What a life we’re all having in the last years, right? Health is now more appreciated than ever and people started looking into ways on how to boost their immunity and prevent certain viruses from causing damage to their bodies. I love that!
I’m not going to try to convince anyone or swear on methods that work for everyone but I’ll share my own opinion and experience, so stick with me. It might help you too.
We all want to feel great all the time, be healthy, unlimited, strong and enjoy life. Having superhuman immunity is one way to go. It gives the basis for living a life a little bit more brave. A properly functioning immune system can protect the body in every second. Unfortunately, most people are believed to have compromised immunity due to lifestyle and nutrition decisions. Let’s talk about it.
Without immune system, none of us can exist on this planet. Bacteria, viruses and toxins are part of this world and we need strong immunity to help us protect our body against them. And they are everywhere around and within us. Immune system is not only needed when we’re sick. We need it all the time. Literally.
Each of us has two types of immune system – extracellular and intracellular. Like the names suggest, extracellular immunity protects the internal organs, glands and tissues of our body and intracellular immunity exists inside the cell.
The extracellular immunity starts at conception and copies the genetic memories from both parents, then they’re passed to the cells of the baby. This process sets the immunity pattern for the child that is to be born. Extracellular immunity is the one that protects us from invaders. It can also remember and comprehend so when the same or similar invasion takes place again, it can act faster and be prepared. Our immune system teaches itself to recognize past invaders and even stores this information in memory cells. That’s amazing! I’m a big fan of the phrase “The human body is the smartest invention ever”. It can heal, protect and support itself by itself, if only we give it the right conditions.
For the immunity to work properly as it should, we need to take care of it and do not overload it. What does it mean?
- Look at our nutrition choices. Do we feed our immune system or the viruses?
We all know that dairy products cause mucus. Many times mucus appears only when we get sick and therefore, the common belief is that it’s not the dairy products but the flu that is responsible for that mucus. However, all types of dairy products (raw, cooked or pasteurized) may cause excessive mucus production. The interesting fact is that excessive mucus production is also caused by refined carbohydrates, sugar (in all its names), toxins that enter our body via food, drinks, air, water, cosmetics, as well as meat products. Meat is a foreign protein that is not suitable for human consumption. Eaten frequently it not only supports mucus production but may suppress the proper function of the immune system. An example I can share is my personal experience with the recently famous virus and all types of winter colds/flu I ‘ ve met in the last decade. I had little to no mucus. By not consuming animal products and avoiding gluten, toxins and taking the right foods on a daily basis, I am creating a resistant body and a superhuman immunity.
Next is feeding the body with at least 7-10 servings of fruits and vegetables every single day. One serving = one fruit (banana, apple) or one cup (blueberries, raspberries). That is the minimum for a human body to stay fit but if we want to work on creating a superhuman immunity, then the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables per day may be increased to 15. It may sound like a lot of chewing 🙂 but don’t worry: smoothies count too as well as dips, sauces, smoothie bowls and spreads. Here you have one super easy smoothie recipe from my first eBook “The Working Week Reset” where I consume 5 fruits at once without any problem.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup kale (substitute with spinach or romaine if you don’t have kale)
- 1 small avocado
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1 mango
- 1 cm ginger
- plant milk of choice
Method:
- Wash and cut the kale and place it in a mixing cup.
- Peel and cut avocado, bananas and mango as well and add them to the kale. Then add ginger.
- Pour plant milk until you cover all ingredients. I use coconut, cashew or almond milk.
- Blend and enjoy.
Avoid toxic cosmetics, medication (unless it’s really necessary), highly processed foods, alcohol and cigarettes . Regular medication intake burdens the body. Artificial vitamins that have additives, are heavily processed and sweetened, are another thing to avoid. Highly processed foods take the energy and the focus of the body’s powers to try to get rid of the unwanted and harmful substances that we’ve just given our body instead of focusing on detoxing, cleansing and supporting the body’s proper functioning. Let me share a favorite quote from Zig Ziglar that I truly love:
“If you did have a million-dollar racehorse, would you let him stay up half the night drinking coffee and booze, smoking cigarettes and eating junk food?” Next question: “Would you treat a 10-dollar dog or a 5-dollar cat that way? What about a billion-dollar body?” It’s fascinating that we wouldn’t treat a pet or a valuable animal the way we treat our own bodies.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Our body functions thanks to many processes that run constantly, especially when we are awake. It needs to perform the operations no matter our appetite for a cheeseburger. At the moment when we feed ourselves with this heavily processed cheeseburger that does more harm than good, our body fighters get out there and start “cleaning” these harmful edible-like substances because this is their job – to keep us safe. So this cheeseburger not only gets the focus from the important work but also the energy of our body. However, we don’t stop blinking, breathing or moving while our body tries to flush out the ingredients of this food. The body needs its energy and army to still take care of the normal processes. Therefore, not everything can be completely detoxified or cleaned and when we have this type of unhealthy meals over and over again, our body just gets stuck with toxins, inflammation appears and grows inside us, diseases and pain occur. In addition, we think it’s normal because half of the world is now obese and has some type of chronic disease that is trying to heal. Our immunity level declines because our body’s army is focused on something else and not on protecting us properly.
A good example is when we feel really sick, what is our body showing us? No appetite, right? We don’t want to eat, but only drink. This is the natural response and way of healing. When the body’s full army has no work with processing food, cleaning after that and safely removing harmful ingredients from the food we gave it, it can entirely focus on fighting back the disease we are currently having. It’s important to understand that our body is not our enemy. It just needs clean food, enough water and exercise to keep it strong and healthy.
Viruses and bad bacteria feed on sugar and thrive in acidic environments. All animal products may raise the acidity of the body, so if you cannot and do not want to completely eliminate these products from your diet, take a look at how to properly combine them with vegetables, how to cook them and how often you can consume them in order to avoid creating too much acidity.
Maintain healthy levels of vitamin D
Vitamin D functions as an immune booster and its deficiency may lead to immune disorders and increased risk of infections. In addition to being a key nutrient, vitamin D is also a hormone that has receptors in almost all of the body’s cells and tissues. Over 53 distinct diseases, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, osteoporosis and diabetes, have been linked in research to low vitamin D levels. Research has also found that vitamin D builds immunity against flu and colds. By controlling the activity of immune cells that trigger antiviral responses, vitamin D strengthens immunity and aids in the battle against infection.
The best source of vitamin D is, of course, the sun. Scientists say that we need approximately 30 to 60 minutes on a warm summer day in order to get sufficient vitamin D. However, this depends on the sunrays, the hour, if there are clouds or not, our skin type and many other factors. This is why vitamin D is considered the most deficient vitamin ever.
What to do then?
Ask your general practitioner for a vitamin D test in order to check your levels. If deficient, try to find a reliable, clean & absorbable vitamin D supplement. I do take vitamin D preventively in the colder months and also because I want to maintain higher but safe levels of it.
Our body can produce as much vitamin D as it needs to maintain health when it receives it from light without running the risk of overdosing or becoming toxic. But taking a supplement without following a prescription might be risky, so make sure to check your vitamin D levels once a year and act accordingly.
Intermittent Fasting
I consider this very effective method to achieve health, longevity and maintain a healthy weight. Fasting has always been important for the human body but now we see so many people benefit from the so-called intermittent fasting, including me and my clients.
What is intermittent fasting and why is it good for immunity?
Many diets focus on what to eat, but intermittent fasting is all about when we eat. With intermittent fasting, we only eat during a specific time. For example, having an early dinner followed by a late breakfast the next day is the best way to fast intermittently. If we finish your last meal at 7 pm and don’t eat until 11 am the next day, we’ve technically fasted for 16 hours. And that has great benefits!
The minimum time frame for doing a good intermittent fast is 12 hours – we do not consume any food within 12 hours, but only drink water or unsweetened tea. 14 to 16 hours fast is even better and may provide us with optimal health benefits.
Picture the following: we have dinner at 6:30 pm. By 7 pm we are done and our body now works on processing the food, distributing the good stuff and collecting the bad stuff to be flushed away. When the digestion stops and the body has no food to process, it starts detoxing and cleaning around. When we don’t eat for a while, several things happen in the body.
The body changes hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible and initiates important cellular repair processes;
Blood levels of insulin drop significantly, which facilitates fat burning;
The body induces important cellular repair processes, such as removing waste material from cells;
May help lose weight because short-term fasting actually increases the metabolic rate, helping us burn even more calories;
May reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in the body;
The cells in the body initiate a cellular waste removal process called autophagy. Increased autophagy may provide protection against several diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Isn’t that worth it?
If our body is well detoxed, clean, maintained, fed properly, has decreased inflammation and oxidative stress, then our immune system will have tons of time and energy to maintain a healthier and stronger body.
I have been practicing intermittent fasting for more than 3 years now. I have my last meal for the day at 6:30-7 pm and I have my breakfast no earlier than 10-11 am the following day. There is no struggle or starvation and it’s easy to get used to it. It doesn’t require to omit eating for days but just to shift the time frame a little when we can consume foods. Give it a try.
Exercise
Exercise has no need of advertising. Immunity requires a clean body and a clean body is achieved when we flush out the waste and bad stuff.
Have you heard of the lymphatic system?
Each of us has immune system and lymphatic system. They work together.
Did you know that cells eat and excrete exactly like we do? Yes! And here comes the important stuff – the lymphatic system acts like our septic system – it helps remove waste. The blood carries the nutrition and fuels to the cells and the lymph system removes the by-products and wastes that are caused by metabolizing these nutrients and fuels.
But there is something that the lymphatic system needs in order to remove the waste – movement. The lymphatic system requires breathing and movement from the body’s muscles to help move fluids and remove waste from the body. Without movement, these toxins and waste may remain in the body and with time, may create problems. Therefore, exercising is vital. The minimum recommended time is 30 minutes per day of practicing any type of sport that we enjoy. We only need to make our heart beat faster and sweat.
Try swimming, running, dancing, any other type of cardio or HIIT training.
To sum it up:
In order to build a strong & superhuman immunity, we need to:
Feed our body 10-15 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables per day;
Stay away from animal products, if possible;
Avoid highly processed foods and gluten;
Have enough liquids – 2-3l per day (water or unsweetened tea, coffee doesn’t count);
Fast intermittently in order to help our body detox – leave a 12-16-hour window of not eating per day;
Maintain healthy levels of vitamin D;
Exercise at least 30 minutes per day.
Avoid unnecessary medications (I mean maybe don’t take painkillers immediately if you have a headache but rather dig deeper and find out the root cause of that headache and eliminate it).
My new eBook will be launched by the end of 2022 and will be all about Immunity Boost. I can’t wait to share with you recipes, tips, knowledge and valuable information about our immunity and how to boost it at home in only natural and healthy ways.
Stay healthy and don’t forget to share your own observations with me in the comments below or just upload an image with your own ideas!
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