How to Boost your Immune System

It’s finally April! Now that the long millennia of March is over it seems like we are FINALLY taking one step forward. In the news, China has made headway on the war against the Corona Virus, and people there are starting to venture out and go back to their normal lives. In America though, many of us are still under a state ‘shelter in place’ law. People are trying to stay indoors as much as they can, but alas, we all need food, gas, and other necessities (toilet paper perhaps? lol), so we’ve all probably have had to come out of our homes at one time or another in the past month.

With a highly contagious microscopic virus on the loose, it’s becoming easier to come in contact with COVID-19, a virus we as a society have never been exposed to before. BUT, there are proven ways to aid your body in preparing to fight to continue to keep you from getting sick. This could literally be a few posts long, but I’ll try to condense it to what I feel is most important. Some of the best ways I know of on how to improve your immune system is via managing stress, sleep, exercise, and a nutrient-packed diet/supplements. So let’s unpack that and talk Immune System Boosters!

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Sleep is for healing

It’s not a secret that eating right, sleeping 7-8+ hours a night, and exercising on a consistent basis keeps your immune system up and running the way it should. I recommend exercising 3x a week at the bare minimum, and getting a good nights rest. Actually, that’s not my recommendation, that’s National Sleep Foundations recommendation.

When your body is sleep deficient, it goes into a state of stress. Increased stress hormones caused by lack of sleep raises the level of inflammation in your body. Inflammation is thought to cause the body to deteriorate as we age. The body’s functions are put on high alert, which causes high blood pressure and the production of stress hormones. High blood pressure increases your risk for heart attack and stroke, and the stress hormones make it harder to fall asleep.

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Exercise is for longevity

Exercising is so important in maintaining longevity and daily health. The more you do, the more you will thank yourself for it later. In my experience, the older people I know who were active in their 30s and 40s, are still active today in their 60s and 80s! And those who chose to be more sedentary, are now sitting on their couches at home in their older age. Personally, I want to be that hiking grandma when I grow up, or the old lady who still does yoga when she’s 75. If that’s your goal too, I hope you are working out a few times a week (or better yet, daily) now while you are young!

-Within one day of exercise: you are adding lean muscle as your body starts to rebuild itself and repair microscopic tears.
-Within one week of regular exercise: your risk of diabetes goes down, your VO2 max (a measure of your endurance and aerobic fitness) increases 5%, meaning you can train harder and longer next time.
-Within a month of regular exercise: you’ve activated more growth-stimulating proteins in the brain to help form new cells.
–Within one year of regular exercise: your endurance and aerobic fitness level is increased by 25% after just 2 months of training, and you’re cells are super-efficient at breaking down fat to use as fuel, your heart rate is lower because your heart is pumping more efficiently, and you’ve cut your cancer risk and added years to your life. How AMAZING is that!? If that is not inspiring to you….well I don’t know what is.

Along with exercise and rest, your diet plays a huge role in how strong your immune system will be. This is why Nutritionists, Doctors and Moms (mine included) all insist on pushing you to take vitamin C daily, or to drink a cup of anti-oxidant/anti-inflammatory tea each day. Vitamins and nutrients are so essential to healing and health in general. They are the necessary ingredient your body needs to build up a healthy immune system.

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Supplements to Boost your Immune System

As a girl with Chronic Lyme disease, I would get sick with the common cold all of the time when I first started my job in NYC. This was highly frustrating for me, to be achy all of the time, while my other co-workers were in perfect health. A year ago, I got sick of it (pun intended), and decided to do more to prevent myself from getting sick so often. So I did a lot of research to find what I might be missing in my diet, or what couldn’t hurt to add to it in general. And this is what I found:

GREEN VIBRANCE GREEN POWDER

This is my FAVORITE Green powder in the world. I’ve tried a bunch of them, like Garden of Life and Nutiva, but Vibrant Health always seemed to have their product at the top of the lists on other comparison websites. They have just about everything you could need in a green powder, every topic is covered: Green Grasses like Wheat Grass, Plant-Based Micronutrients like Spirulina and Parsley, Antioxidant blends like Turmeric and Goji Berry, Immune Support from Astragalus, Adaptogenic herbs from Holy Basil, Fiber from Flax Seeds and Apple Fruit, Liver support from Dandelion, Digestive Enzymes from Ginger and Protease, and 25 billion probiotics. I’ve noticed a decrease in how often I get sick (last time I was really sick now was a year ago!!), and even some more tolerance in my well being when I don’t get as much sleep (I’m pretty crabby when I don’t get a full nights sleep, but this has lessened my misery when I lose an extra hour of sleep – not recommended but its a plus!).

HOST DEFENSE STAMETS 7 MUSHROOM POWDER

This one is a new addition to my morning protein shake blend. I’ve begun using this a few months back, so I can’t testify to its visible usefulness in my body just yet (as I believe benefits from these products takes a few months to show themselves), but Host Defense is an amazing company owned by a Leading US Mycologist: Paul Stamets, who researches the most beneficial mushrooms and has created this powerful blend for daily immune support. Mushrooms are used in even treating the ugliest cancers, and aiding in the digestive, circulation, lymphatic and respiratory systems of the body.

VITAMIN C – 1000MG + DAILY

Vitamin C is the number one ingredient most nutritionists and doctors go to when needing to aid the immune system during illness. My Mom has been barking at me to take this atleast 10x a day. I can’t say that your body will be able to fully utilize 10,000mg daily, but if you break it up into 1,000mg dosages every few hours, you have a higher chance of absorbing more and thus increasing the antioxidant count in your body. This vitamin is the most talked-about vitamin when it comes to the immune system. It is so easy to take, and so hard to overdose on, that it’s considered safe even at high dosages to consume for most people (always check with your doctor). In fact, a lack of vitamin C can even make you more prone to getting sick.  I’d recommend this every day, ALONG WITH Vitamin D (which most people are deficient in, I know I am) and Zinc, especially when there is a pandemic is on the loose!

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Recipes to Combat Illness

These are my go-to recipes when I’m feeling under the weather, or when I know there’s a flu spreading around my community. I can’t guarantee that this will help you fight specifically against the COVID-19 virus (since I’m not a scientist and have not done extensive studies on this), but if I had to guess, my bet would be that these recipes could only help you if you do end up getting sick with it. At the very least, I hope they would shorten the illness for you or make it more bearable as you are going through it (I pray none of us will need to go through it though).

GOLDEN TURMERIC MILK

I drink this tea almost EVERY NIGHT now because of how important it is to include anti-inflammatory‘s in your diet! Turmeric has the ability to help in liver function, relieve pain, and possibly reduce your risk of cancer. A little bit of acute inflammation is healthy, it is necessary for us to fight off bacteria and disease. But chronic inflammation is where it gets bad. Chronic inflammation develops when your immune system starts attacking healthy tissues. Over time, persistent inflammation can damage your organs and tissues. Chronic inflammation can be caused by poor diet choices, lack of sleep, the build-up of stress, harmful chemicals in your water or environment, chronic illness, and all things that are generally just bad for you. That’s why (especially for me with Chronic Lyme disease) consuming herbs like Turmeric is very important.

SAMBUCOL ELDERBERRY SYRUP

This is a recipe my Dad has passed down to me. Whenever I’d get the flu as a kid, he would have a batch of this ready in the fridge to give me, and I’d drink a few Tablespoons of it before bed as I was getting a fever, and by morning my fever would almost always be down or gone! Elderberries are highly nutritious, and packed full of antioxidants! I’ve seen first-hand the beneficial properties of this powerful berry. You can buy it already made at the store, but I like to have a more potent fresh batch in the fridge when the time arises. If you can find some frozen elderberries in your local grocery store, I highly suggest making a batch for yourself in this time of need!

You deserve to feel your best, and so does your body, regardless of whether you are stuck at home, or on your way to work. I want to give you all the best chance to boost your immune system. Obviously there is more that goes into health than this, but these are some of the most essential ones you can improve on in your life. This will better equip you to handle anything that life throws at you, so that when you do come in contact with germs, you will have an immune system already fighting hard on your side.

A Trinidadian Super Tonic Cough Remedy

Lastly, I will leave you with my Mother in Laws Homemade Super Tonic Cough Remedy (I’m not sure what to call it lol) that she uses to treat a cough (perfect for Coronavirus!!). She use to give this to her kids, and they would hate the taste, but by morning their persistent cough would just about go away every time. Every ingredient is one which you probably already have at home, so it is super easy and cheap to make.

For example, the main ingredient is onions, which cost a dollar. We all know how powerful onions are in clearing our sinuses every time we cut them lol! They are great even for placing on the chest (an old grandma’s remedy) to help aid in breathing and clearing congestion. Onions are linked to improving immunity, garlic is known for its anti-bacterial properties, ginger is amazing for its anti-inflammatory properties and oranges are loaded with vitamin C. With all of these ingredients the taste leaves a bit to be desired but, there is no denying the super immune-boosting benefits this recipe sets you up for!

Remember to take your health seriously, you deserve to live a happy healthy life! May God and good health be with you always, Happy Easter everyone <3