7 Easy Ways to Support Your Immune System
Nourishing our immune system is easier than you may think. Everything we do contributes to our overall health status and that also includes our immune system. Here, I want to provide you with some easy tools and techniques that you can use to start supporting your immune system today.
*If you like watching more than reading, you can check out this IGTV I recently did covering this important topic: Watch my Immunity IGTV here.
7 easy ways to support your immune system:
Stay hydrated by drinking a minimum of 2 litres per day.
Support your gut health by eating real foods and plenty of fibre.
Eat immune loving foods and supportive nutrients.
Get plenty of sunshine and fresh air.
Move your body in some way every day.
Decrease your stress levels, by prioritising relaxation.
Get enough sleep, aim for 7-8 hours per night.
Stay Hydrated
We’ve all been to the doctor when we’re sick and been told to stay hydrated and rest when we’ve come down with a cold or flu - this is because our hydration status can impact our immune system and can be both a prevention and a cure. Not only does it help us recover once we’ve come down with something, it also helps to prevent us from getting sick in the first place. Water is vital for our detoxification processes and helps to flush any unwanted toxins or pathogens from our body.
As a general guideline, it’s great to aim for a minimum of 2 litres of water per day. But to get more specific and figure out your individual requirements, here’s a great formula for you to follow:
Body weight (kg) x 33 (ml) = water intake in ml
Bonus points for drinking filtered water to ensure you’re getting the cleanest water possible and save your body from having to do any extra detoxification.
Things that contribute towards hydration include water, herbal teas and pure coconut water.
Things that don’t contribute towards hydration are coffee, caffeinated teas (black, green and white teas), soft drinks, energy drinks and alcoholic beverages.
Fun fact: Fruits and vegetables with a high water content can also boost your hydration status - one of many reasons to eat plenty of fresh produce.
Focus on Gut Health
The majority of our immune system is found in our gut, in fact around 70% can be found there! For this reason, the health status of our gut can impact our overall health, as well as the efficiency of our immune system.
Take care of the gut to support your immunity and ensure you’re maximising your nutrient intake from the foods you’re eating.
Ways to support gut health:
Follow a real food diet
Eat the rainbow to get plenty of variety
Avoid refined and highly processed foods
Remove inflammatory foods*
Consume plenty of dietary fibre
Include pre and probiotic sources
*Inflammatory foods include processed deli meats, soft drink, vegetable oils, fried foods and refined sugars.
Dietary fibre is an indigestible fibre found in some foods that is vital for the heath of our digestive system. The main categories of fibre are soluble, insoluble and resistant starch, all of which we can get through a real food diet. High fibre foods include whole grains, beans, lentils, seeds, nuts and fruits and vegetables with their skin left on. Resistant starch is also found in potatoes, rice or pasta that has been cooked and cooled. In Australia, the recommended dietary fibre intake is 25-30g per day. Unfortunately less than 20 percent of us meet this recommendation, which is less than 1 in 5 aussies! Let’s change that by aiming to have a source of fibre in every meal.
Prebiotics are the food for our healthy gut bacteria, while probiotics are the good gut bacteria themselves. It’s recommended we incorporate both of these into our diet for the best results. To do so, here are some of the best sources of each:
Prebiotics are found in certain veggies, specifically onion, garlic, leek, jerusalem artichoke, asparagus, chicory root, dandelion greens, unripe bananas, oats and apples.
Probiotics are found in fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kombucha and yogurt. You can also get probiotics through supplementation for an extra boost when needed.
Eat plenty of Immune Loving Foods & Nutrients
There are a number of foods that have immune boosting properties, whether they’re antibacterial, antimicrobial or antiviral, try including some of the following into your diet.
Immune boosting foods include:
Ginger
Garlic
Lemon
Turmeric
Medicinal mushrooms
Raw honey
Pineapple
Not to mention all of the foods that contain immune loving nutrients that are discussed below.
While all nutrients play an important role in our overall health and there are many that influence our immune system, some of the best immune boosting nutrients are zinc, vitamin A, C, D and E.
So that we know how to incorporate these into our meals, following are some of the food sources of these nutrients:
The mineral zinc is found in oysters, meat, sundried tomatoes, seeds (such as pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds), nuts (especially cashews, pine nuts, brazil nuts and pecans) and cacao powder.
Vitamin A is found in animal products including ghee, butter, eggs and cheese, as well as animal organ meat like lamb or chicken liver. Beta-carotene, which can be converted into an active form of Vitamin A, is found in plant based sources. You can get beta-carotene through leafy green vegetables, along with orange fruit and vegetables.
Vitamin C is one of the best known nutrients for immunity and its antioxidant properties. You can find it in citrus fruits (orange, lemon, lime, mandarin, grapefruit), berries, red capsicum and kiwi fruits. Vitamin C is heat sensitive, so to get the most of this nutrient aim to have these foods in their raw form.
We all know that we get vitamin D from sunshine, however in the winter months supplementation can also be a good option for our vitamin D intake. Foods such as fish, seafood, pork and eggs also may contain very small amounts of vitamin D so it can be good to incorporate these to boost our overall levels.
Fun fact: you can sit mushrooms out in the sun (gills facing up) to supercharge them with vitamin D.
Vitamin E is found in seeds (sunflower seeds, sesame seeds), nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, pecans), olives and extra-virgin olive oil, salmon, nori seaweed, avocado and sundried tomatoes, among other sources.
Get Sunshine & Fresh Air
Now that we know how important vitamin D is for our health and that we get it from the sunshine, it emphasises the importance of spending some time with our skin exposed to the sun. Of course it’s important to be sun smart and it’s best to go out in the morning or late afternoon, to avoid the harshest UV rays. My general recommendation is a minimum of 20 minutes of sun exposure to help your body synthesise vitamin D.
While we’re spending this time outside, we’re also getting the benefit of fresh air. Of course, oxygen is absolutely essential to our health and we need it to survive. Along with this, when we breathe, we’re actually breathing in microbes that can become a part of our microbiome. It’s important that we’re exposed to a range of environments to build our microbiome, while also exposing us to various bacteria/viruses/pathogens so that our immune system can do what it was designed to do and keep us safe and stay on the ball.
Move your Body
Not only do we get the benefits of decreases stress and improved mood from the endorphins we get through exercise, but it’s also been found that movement is beneficial for our immune system. Moving our body is great for our lymphatic system, which helps to keep everything moving in our body. Aim for a minimum of 30 minutes of physical exercise per day for improved immunity and overall health.
Stress Less
When we’re stressed and our body is in a state of fight or flight, our primary focus is on survival. As a result our immune system becomes suppressed and isn’t able to function to the best of its ability.
Ways to decrease your stress levels:
Meditation
Breath work
Move your body
Go for a walk
Spend time in nature
Laugh
Journal
Take a bath
Diffuse calming essential oils
Read a book
Do something that you enjoy and gives you some time out from your busy day to focus on you and calm your nervous system.
Prioritise Sleep
A time for our body to rest and heal, sleep is vital for our immunity. Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night.
Ways to optimise sleep:
Sleep in a dark room
Minimise distractions and outside noises
Switch technology off an hour before bed
Its said that the hours before midnight is when we get the best sleep, aim to have an early night to make the most of this and ensure you’re getting deep restful sleep.
There you have it! A whole range of easy things you can incorporate into your day to support your immune system and of course your overall health. You’ll notice that there is a lot of crossover with these guidelines and my ‘Ingredients for a Nourished Life’, that’s because when we focus on one system, we’re actually supporting all of them - that’s what I love about holistic health.
Did you find this interesting and want to hear me chatting about this topic? Be sure to check out this video I did: Watch my Immunity IGTV here.