4 Steps to Keep Your Immune System Strong
With Fall approaching, it means cooler weather, less sunlight, and unfortunately, more illnesses. To keep your immune system strong, ensure you drink enough water, eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible, get your workouts in every day, and get a good night's rest.
4 Steps to Keep Your Immune System Strong
Get Outside- Getting outside for 5-15 minutes several times a day will help improve the body's ability to make and absorb vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential for our bones and blood cells, boosting the immune system and absorbing other minerals like calcium. However, remember your SPF if spending an extensive time outdoors. Secondly, fresh air can make you feel less angry, anxious, and stressed. Sunlight helps keep your serotonin levels up. Serotonin improves your energy, keeping your mood calm, positive, and focused. Serotonin levels also play a significant role in sleep quality and depression.
Sleep- While sleeping, your body's immune cells, specifically T-cells, are more active, making them stronger at identifying and destroying virus-infected cells. Sleep also plays an active role in antibody production. For this reason, when you are sick, you feel excessively sleepy. Sleep is your body's natural way of helping your immune system become more efficient. Averaging 7+ hours of sleep most nights will help keep your immune system strong and able to fight off whatever life throws at you.
Movement- Exercise or movement is one of the pillars of living a healthy lifestyle, which is the best defense in having a healthy immune system. Exercise improves cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculoskeletal health while helping you maintain a healthy weight, which can help protect against various diseases. At least 20 minutes of moderate exercise is encouraged daily to maintain a healthy lifestyle and immune system.
Nutrition- Eating various colorful fruits and vegetables is the best way to get all the necessary vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. Add color to your plate each day with the five main color groups. Strive to eat 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
Red and pink fruits & veggies contain phytonutrients like lycopene and Ellagic Acid. These are high in antioxidants, promote heart health, and are cancer-fighting.
Green foods help lower blood pressure, improve heart function, reduce cardiovascular disease, and improve vision and skin complexion.
White and brown foods like mushrooms, onions, and garlic reduce cholesterol, reduce cellular mutations, resist bone loss, and lower blood pressure.
Blue and purple phytonutrients fight against fungi and can improve immunity, protect cells from damage, and improve memory function.
Yellow and orange foods provide electrolytes and anti-inflammatory compounds to reduce post-exercise sore muscles and keep eyes and skin healthy.
Let's remember water when talking about nutrition. Our bodies comprise more than 60% water, and drinking enough of it is vital to keep our body and immune system functioning correctly.
Best Supplements to Support a Healthy Immune System
When talking about supplements or vitamins, let's first discuss the quality. There is no standard for vitamins or dietary supplements, so researching brands is highly important. You want to find an organic, whole food-based, and non-GMO product. Also, getting vitamins with minimal or no added sugar or filler is essential. Two brands that I recommend for vitamins are Garden of Life and Nordic Naturals.
1. Zinc- Plays a significant role in regulating immune system cell production. Zinc has the innate ability to trigger white blood cells to act on illness or infections in the body, thus shortening the time of the cold or illness and strengthening the immune system. The primary food sources that contain zinc are seeds (sesame and flax), spinach, garlic, and animal meat.
2. Elderberry- It is packed with antioxidants and vitamins that support the immune system. Elderberry can help fight inflammation, lessen stress, and protect the heart. Elderberry is also great at alleviating respiratory conditions such as a cough and taking elderberry at first signs of a cold or even prior as a preventative major is suggested. The most common form of elderberry is a syrup, and you can make your own.
3. Probiotics- Help boost your immune system by inhibiting the growth of harmful gut bacteria and helping good gut bacteria flourish. Probiotics can also help promote the production of natural antibodies. Fermented foods like Kombucha, sourdough bread, miso, kimchi, and yogurt (preferably whole-fat Greek) have probiotics.
4. Vitamin C- This is used in the body to promote the cells and enzymes to fight infection. This is why vitamin C is essential for keeping the immune system strong. The primary food sources for Vitamin C are yellow bell peppers, citrus fruit, and broccoli.
5. Vitamin D- This is actually a hormone, and you can find these receptors in almost every cell and tissue in the human body. Vitamin D has many benefits, including fighting infection and boosting the immune system. Without sunscreen, sun exposure absorbs Vitamin D for 10-15 minutes. Vitamin D is also found in wild-caught fatty fish, pasture-raised eggs, and wild mushrooms.
5 Best Foods for a Strong Immune System
When using diet to improve our immune system, we need to remember quality makes a big difference. For our food to have the proper nutrients, we must ensure it was raised and grown in a healthy environment. Buying organic, NON-GMO produce and pasture-raised meat and eggs will help ensure you get the proper nutrients.
1. Fermented foods are one of the best ways to maintain a healthy immune system and overall well-being. Fermented foods help our good gut bacteria flourish while inhibiting the growth of harmful gut bacteria. Our gut is our "second brain," so keeping it functioning well is essential to our health and well-being. Eating fermented foods daily like sauerkraut, pickled veggies, apple cider vinegar, and miso are great ways to keep us healthy.
2. Ginger, garlic, or turmeric (anti-inflammatory spices) are crucial to a healthy immune system because they help battle the chronic inflammation our bodies encounter due to highly inflammatory foods or lifestyles. Inflammation is a natural response of the immune system to signal immune cells to defend themselves against foreign invaders, like a virus. However, when the body experiences chronic inflammation, it leaves our immune system in overdrive and eventually weakens it because it can no longer respond rapidly to the invaders. Thus, a highly anti-inflammatory diet will help the body avoid chronic inflammation.
3. Berries such as strawberries and blueberries are packed with antioxidants and disease-fighting vitamins and minerals (that were mentioned above) that support a healthy immune system. Antioxidants are essential because they help keep free radicals, inflammation, and oxidative stress in the body in check.
4. Broccoli contains a nutrient sulforaphane with anti-bacterial properties, is a natural detoxifier, and is anti-inflammatory. All of which help support a healthy immune system. Broccoli also contains many antioxidants and Vitamin C, which help support the immune system.
5. Bone Broth contains vitamins, minerals, and nutrients like amino acids, antioxidants, glutathione (natural detoxifier), and glucosamine. It helps maintain a balanced bacterial environment in the gut like a probiotic. This tasteful broth increases collagen synthesis, enhancing bone mineral density and dental health. Sip one cup of this yummy broth daily to support a healthy immune system and overall well-being.
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