With flu season front and center, and Covid-19 making changes every day, keeping your immune system strong should always be your first line of defense. Some may argue that vaccination is the key, but with everything that has transpired, your immune system is your responsibility.
Medicine is designed to help the body to decrease the effects of X, but it typically cannot cure. Our bodies were initially designed to function as a finely tuned engine, and the key is making sure it has all the nutrients needed to perform at its very best, each and every day.
As for our children, what we feed them today creates the foundation for their health tomorrow. Read that again, every bite of food has a job… they’re either used for nutrition, or nutrients are stolen from the body in order to break down and digest them.
The foundation of our immune system begins to develop the moment we are conceived. Once we begin to eat solid food, our immune system begins to become challenged due to nutritional deficiencies in one way or another.
Keeping the immune system in top performance is easy, as long as the right ingredients are used.
Here are my Top 4 Immune Boosting Tips for Success:
1. Minimize your SUGARS.
First of all, sugar is not simply white table sugar. It’s sugar, flour, dairy, and alcohol (this one is only for parents). These are the things that your body registers as sugar and treats as sugar.
With that said, the same nutrients that help to support and maintain the immune system are some of the same ones that are needed to breakdown and digest sugars. In other words, your immune system is left short-handed when it’s in the middle of digesting the oatmeal cookie or the mac and cheese. The amount of sugars your body has to digest will dictate the amount of time your immune system is short-handed, and it could be as long as 5 hours, UGH.
2. Fruits and vegetables are your primary MULTI-VITAMIN.
Adding in a fruit or vegetable with every meal and snack enhances the body’s nutritional supply. We need approx. 98 vitamins and minerals per day for all the functions of the body. Supplements should never be the main supply of these. Our body responds better and faster when they come from our foods, preferably fresh ones. Your fruits and vegetables provide an array of nutrients, and their color helps provide even more. The darker and richer the color, the more nutrition they offer per bite. For picky little ones, smoothies are a fantastic way of hiding some of the more nutritious fruits and veggies in a way they can enjoy as a drink or a frozen fruit pop.
3. STRESS challenges the immune system every time.
As moms, we have so much on our plate. Multi-tasking is an understatement. Taking time to defuse from the day and creating rituals to make life smoother is a priority we should all instill. With stress, the body tenses. Unfortunately that small, or large, bit of tension affects our digestion and our ability to absorb the nutrition from our foods. Conceptually the food choices may be ideal, but health is challenged, and this is why. Creating a plan to ease the craziness is a must My go-to is a warm cup of tea. Caffeinated or not, once the warm cup settles in my hands, my shoulders drop and my body feels at ease.
4. EXERCISE, ENDORPHINS, and the funny stuff.
When we laugh, and when we exercise, we have the ability to release a “happy drug” throughout the body. Endorphins are this jewel. The harder you laugh, or the harder you exercise, the more is released. This wonderful thing helps us to let go of stress, boost the immune system, and release any negativity we are keeping inside. For all you SuperMoms out there… The more of this we can release into our system, the better off we are. Not to mention, encouraging our kids to do the same. In a recent research study, they discovered that adults laugh 15 times a day and children… 400 times a day!! What is up with that?
I have been a health coach for over 30 years, this is my life. I truly understand what happens when we depend on others to keep us healthy from the inside out. These times are getting stranger every day, and the only person you can depend on for your optimal health is YOU. There’s no medicine that cures a bad diet, excess stress, or lack of exercise. There are no quick fixes either. Creating a lifestyle of healthy choices will minimize health challenges and boost the immune system for amazing health throughout the years.
Sending you Peace and Health,
Adita
