Boost your Natural Immunity
Feel sick again? What is it with all the viruses and bacteria that your body can’t fight knocking you down? You have quit smoking, cleaned up your diet, added heaps of promising supplements to your dietary intake, started an intensive workout program, began prioritising your sleeping hours, and even decided to steer clear from your sneezing friends. Most of the time, your body does a decent-enough job keeping you well, but sometimes there are breakdowns. Your perfectly healthy lifestyle may be counterbalanced if you go overboard on any of the above mentioned solutions weakening your immune system and making your body vulnerable to the many germs that float around. The puzzle of your system’s disturbance may be easily solved by looking at your lifestyle.
Immunity at Work
Your immune system is the amazing mechanism inside your body that protects you against millions of viruses, bacteria, microbes, toxins and parasites. These foreign agents are always on the lookout for your weak moment so they can conquer your immunity and invade the body. Amazingly, you don’t even notice the hard work of your immunity until its function fails. But you know it’s working when every skin cut you get gets sealed, every irritating particle gets sneezed or coughed out, every poisonous food gets out of your system faster than usual through one or both of the two ends.
If it wasn’t for the efficacy of your system trying to maintain homeostasis and compensate for the damage, you would be sick even from drinking purified water! The million dollar question is not whether or not your immunity is working - hopefully it does, otherwise a harmless bacteria could kill you any second. Rather, does your immune system work efficiently and what are you doing wrong to set it off.
Your immune cells have many roles – some of them are your body guards, others are garbage collectors, some are soldiers and commanders and yet others are weapons themselves. In simple terms, the body has three levels of protection. On the outside, it is protected by skin sealing you like a vacuum plastic bag and releasing antimicrobial substances. Mucous and tears are also your outside guards against foreign invaders serving as the first line of defence. If a poisonous substance was able to surpass the prime guards, it starts irritating the inside of your system causing generalized responses, such as inflammation. This is your second line of defence. And finally, immune responses against specific invaders become the task of lymphocytes, the third line of protection.
The structure of your immunity is quite complex acting on all tissues of the body and maintaining its work in balance.
• Cytotoxic cells, such as Natural killer, T and B cells arise from stem cells in bone marrow. These promote cell divisions, destroy infected cells and patrol for tumour cells and virus infections.
• Lymph system contains clear blood plasma draining and filtering all bacteria that enters the circulation
• White blood cells, such as neutrophils, natural killer cells and lymphocytes produce antitoxins or antibodies such as immunoglobulins and gammaglobulins. These are the bullets used to kill specific harmful attackers
• Complement system consists of about twenty kinds of plasma proteins circulating in blood and helping defend against bacteria, parasites and viruses
• Hormones known generally as lymphokines have different effects on the immune system. Some of them, such as corticosteroid adrenaline, suppress the immune system. Interleukin-1 may produce fever and fatigue. Interferon interferes with viruses preventing viral replication in the cell after an invader attack.
The immune cells don’t act in isolation. They go through the bloodstream to signal the brain or activate nerves nearby that signal the brain to change its functions. Your brain governs your behaviour changing your crystal clear mental function and electrifying energy drive before the workout to foggy thoughts and complete apathy. It is ultimately the function of your brain that makes you lose the desire or the ability to move, impair appetite, and blowing your workout and sex drive out of the window. Scientists speculate that these changes might help you conserve energy and use it to fight off the sickness.
Immune cells can also activate the hypothalamus, part of the brain that controls both physical and mental stress. If you’re chronically overtrained or stressed, your pituitary and adrenal glands begin to constantly pump out a lot of cortisol which may become bodybuilder’s biggest enemy. It is the same hormone that breaks down your muscles, increases your heart rate, steals your sleep and prevents tissue growth. The immune cells are being bathed in molecules which are essentially telling them to stop fighting. So this complete communications cycle from the immune system to the brain and back again keeps your system in balance.
Eat for Immunity
You know that what you eat effects how healthy you are. Your diet can balance most negative changes caused by exposure to toxins. But you have to be careful - not getting enough or over-consuming some of the nutrients may keep you in bed longer than you ever wished.
First of all, you have to eat frequently. This is a key to efficient metabolism, balanced blood sugar and optimal nutrition. This may actually be the problem for many dieters who try to skip meals in the hope of losing weight. Besides general fatigue and lack of energy needed to maintain healthy body function, undereating is just as bad as overeating for overall immunity.
Five small frequent meals containing protein, carbs and some fat from natural sources will stimulate your metabolism, keep blood sugar levels even and give you energy ensuring you have the most productive day, every day.
Getting enough protein, carbohydrates and fats is essential to support all body functions, including immunity. Immune defences are dependent on rapid cell replication and the production of protein with important biological activities such as immunoglobulins and cytokines. Carbohydrates reduce levels of stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol and decrease cytokine, or inflammatory response. Watching out how much fat you eat is necessary, but the types of fat you add to your meals may be even more important, especially when it comes to immunity. Generally, high fat diets have shown to suppress immune cell function. However, Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and flaxseed, for example, can really spark your immune system in comparison with Omega-6 fats from canola oil and saturated fats from animal sources. While most of us generally get plenty of fatty acids from all foods, Omega-3 is really hard to find.
So, help yourself by eating plenty of whole grains, fruit, vegetables, legumes, fish, lean cuts of meat, and polyunsaturated fats from flaxseed, primose or olive oil. Sprinkle a bowl of whole-grain cereal, such as buckwheat or oatmeal with flaxmeal, add milk, yogurt and fruit for breakfast. Make a seafood stir-fry or a baked salmon dish with steamed brown rice for lunch, grill a chicken breast with wholemeal pasta for dinner, and take your immune-boosting supplements to help your body heal itself naturally.
Supplement for Immunity
Complete and balanced diet, restful sleep and physical activity are all wonderful health-promoters. But with current stressful lives, it may still be hard for the body to keep up with all the demands. Sometimes, your system demands some assistance. Nowadays, we are very lucky to have a wide variety of immune-boosting supplements easily available.
Maca, a cruciferous root vegetable from Peru, was traditionally used to assist in the balancing and nourishing of the endocrine system and is now being used with great success by Western men and women to regain their wellbeing naturally. Maca is easily assimilated by the body and is excellent in boosting its natural immunity and repairing the damage done by our modern environment and lifestyle pressures. Being a whole food, Maca is rich in natural vitamins and minerals (calcium, iron and magnesium). It also contains 22 Amino Acids which are essential in building every cell of the body. There also several vital Alkaloids and sterols, essential fatty acids Omega-3,6, & 9, all assist in supporting and rejuvenating the sex glands, thyroid and adrenals.
Goji berries, also known as Wolfberry (Lycium fruit) have been used in Tibet, Mongolia and China for almost 2,000 years for their delicious taste and powerful medicinal properties which may help to slow down aging, fight cancer, help you lose weight, protect against the damage of free radicals, lower cholesterol, fight arthritis, reduce inflammation and boost your immunity to name a few. Goji berries contain 18 kinds of amino acids, 21 trace minerals, and stress-reducing vitamins B1, B2, B6. With more vitamin C than oranges, plenty of vitamin E and more beta-carotene than carrots, Goji berries have true antioxidant powers. What makes them particularly special is the Goji polysaccharides which enhance and balance the activity of all classes of immune cells, including T-cells, cytotoxic T-cells, NK cells, lysozyme, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and the immunoglobulins IgG and IgA. .
Olive leaf extract has many traditional uses including relief of symptoms of colds and flu, coughs and sore throats. It also helps reduce fever. The key ingredient in olive leaf extract is the beneficial antioxidant oleuropein which also helps maintain a healthy heart, cardiovascular system and normal healthy blood pressure. Few botanicals possess the rich history and folklore of the olive tree," said Pam Stone, "In Greek mythology, the olive plant was believed to have been created by the goddess Athena, who endowed it with medicinal powers."
Lactoferrin is a terrific immune-supporter. It is a protein component of milk isolated from bovine colostrum or whey has iron-binding glycoprotein which may improve the uptake of iron by the intestinal mucosa. Iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in the world, especially seen in women. Without proper iron levels, cell oxygenation and energy production suffer, resulting in generalised fatigue, a decline in the body’s detoxification mechanisms, and a reduction in resistance to infection.
Cat’s Claw has been traditionally used in Peru for the treatment of a wide range of health problems and to assist digestive complaints and arthritis. The loose, papery bark of the tree was collected and used for a variety of ailments with results that have ensured its consistent use for many hundreds of years. It is also known today as a free radical scavenger with antioxidant action.
Reiishi and Shiitake mushrooms
Echinacea has traditionally been used for the symptomatic relief of mild upper respiratory tract infections such as colds and flu and to support the immune system. One of the ways that echinacea works in the immune system is by increasing the number of white blood cells involved in defending the body against foreign micro-organisms. Echinacea also stimulates a group of immune system cells called phagocytes, which engulf and digest bacteria or other foreign bodies.
Vitamins C, A and E as well as zinc are also important for the maintenance and normal function of the immune system. These are involved in the function of white blood cells, antibodies, and lymphocytes. Zinc is a mineral that is essential to good health as it is found in every cell of the body and is involved in many enzyme reactions. Adequate levels of zinc are critical for the proper functioning of the immune system. Zinc inhibits the growth of many viruses, including the common cold viruses.
Elena Voropay is a journalist specializing in health and fitness writing. She is a Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Nutritionist. For a wealth of information about health, fitness, fat loss, muscle building and more, visit her website at www.AustralianNaturopathy.com
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