Nourishing Your Body, Renewing Your Life

Welcome to Your Renewable Life

First and foremost, the human body was made to fight viruses. We have thousands of viruses already living inside us at any given time. Once you have been exposed to a virus, your immune system learns about it and then traps it so that it can stop multiplying and wreaking havoc. This is when you develop antibodies. You have thousands of antibodies that protect you from being harmed by the same viruses over and over. When a new virus enters your body, the immune system has a new opportunity to learn, conquer, and contain it.


But what if you are immune-compromised, and what does this really mean? Basically, if you have underlying conditions, whether you know about them or not, you are immune-compromised.


Those with underlying chronic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.)—affecting 6 in 10 Americans—are at the greatest risk with mortality rates of five to ten times that of healthy COVID-19 patients. Obesity increases the risk of death almost threefold because almost every time other chronic conditions are also present. We are seeing up to 40% of hospitalizations in 20 to 54-year-olds, and most of those are obese and overweight. ⁣⁣ And a sad fact is that one in two Americans have pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes.⁣⁣

With all this doom and gloom, what can we do to protect ourselves from coronavirus?

Continue following WHO and CDC recommendations. Abide by local authority mandates.

  • Wear a mask in public places
  • Wash your hands
  • Don’t touch your face
  • Maintain distance from others – 6 feet is the general guideline.

Practice everyday preventive actions to help reduce your risk of getting sick and remind everyone in your home to do the same. These actions are especially important for older adults and people who have severe chronic medical conditions.

  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
  • Stay home when you are sick, except to get medical care.
  • Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue and throw the tissue in the trash.
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing; going to the bathroom; and before eating or preparing food.
  • If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces and objects (e.g., tables, countertops, light switches, doorknobs, and cabinet handles).
  • Launder items, including washable plush toys, as appropriate and in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. If possible, launder items using the warmest appropriate water setting for the items and dry items completely. Dirty laundry from an ill person can be washed with other people’s items.

Citation: What steps can my family take to reduce our risk of getting COVID-19? – COVID-19 Answers. (2020). Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://faq.coronavirus.gov/keeping-home-safe/family-reduce-risk/


(Before going any further, please note my disclaimer: The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. The purpose of this website is to promote broad consumer understanding and knowledge of various health topics. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.)

Diet and Lifestyle Tips For A Strong Immune System

In addition to these health guidelines, I want to provide some nutritional and lifestyle tips that will strengthen your immune system whether you are in good health, or if you are immune-compromised. Now, these tips do not make you immune from the virus, only getting the virus with an optimal immune system can you gain immunity. Our immune system is a genius really. It has a memory and when a virus it has already learned and fought against appears again, it can fight it better and faster. I’ll spare you the science lesson as to how all the harmony of this system works for your total body today though.


Lifestyle Tips:

  • Good quality and quantity of sleep. Aim for 7-9 hours per night. Have a bedtime routine that winds you down to promote quality, sound sleep. To learn more about healthy sleep hygiene, check out this post.
  • Don’t stress. This is a hard one. Our world is in chaos, especially here in the United States. Even though you can’t control the stressors around you, you can control how you handle and perceive those stressors. Mindset, visualization, deep breathing, gentle exercise, and meditation are all helpful in managing stress. For more on this topic, here is another blog post.
  • Drink plenty of water. You should drink a minimum of half your body weight in ounces to achieve proper hydration. Water is instrumental in regulating body temperature, transferring nutrients to various parts of the body, lubricating joints, and flushing toxins from the body. All important roles in maintaining a strong, healthy disease-resistant body!
  • Eliminate Sugar and (dare I say) Alcohol. These are unnecessary stressors on the body. They cause inflammation and busy your digestive, endocrine, and IMMUNE systems to work harder. If your immune system is busy handling dietary stressors like sugar and alcohol, it’s challenging bandwidth should the COVID-19 virus enter your body.
  • Eat a nutrient-dense, whole-food diet. I’m going to go over some specific vitamins in a moment, but an overall healthy diet from a variety of natural, local, and organic choices when possible. Your body has (probably unknown to you) sensitivities to certain foods, mostly those ingredients found in processed, packaged foods. Gluten, wheat, corn, soy, and canola oil are 5 of the most common food sensitivities. Food sensitivities puts the immune system on guard as it produces antibodies to protect your body from the attack of these foreign bodies. This blog post is a couple of years old now, but it has some additional information about food sensitivities.
  • It’s also important to make sure your digestion is working properly. If you have a leaky gut or other unaddressed digestive issues (constipation, acid reflux, IBS, etc), your immune system is being taxed. If you are unsure how to proceed with these lifestyle tips, this is a perfect instance to work with a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, such as myself. My job is to find the gaps in your overall health, find the root cause, and provide recommendations that get your body back into optimal condition to handle anything coming your way.

Let’s dig a little deeper into specific nutrients for the immune system.


Vitamin C is key in the production and function of white blood cells. It helps in producing antibodies and is a key nutrient for the immune system. It’s an antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals that damage cells and cause inflammation in the body. Since our bodies can’t make Vitamin C, we must obtain it from food and/or supplementation.


Foods that are good sources of Vitamin C – Guava, Kiwi, Bell Peppers, Strawberries, Oranges, Papaya, Broccoli, Tomatoes, Snow Peas, and Kale.

Recommended Supplements: (Visit my Fullscript link for a full list of my suggestions for immune health supplements.)


Designs For Health – Liposomal Vitamin C


Biotics Research – Bio-C Plus


Vitamin D is an important building block to the immune system in that it is key in the activation of T-Cells and macrophages, protecting your body against pathogens. Vitamin D deficiency is also linked to many auto-immune diseases. It may also affect your ability to fight respiratory infections which is one of the potentially harmful side effects of COVID-19.

My favorite way to get more Vitamin D is good ole sunshine! Fresh air is so important for your overall health and well-being. So get out for about 10-15 minutes per day in full sunshine (without sunscreen for these few minutes so your skin can absorb the UV rays that make Vitamin D). Food sources for Vitamin D include Fatty fish (including salmon, tuna and mackerel), beef liver, egg yolks, and cheese. You can also try foods that are fortified with Vitamin D, like milk. However, I don’t recommend the fortified foods as they generally fortify with Vitamin D2 which isn’t an absorbable form for humans. You want to look for D3 for the best absorption.


Recommended Supplements:


Biotics Research – Bio-D-Mulsion Forte


Seeking Health – Vitamin D3 + K2


Zinc is an important mineral for several body functions. Its role in supporting the immune system is that it helps fight off bacteria and pathogens. Zinc aids in wound healing, colds, and rashes as well as supporting normal growth. Due to mineral-depleted soil, many Americans are indeed deficient in this important mineral.


There are many palatable food sources of zinc including red meat, shellfish, seeds, nuts, dairy, eggs, whole grains, and dark chocolate.


Recommended Supplements:


Biotics Research – Zn Zyme Forte


Biotics Research – Aqueous Zinc


Vitamin A competes and kills pathogenic bacteria and stimulates the maturation of immune cells


Food sources of Vitamin A include Liver, liver, liver (haha), Salmon, Tuna, Butter, Cheese, Eggs, Trout, and Caviar. Vegans and vegetarians can produce adequate Vitamin A so long as their digestion and hormonal systems are in prime condition by eating fruit and vegetable sources of Vitamin A precursors, and beta-carotene such as carrots and leafy greens. Like Vitamin D, Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, so you need to make sure you consume your carrots with a homemade salad dressing, nuts, or avocado, for example.


Recommended Supplements: Vitamin A deficiency isn’t common but if you are having vision problems like night blindness, dry skin, acne, and infertility are all symptoms of low Vitamin A.


Biotics Research – Bio-Ae-Mulsion


Iodine is noted here because I discovered some new research from a doctor using it as part of a protocol for treating patients with Covid-19. Iodine is a sensitive supplement to recommend because of the delicate balance with the thyroid. Deficiency in iodine is characterized by thyroid issues, but thyroid issues may also occur with too much iodine in the body. With that caveat, I want to highlight the information I found about iodine and immune health. Iodine helps fight infections and removes both chemical and biological toxins. Iodine is extremely important to the body. So much so that I will be doing a separate post soon about this mineral.


For now, some good food sources of iodine are fish, seaweed, shrimp, dairy, eggs, and prunes. If you want additional supplementation, I urge you to work with a practitioner such as myself and/or a functional medicine doctor.

Other Immune Supplement Recommendations:


Biotics Research BioImmunozyme Forte – A unique, broad-spectrum multiple designed to specifically support normal, healthy immune function. Provides a wide array of vitamin, mineral, botanical, amino acid, and organ/glandular-specific support.


Premier Research Labs – Colostrum-IgG – is made from bovine colostrum with naturally occurring immunoglobulins for effective immune support. In addition, this concentrate delivers a full spectrum of multiple immune support agents including lactoferrin, N-acetylneuraminic acid, and IGF-I.


My full list of supplements supporting immune health can be found on my Fullscript page.


I hope you found this post helpful. Stay safe and stay well.

Follow:

Share:

Subscribe

Your email address is safe with us.We never share your information with anyone

Privacy Policy

Terms & Conditions