4 things That Will Improve Your Immunity
Fall. Pumpkins. Colorful leaves. Trick or Treat (maybe not this year?). Apple Cider.
These are some of the things I love about fall. What about you? This year we are spending the whole season in the Midwest. Cool days and cooler nights await us. October baseball. Soups and Stews. Thanksgiving turkey. Transition to winter and the full holiday season.
The other thing transitional item that comes to mind is immunity. Especially this year. I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer (apologies to my sister, Deb), but in order to enjoy all the season’s wonderfulness, we need a plan to make sure we will get to the Happy Holidays actually happy and in one piece, not down for the count.
I know we are thinking about Covid; of course, that’s the 64,000 lb. elephant in the room that we are tired of talking about. But random colds, flu and other junk can put you in a funk and bring you down too. And there’s too much to do between now and December to be losing a few days or even a week.
So I thought I’d put together a list of immunity supporters that you may not have thought about or haven’t had time to research. Things you can quickly add to your list of sniffle/cold/flu preventers. So you can concentrate on the stuff that needs to get done. Or all the fun to be had.
And while I was writing this, the list started to take on a life of its own. Because I want to share with you all the other fun foods/supplements/that you may want to experiment with this season. And it’s too much for one blog post. So consider this Part One of Two. Next time we will discuss the other fun stuff. This post is on vitamins and minerals.
Of course, I’m a “food first” person, so I’ll be noting where to get these nutrients from your diet. Because a balanced diet is better than any supplement.
And something I hadn’t considered seriously before I came into this biz is this: if you have conditions that cause malabsorption of any nutrient, mostly digestive issues such as hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid), IBS, or celiac disease, you need to increase the amount of nutrients needed for proper immune function. So if your digestive system isn’t right, let’s talk!
Here’s the list:
Vitamin C
This is an obvious one and one of the greatest supporters of the immune system. It increases the production of white blood cells that fight infections and antibodies. It increases the amount of interferon (signaling other cells in the body to get on high alert) and it recharges vitamin E stores. That’s impressive.
Good food sources are:
Bell peppers (more vitamin C than citrus, but you start losing the benefit immediately upon cutting it, so cut right before eating)
Citrus (but stay away from sugary processed orange juice if you can help it). This study showed that eating or drinking sugar suppresses the immune system.
Broccoli
Leafy greens such as kale and collards
Parsley
Papaya
Here’s the scoop: vitamin C is only absorbed 250-1000 mg at a time, depending on your particular situation. And it’s a water-soluble vitamin, so guess what….if you take more it just gets eliminated eventually. So the key when you are starting to sniffle is to start taking it throughout the day. And the therapeutic dosage when you are sick is to what we call “bowel tolerance”. You’ve got that right if you are thinking about running to the restroom…bowel tolerance is different for everyone. And therapeutic dosages are also based on your particular condition. Vitamin C can be used for a lot of different conditions. Like colds. And also cancer.
And here’s something I just learned: if you ramp up vitamin C to bowel tolerance, you should always ramp down. No sudden stopping. You can get mild symptoms of scurvy if you don’t taper down.
Vitamin D
Here’s the importance of Vitamin D in 2020 and the answer to my teaser from last week’s email. This study came out last month that is one of the first comparing therapies in a random study with Covid patients. If you don’t want to read the study, here’s the bottom line: only 2% of the patients in the hospital with Covid who were taking appropriate levels of vitamin D were admitted to the ICU vs 50% who were not receiving adequate levels of Vitamin D.
And about 95% of us are not getting adequate levels. Even if you are supplementing.
Unlike vitamin C, vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, so best to take it with food. Our best source of vitamin D is the sun. Twenty minutes (no sunscreen) at 1p every day if you are fair skinned will do the trick. And I know you don’t have time to do that every day. And it’s now cloudy fall in the Midwest. Here’s some food sources:
Fish sources, mackerel, salmon and herring
Butter
Egg yolks
One final note on vitamin D: if you don’t know your vitamin D levels, here’s a great way to participate in data gathering for a nonprofit organization as you find out where you stack up. Check out Grassroots Health. I’m in the process of testing myself. I suspect I’m in the 95% who are deficient, but we shall see. I’ll report back my findings in a future post. And do let me know if you do the test and your results.
Zinc:
You know about zinc. You take zinc lozenges when you have a cold that is coming on. Zinc increases the production of white blood cells that fight infection. But be careful. This is one supplement that you don’t want to take on a continual basis as it actually knocks out an important balance with copper in the body. Instead, try to get it from your food. Good food sources are:
Oysters (my favorite and a super source)
Calf’s liver
Lamb
Pumpkin seeds.
But by all means, take that zinc lozenge when the sniffles start coming on.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is an antioxidant which kills what are called “free radicals” in our bodies. The science is actually quite interesting, but I won’t go into it now. Truth be told, vitamin E is a family of 8 antioxidants: 4 tocopherols and 4 tocotrienols and it’s important to get a mixture of the tocopherols and tocotrienols in your supplement. Good food sources are:
Nuts
Seeds
Green leafy vegetables.
So those are the vitamin and mineral basics for a healthy cold and flu season. Two more notes before we move on. First, the source of your vitamins and minerals is important. There are more and less bioavailable forms and that’s why some are more expensive than others. You get what you pay for. Reach out if you have questions, I can steer you toward better-quality producers.
Second, we are all different. The science term as I discussed in prior blog posts is bioindividuality. That means that my dosage may not be your dosage. I was just having this conversation with my sister last week. She was talking to her friend who has some health challenges and who, under a doctor’s supervision, is taking higher levels of supplements. Well, that may be too much for Brenda. Or maybe not even the right supplements at all. Lesson: it all depends on what’s going on with you.
And while supplements are relatively safe, there’s always contraindications. So please check with your doctor before you start a new supplement regimen, especially if you are taking medications.
And check back next time for other ingredients that may be beneficial to you on your immunity journey.
As always, reach out if I can be helpful. barwellness@comcast.net is how to find me.
To your health,
Bev