect us from food allergies, inflammatory diseases, obesity and even bowel cancer. Feed you T-bet - Eat more greens! For more info on this research, see this article.

5. Eat (drink) Bone Broths

If you are not sure what bone broths are, think meat stocks that you make yourself at home from (organic) bones - beef, veal, poultry, fish, lamb. There is a reason why chicken soup is called Jewish Penicillin. A good chicken stock contains all the nutrients from the long cooked bones. It’s not magic, it’s actually common sense. The long cooking process breaks down minerals in the stock bones making nutrients that would otherwise be unavailable to you available! It’s a wonderful tonic for people who are ill and don’t feel like eating. Just sip on some bone broth (make sure to flavour it properly with good quality Himalayan salt!). Wellness Mama talks about bone broths’ ability to improve digestion, allergies, immune health and brain health. She also says it can reduce cellulite by improving connective tissue, increase hair growth/strength, improve digestive issues and remineralize teeth. What a good bone broth does do, is help to heal intestinal permeability, otherwise known as leaky gut syndrome. One of the common symptoms of leaky gut is recurrent viral infections. Sound like anyone you know? Just a note though, it is important to use organic bones when making stock as bones are often the depositories of the toxins eaten by the animal. Please don’t be put off by making your own bone broths. It’s really not a lot of work. Once you’ve got your ingredients in the pot, it just sits there slowly simmering away for hours and you can freeze what you don’t need to use within a week or so. Chicken stock is easy to make - try this recipe from Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions put together by The Nourishing Cook. The video below is by my favourite - Sean Croxton with Dr Cate Shanahan and explains making beef bone broth and why you should in great detail. I highly recommend it!