How to build a healthy immune system.

I'm writing this to you on Sunday afternoon from my bed with Evie's Squishmellow tucked behind my back (I secretly want my own, have you felt how soft and snuggly they are!?) because I have been floored by ANOTHER bug which I find completely frustrating,

I completely lost my voice a couple of weeks ago and was just starting to feel back to normal when this cold hit me, which lead me to believe it was the same bug just hanging on for dear life. But with this one i've been a mess with burning sinuses and watery eyes!

Has anyone else been hit with multiple bugs already in their household??

Anyway, I'm telling you all of this as a segue to talking about Immune strengthening and how to stay as healthy as possible this cold and flu season.

Everything I talk about in here can also be applied to your whole family, not just you which can be just as important!

Immune health tip #1

I can't go past the gut to begin with when it comes to supporting immune health. If you're digestive system is inflamed and unhealthy it's going to have a detrimental affect on how reactive your immune system is to fighting off bugs. This is because some species of the bacteria that naturally live in our gut have a regulating effect on our immune system's responses, meaning out gut has a key role to play in how well our immune system performs against invading viruses and bacterias.

If you have digestive symptoms like loose stools and urgency, this is a sign you're not absorbing nutrients very well, and could be deficient in some nutrients which can also compromise your immune health, this and then taking supplements to support your immune health are a waster of money as they are literally going down the toilet!

So some first steps to building a healthy gut are:

- eating a variety of fruits and vegetables to help grow and vary the good gut bugs in your system. We need different species and big populations of species to have a healthy Microbiome (gut environment.) Pre and probiotics are also useful for this.

- help to reduce any inflammation in the gut by incorporating anti inflammatory foods into your diet like turmeric, garlic, bone broth and fish oil into your diet. These help to reduce inflammation in the lining of your gut which can help strengthen both the gut and immune system.

-If you have digestive symptoms, find out why by getting to the root cause of them. Stool and breath testing is how to figure it out quickly.

I've just decided next week's newsletter will be about supporting your gut health as there so much to say on this topic!

Immune health tip #2

Get on top of your adrenal health. Your adrenals help to regulate the release of your stress hormones, and when you are constantly stressed and frazzled or on the go all the time, they can become dis-regulated leading to what's commonly referred to as burnout. Burnout leads to immune system dis-regulation and so you become more susceptible to picking up bugs. So how to fix this? Rest. Find 10 minutes in your day to put your feet up and rest. Set boundaries around work and commitments. Start there.

Immune health tip #3

Supplementing can be a good way to support the immune system. Zinc, Vitamin C, Quercetin, Vitamin A and Vitamin D are all immune modulators that can help strengthen the immune response. But remember what I said about the gut. If you're gut health is poor you wont absorb nutrients well and they become an expensive waste of time and effort. Also trying to get these nutrients from your food is the first step. Citrus fruits, berries, red foods, green foods and protein are all really important.

I hope these tips have been useful. reach out to me or comment below if you have questions!