10 Ways to Build Your Immune System (Part 1)
There is power in knowledge. The coronavirus has people scared and uncomfortable. Is it safe to give me teenager, who may not have been practicing social distancing, a hug? Can I have a coffee with my friend? What actions are safe and which ones or not.
I wish I was in a position to tell you. Unfortunately, I am not.
What I can share with you is 10 ways to build your immune system. Because while we cannot be 100% certain we won’t be exposed to coronavirus in our future, what we DO know is that we will need a good strong immune system to defend ourselves and we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that our immune system, when it is strong and healthy, is protecting us all the time. Let’s not give it too much to do!
- Drink your water and that water should be good, clean, plain water. While sports drinks may bring on electrolytes, they also bring in a lot of toxins in the coloring that is used and the additives in them. Coffee also is loaded with toxins and is frequently loaded up with dairy and sugar which is also not supportive of your immune system.
For optimal hydration, you need water. The rule of thumb is to drink ½ your body weight in ounces. For a 160 pound person, that would be 80 ounces, or 10 8 ounce glasses. You can , set a time to remind you to drink perhaps 8 ounces on the top of every hour.
Do you find yourself running to the bathroom? A dash of Himalayan or Celtic salt in your water can increase the absorption of the water and, perhaps, have you going less often.
2. Chew your food. If you are like the average person, you do not take time to sit down and really focus on chewing your food. More likely, you swallow it whole. Chewing is the only part of our digestion that we can control. By taking the time to chew your food until it is liquid, you are doing two things. You are making it easier for your body to digest your food resulting in less heartburn but you are also making it less likely that your immune system will react to it. You don’t want your immune system to be distracted by something as innocuous as food when it has bigger things to take care of.
3. Strong stomach acid is something that declines as we age or gets suppressed when we take medication to reduce it. However, we need good strong stomach acid. It is one of our first lines of defense to kill potentially dangerous bacteria that enter our body. It is also needed to break down foods so that, again, your immune system does not react to your food. Instead of taking medication to suppress your stomach acid, get to the root cause of why you have acid reflux. There could be a myriad of reasons while you are struggling with stomach acid that may be food sensitivities, an undiagnosed or unaddressed thyroid condition, or something else.
To increase stomach acid, do not drink for a half hour before or after meals. When you do eat, put a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a few ounces of water and sip on that before and during your meal. Since you are chewing your food until it is liquid, you io
Can’t tolerate apple cider vinegar? You can buy HCl in a capsule and that will also help build your stomach acid during meals.
4. Consume a low sugar diet. Do you know how much sugar the average person consumes per day? Thirty-two teaspoons! The American Heart Association recommends 6 teaspoons per day for a woman, 9 teaspoons for a man, and 3 for a child. Four grams of sugar is the equivalent to one teaspoon.
When sugar builds up in the bloodstream, it essentially acts as sandpaper inside our body. Think about what sandpaper does on your skin and what happens. You see pus oozing to the surface and, perhaps, a scab forms. This is an immune response to damaged tissue and, when your blood sugar gets high, a similar process occurs in the lining of the arteries. Build your immune system by not forcing to work overtime. How do you like it when your boss makes you work overtime?
To consume a low sugar diet, stick to fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and occasional meat. If you do eat anything processed, be sure to read the label and keep your sugar consumption to the recommended value. This can be a fun challenge to improve the overall health of your whole family.
5. Medications can be lifesaving but they are also a source of toxins for our body. What is often not discussed is the mechanisms by which these medications work. They can deplete the body of vital nutrients that help build the immune system, hormones, and tissues while making the liver work overtime to eliminate toxic chemicals.
Do NOT go off a medication without guidance from your physician but do have a conversation with them about if a medication is truly necessary or if there might be alternatives. Be sure to educate yourself before addressing this with your physician so you can make a good argument for decreasing or eliminating any medication that you may be on. A good doctor would be willing to listen to you and work with you. Would you allow someone who doesn’t listen to you to work on your house? Why would you let someone who doesn’t listen to you work on your body?
This is just 5 of the 10 ways to build your immune system. Stay tuned for 5 more in my next newsletter.
Missy Cohen, MPH, Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach is the owner of Just Breathe, a salt room and healing center, LLC. She is also the creator of the 12 week program to ditch the weight for good and ditch exhaustion forever.
