By following four or five of the points below and sticking to them, you will boost your natural health considerably, as well as reducing the body’s stress and therefore supporting the immune system.
Nourish your body with an abundance of fresh and seasonal foods. Enjoy cooked, seasonal fruits and vegetables in casseroles, soups, stews, and home-made curries to nourish the body’s natural energy and create warmth from within.
Drink plenty of water! A dehydrated body is a tired and often toxic one. The body’s immune system thrives on hydration and many headaches, lack of concertation, and low energy are often the symptoms of dehydration. Enjoy your water at room temperature and add lemon slices or cucumber and mint if you struggle and need some flavour!
Sleep has healing powers! Be kind to yourself and get early nights as often as possible, especially when the demands of work are high. If you are struggling to sleep or stay asleep – please see my article on sleep with practical tips to help you get more.
Move your body every single day. Gyms may be shut but you can still go for walks. In fact, walking can greatly improve your health and happiness as it boosts endorphin levels. Yoga is another form of exercise that focuses on building strength, flexibility, and breathing techniques to boost both physical and mental wellbeing.
Try and avoid, or at least reduce, your sugar intake. If there is one message you take away from this article… let it be this one! Refined sugar plays a fundamental part in many health problems, weight gain, and a compromised immune system. Breaking the habit can be easier than you think with nutritional support.
Reduce your coffee intake. Caffeine compromises immune health by robbing the body of essential minerals and is very dehydrating. It can also disturb our natural sleep cycles. Enjoy a cup or two of good quality coffee but stop drinking coffee after twelve noon.
Consider taking a good quality probiotic formula. The healthy bacteria help to improve the body’s natural defences against the unhealthy bacteria which encourage viruses and bacterial infection to thrive. This, together with cutting sugar from the diet, is a super effective way to boost immune health!
Eat plenty of oily fish, such as wild salmon. This is particularly rich in omega 3 as is flaxseed and flaxseed oil. Omega three essential fatty acids have a significant role to play in immune health, such as increasing prostaglandin production. Prostaglandins are hormone-like substances that are anti-inflammatory and help kill germs and viruses. Just as the wrong foods are linked with disease, the right foods can be used for treatment and prevention of disease.
Take a Vitamin D Supplement. Vitamin D is good for strong bones, but the benefits don’t stop there. There are many receptors for vitamin D in the brain, and there’s evidence showing that vitamin D has good effects on the brain including antidepressant properties.
Most of our needs for vitamin D are met by sunlight at certain times of the year. However, during the winter months, the sun is just not strong enough. Coupled with that, we are often covered up. This is even more evident for darker skins which need longer exposure to sunlight to make enough of this critical vitamin. There is a chronic deficiency of vitamin D for a variety of reasons and we are only getting a fraction of what’s optimal.
Research has linked an association of vitamin deficiency with many acute and chronic diseases. Suboptimal levels of vitamin D may be a potential risk factor for COVID 19 infection. In a recent article in the British Medical Journal, Dr. Gant and his colleagues recommend that people at risk of influenza and/or covid -19 should consider taking a supplement.
This is when supplements can be useful as well as improving the quality of our diets.
Nurture your soul: Mahatma Gandhi taught us to remember that our thoughts generate words, words generate actions, actions generate habits, habits generate character, and character breeds destiny. Watch what you are feeding your thoughts, this is just as important as what you feed your physical body. Being kinder to others can only be a good thing, but it’s vital to be kind to yourself as well.
For more detailed support on this and any other health concerns for all the family, please get in touch. It is best to seek professional advice before embarking on a supplementation program.