February 2, 2009
6 Ways to Boost Your Immunity
Optimize Your Immunity!
Besides regular chiropractic care to keep stress off your nerves, or communication lines to your body, what else can you do to help boost your immunity and help fight off infections?
- Manage Your Stress: How you cope with stressful situations can minimize the negative effects. Use yoga, tai chi, a sport like softball, or meditation to channel stress. Friends, support groups or clubs and even information gathering, can help reduce daily stress. Find a routine.
- Eat Well: Eating well nutritionally, that is. A plant-based diet, filled with fruits and veggies, whole grains, seeds and nuts. Splurge rarely, as a reward. Remember moderation. Low-mercury fish like salmon and herring. During the cold season, include dark berries like blueberries and raspberries, which are loaded with anti-oxidants and vitamins. Herbs like garlic and ginger, and onions are excellent immune-boosters.
- Move: Regular exercise helps everything. Too much exercise can actually lower immunity, so go for a happy medium, like 30-minutes of moderate exercise daily.
- Eat the “Good Bugs”: No, this isn’t an episode of Fear Factor! Bugs in this case refer to helpful bacteria, or “probiotics.” For everyday health, eat yogurt with active cultures several times a week. If you cannot tolerate dairy, try miso soup or sauerkraut. For the cold season, consider adding a probiotic supplement, such as Lactobacillus GG, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Bifidobacterium, and aiming for 10 billion units of bacteria daily for prevention OR up to 20-40 billion units during an illness.
- Choose Your Supplements Wisely: Fact is, many of us don’t eat well. Many of us CAN benefit from a daily vitamin. READ YOUR LABELS. There’s no need to take 500% of every vitamin known to man on a daily basis, unless you’re drastically deficient or suffer from a medical disease. Your normal diet should include as much as possible of your daily recommendations of vitamins and minerals. If you decide to take a daily vitamin, more is not necessarily better. Your body will only absorb what it needs and flush the rest.
- Shut-Eye: Most people need 6-8 hours of sleep. Quality is most important. Judge how you feel in the morning, you should be a little sluggish that quickly wanes as you get up. If you feel drained or sluggish, you may be oversleeping, undersleeping or stressed out. Try changing your diet. Don’t eat at bedtime. Get regular exercise and don’t nap during the day. Don’t watch TV at night. If all else fails, see your doctor.
Note: Information provided by Body + Soul Magazine, November 2008.