J.40/ Optimise your Immune System
Are you someone who gets sick often or do you always catch whatever virus is going around? There are ways we can help boost your immune health to help reduce the severity and duration of illness. Working on your basic health and wellbeing is at the core of a great immune system.
Let’s talk about immune health! This isn’t a one size fits all answer, everybody is different and that is why it’s so important to have a consultation to get to the root cause of your health concerns. With that aside I’ll go through some basic pillars of health that will lead to a better functioning immune system for a healthy individual. With general health it’s a good idea to go back to the basics of health, water, sun, movement and good nutrition. Focusing on these will help improve your wellbeing. Other aspects I find that compromise immune health are stress and gut concerns, these both have a huge negative impact on our immune system.
Going on our basic pillars of health it’s important to prioritise them, make sure you’re drinking ample filtered water, getting movement in daily, having some time outdoors daily and eating good nutrient dense food. I know this isn’t always 100% possible but if we aim for at least 80% of our time to be considerate of these factors it will help to boost your wellbeing. It’s all well and good to say to eat well but we can take it a step further and really focus on foods and nutrients to consume that will positively impact our immune system. Micronutrients to keep in the fore front of your mind will be Vitamin C and Zinc as these will help boost your immunity. You can do this by including organic blueberries, kiwi fruit, capsicum, strawberries and good quality proteins with an emphasis on seafood/shellfish. Eating these foods will ensure you’re getting good amounts of Vitamin C and Zinc, though I do think it’s important to eat a broad range of fruits, vegetables, complex carbohydrates, good fats and protein to ensure you’re getting enough macro and micro-nutrients in your diet.
Gut health directly impacts our immune system as well so it's important to make sure your gut is in optimal health. If you suffer from bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, reflux, food sensitives or gut pain then it’s time to start focusing on your gut health. For the previous symptoms you’ll need a consultation to help your gut as these symptoms are telling you that your gut is unhappy and needs some support. For general gut health on a gut that is not displaying adverse symptoms we can put things in place to continue that good gut health. Some foods to focus on are fermented food sources such as yoghurt, kim chi or kombucha, fibre is also your guts best friend so it’s a good idea to include some different sources of fibre such as LSA, chia seeds, quinoa, leaving vegetable and fruit skins on when appropriate. These will all ensure your microbiome is happy and healthy and that you are having regular bowel movements.
Stress will also negatively impact our immune system and our ability to fight off virus’s so it’s important to try to keep your stress levels under control when we can. Things such as Magnesium and B Vitamins can help to reduce our stress levels, so try to include foods such as dark leafy greens, a range of proteins and almonds to help get these nutrients in your diet. For more complex cases of stress and anxiety it’s important to look into supplements to get higher doses or herbal medicines to get something for specific for you.
With your immune health remember to focus on basic wellbeing and naturally you’ll be boosting your immune system and then there will be times when you need to take something more specific for your immune health such as high dose nutrients or a herbal tonic. I’d recommend taking an immune supplement at the first signs of any sickness, this will help to reduce the severity and duration of the virus. It’s a good idea to have a consultation with myself before taking an immune supplement, this way we can get you an immune plan that is tailored to you and personalised to your situation.
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