In this post-covid world, our health services are struggling to care for us in the way that they used to. What better time to take back our power and learn how to take care of our own health. In Part 2 of this series, we look at CREATING A ROCK-HARD IMMUNE SYSTEM.
Here are 7 ways you can make sure that your immune system is able to take care of you, no matter what life throws at you. Try to think of it as a menu, just select 1 or 2 dishes that you can ‘digest’ right now and then try the others over time.
1 . LEARN HOW TO DISCHARGE STRESS
Chronic stress corrodes us from the inside. It is one of the most harmful things for the human body unless we learn how to discharge it. Many writings on stress tell you to reduce your stress levels in life but I am not going to say anything so patronising. The fact is, life is stressful and since the Covid Plandemic, even more so. I believe it isn’t realistic to tell anyone to avoid stress, but we can learn how to process it out of our system before it does too much harm. Here are some ways:
BREATHE YOUR ALERT LEVEL DOWN: When we are stressed, we tend to shallow breathe in the upper part of our chest which keeps us in an adrenalized, fight-or-flight state. To take ourselves back into a balanced state, we need to breathe into the belly. Simply imagine a small balloon in the lower part of your belly and feel this inflating/deflating when you breathe in and out. Also make sure that you are breathing in through the nose, not the mouth, and let your exhale be longer than your inhale. Even something as simple as 5 minutes breathing in for 4 counts, pause, then breathe out for 8 can calm your adrenal system.
STOP YOUR BRAIN FROM FIZZING: When we get stressed, our brain tends to go on overdrive, and we get into a spin. There are many ways to calm this, meditation being one, but a simple way of stopping the internal rambling is this. Simply sit for 10 minutes with your eyes closed or cast down and, in your mind, repeat the word CALM over and over. Make sure that you are breathing down into the belly. There are also audio recordings (that you listen to on headphones) that include binaural beats that can re-balance the brain. See https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320019#how-to-use-binaural-beats. The Heart math technique is also very powerful. See https://www.heartmath.com/quick-coherence-technique/.
TALK TO SOMEONE YOU TRUST: Never underestimate the power of talking about your problems whether that is with a friend or a therapist. Even writing in a journal can help. However, you need to be aware of not making your friend your therapist.
WALK IN NATURE: This could just be around your garden but a walk out in nature is even better. We are part of this planet’s ecosystem and we are profoundly soothed by being somewhere green and natural. In Japan they call it – ‘Forest-Bathing’.
RESEARCH WHATEVER IS WORRYING YOU: This can be a double-edged sword as for some people, too much information is frightening. So, use this wisely but usually getting to the truth of a matter that is worrying you can often dissipate some of the fear.
2 . TAKE SUPPLEMENTS
Here are some of Nature’s A-team:
VITAMIN C: Our bodies cannot manufacture Vitamin C, so we have to get it from our food. When we are ill, under-stress or going through a winter we need more Vitamin C than normal so we may need to supplement. There are different forms of Vitamin C, but it is generally thought that Magnesium ascorbate is the most bioavailable synthetic version. You may also want to try one of natures’ vitamin C supplements such as powdered Hawthorn berry or Amla berry which you can pop into juice.
ZINC: This is especially important with Covid as lack of zinc affects your sense of smell/taste which may be the reason why some people have these symptoms with that virus. Ionic zinc liquid is considered the most bio-available form of zinc.
VITAMIN D3 AND K2: You want to take these two vitamins together as K2 makes sure that the Vitamin D is escorting calcium around your body in the right way. Vitamin D is best absorbed with an oil so try and find supplements that deliver it with an oil capsule or liquid.
PROPOLIS: Anything from bees is magical as far as I am concerned and propolis is one of the hive products that is very good for strengthening immune function. Pay a bit more for a good quality one and take a few drops in water throughout the winter or if you are ill.
MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS: There are many medicinal mushrooms that have been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years. They have a substance in them called Beta-glucans which attaches to our immune army cells and super-charges them. The mushrooms most associated with immune strength are shiitake, reishi, cordyceps and turkey tail.
SELENIUM: Selenium is often a forgotten mineral, but many people are now deficient in it because our soils are often depleted of selenium, so foods grown in these soils are depleted too. Just eating a few brazil nuts a day can boost your selenium levels but look for ionic selenium if you need more.
GARLIC: Never underestimate the power of good-old garlic. It is anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and tastes pretty good. Make yourself a pot of garlic soup now and then. When garlic is cooked this way, it is sweet and not overpowering. You may also want to take a garlic supplement if you want to avoid the smell.
CHYVANPRASH: This is a kind of ‘jam’ that is a combination of around 50 ayurvedic herbs that has been specially combined for wellness and longevity. Have it on your toast in the morning or just eat a little off a spoon each day.
3 . EAT FERMENTED FOODS
As much as 70% of our immune system is in our gut so it is important to keep your digestive system happy. For thousands of years people have done this with fermented foods. These are foods like: sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kombucha, live yoghurt. If you can’t make or buy these foods then you can supplement with a good, broad range probiotic.
4 . LIMIT REFINED SUGAR
Bacteria and viruses have a sweet tooth! Around 80%, of bacteria and viruses seek out the sugars on the surface of our cells and use them to attach to the cell and attack it. Excess sugar in the body will also increase inflammation and hobble the white cells within your immune army which opens the door to many diseases. Also remember, cancer feeds on sugar, too.
5 . KEEP YOUR BODY ALKALINE
The natural pH of a healthy, human body is 7.4 which is around neutral. Many diseases, including diseases like cancer, can only thrive in an acidic body so, if you keep your body at the right pH, it is hard for chronic diseases to get a hold. You can alkalise your body by:
DEEP BREATHING: The way that you breathe makes a lot of difference to your body being acidic or alkaline. When you take shallow breaths, more carbon dioxide is trapped in your blood, which makes your system highly acidic. This sets up an inner terrain that is liked by many chronic diseases.
LEMON WATER: Surprisingly when lemon juice gets inside the body it stops being acidic and has an alkalising effect. Have a glass of lemon water every morning before breakfast (just squeeze the juice of half a lemon into a glass of tepid, boiled water). This will also help to detoxify the body.
EAT GREEN FOODS: Most green foods are alkalising for the human body. If you can make green juices even better. Try adding more of these to your diet: any leafy vegetables, broccoli, seaweeds, algae, chlorella, wheat grass. There are many green powders that have a great mix of dried, alkalising foods that you can easily add to a smoothie or just water.
DRINK PLENTY OF GOOD QUALITY WATER: You can even buy alkalised water in bottles now such as Actiph. You can also buy water filters that alkalise the water at the same time.
6 . BOUNCE UP AND DOWN
We’ll look at the power of movement more in Part 4, but when your immune system is fighting an infection, it produces a lot of debris that the body needs to clear out. This is largely the job of the lymphatic system.
The Lymphatic System is a network of clear-ish fluid that circulates in the body a bit like the blood system except that lymph doesn’t have a pump (heart) to move it around. To keep the lymph flowing and taking out the trash we need to move and bouncing up and down squeezes it to keep it moving. This is why a rebounder is very good for immune function. However, any exercise that gets you moving up and down (like jogging upstairs, jumping jacks, dancing, skipping or even brisk walking) can give you a good result. And it’s fun!
7 . SPEND SOME TME UNDER A NATURAL SKY
Daylight is medicine. We need the frequencies of natural light to keep our biorhythms and hormones in balance as well as for the production of Vitamin D, of course. Some viruses/bacteria are also killed by UV light, including Covid. Even if you can only get outside for 20 minutes at lunchtime, this will help your body to stay in sync. If you can combine it with a walk, even better.
To see Part 1 of this series ‘How to Stay Healthy in a Post-Covid World: PREVENTING ILLNESS DAILY’ https://futureproofhuman.co.uk/staying-healthy-in-a-post-covid-world-part-1/
Coming soon… Part 3 of this series which will be on STAYING CLEAN INSIDE…
For those who like a bit of science:
HOW THE IMMUNE SYSTEM WORKS (Remember, knowledge is power!)
In our bodies, we have an army of special cells that are designed to recognise and deal with invading microbes, parasites and toxins that would otherwise harm us. When a virus is detected the body activates this immune army, known as white blood cells. White blood cells are also called LEUKOCYTES. They circulate in the body in blood vessels and the lymphatic system and are on constant patrol looking for pathogens. When they find a target, they begin to multiply and send signals out to other cell types to do the same.
There are two main types of leukocyte:
- Phagocytes
About 70 percent of the white blood cells are phagocytes. They are the infantrymen of the immune system as they do hand-to-hand combat with the invading microbes that enter your body. These warriors surround and absorb the pathogens and break them down, effectively eating them. They do this by using enzymes to dissolve the invader once they have wrapped it up in a vacuole. They are also clean-up crew, patrolling for any dead or dying cells from our own body.
- Lymphocytes
Lymphocytes are like the specialists of the immune system. They help the body to remember previous invaders and recognize them if they come back to attack again.
Lymphocytes begin their life in your bone marrow. Some stay in the marrow and develop into B cells. B cells are like the intelligence officers of the immune system and they produce antibodies that identify and remember the invaders. Other lymphocytes head to the thymus and become T cells. T cells are like the ninjas of the immune system and they destroy compromised cells and help alert the infantry (phagocytes) to come and do their job.
Once your immune system has detected the virus particles in your fluids, the B cells produce antibodies that are specific to that virus shape as they will attach to the virus like a key in a lock and then neutralise it. If this is a familiar virus, your body will already have the specific antibodies in its database which are sent out to attach to the virus particles. If it’s a new virus, this process may take a bit longer as the B Cells have to make them from scratch.
However, once the virus has entered your cells the antibodies can’t see it and some viruses are very good at cloaking themselves anyway. This is where your ninja, T cells come in to play. They can detect when one of your normal cells isn’t ‘quite right’ because it has a virus inside it, and they will sacrifice the whole cell by killing it completely. This stops the virus from reproducing and spreading itself all around the rest of the body.
During this warfare, the B and T cells will have communicated with the phagocytes to come and clean up the carnage.
While all this is going on you will probably experience a fever, which is a good thing so long as your temperature doesn’t go over 105 degrees F as this would mean that you are losing the battle. A slightly higher temperature than normal not only makes it difficult for the virus to reproduce (most of them can’t reproduce above 70 degrees Celsius), it also makes it easier for the immune army to move around the body and do its job.
You may also experience headaches, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, body aches, sore throat, vomiting depending on what virus you have and which part of your system it targets.
Photos by: Damir Spanic, Tuva Mathilde Loland, Michele Blackwell on Unsplash