10 Ways To Boost Immune Function

APRIL 3, 2020

Our bodies have specific functions that vary according to different lifestyle choices. How often does your doctor ask you what you've been eating? When my husband had cancer and was in pain and we went to see multiple doctors and emergency rooms, repeatedly, noone ever asked him what he was ingesting or what he wasn't ingesting. It was so irrelevant in the conventional medical system that any mention I made of it was even laughed at almost, even. Like do you know where you are right now? 

Noone cares about food here, noone thinks food has any action that is going to improve this situation right now. And if you mentioned herbs, doctors REALLY look at you like you are crazy, those are just so dangerous and unregulated that we can't even bring any of them into the hospital. Yet, way more people have died from pharmaceutical drugs than plants and continue to every year.

When my husband was in the hospital, I made him organic food instead of eating hospital food. I brought the blender and he drank smoothies everyday, took his vitamins and got better. Same thing when my mom was in the hospital, I made sure she ate good food and got specific nutrients that our bodies need to function at their optimum level. The hospital definitely keeps people from dying and saves many lives, and we are lucky to have them when needed. But all of their methods, while lifesaving does not mean that they couldn't be improved on with some basic nutrition and herbal remedies.

After my mom's heartache, stroke, kidney failure and thyroid disorder emergency, and being unconscious for 4 days with a tube just taken out of her throat, they brought her some pork roast to eat for her first meal. And it wasn't because she asked for it, she doesn't even like that, but regardless, when I mentioned it to the hospital, they had her throat assessed and changed it to only liquid food. Hmmm....

So what I'm saying is there are many things that we can do to increase our immune function in ways that you might not have thought of that might be easier than you think and then you can feel strong instead of susceptible. The six plants in the picture can be incorporated as tea or capsules and will boost your immune system. If you know that you are actively making choices to improve your immune system than you know that you have a strong immune system.

One of the doctors before my husband started chemo when I asked them if there was anything (I meant supplement wise) that he could do to ease the side effects, looked at my husband and said, 'People who go into it thinking this is going to be the end of me, it's going to be the worst, for them it is, for those who go into it thinking I'm going to beat this and it's not going to bring down, that's the experience they have and they often beat it.'

That was from the Oncologist, he couldn't recommend anything but your perspective going into it. This was at Dartmouth, and while I thought how amazing it was to hear a doctor recommend this, I knew there was more that we could do, but that just proved that your thoughts have ALOT to do with your outcome.

SO if that's the case than improving your thoughts with more of 'I know I'm strong because I am proactive in my health and wellness and don't leave anything to chance.' You are more likely to be and stay healthy than if you don't do anything and just feel scared and rather like a sitting duck just waiting for it to come and get you, next. That doesn't feel good and creates all kind of imbalances inside you.

I am trying to help you feel better, so here are 9 ways you can boost your immune function:

1. Get a salt lamp. Salt lamps are inexpensive ways to purify your air and not only that they increase the negative ions in your living space. Positive ions are created by cell phones, WIFI routers, etc. Staying home during these stressful times decreases the likelihood of you being exposed to many negative ions. Negative ions are found in Nature, created by waterfalls, streams, etc. that's why it feels so good when you spend time with Mother Nature because there are sooo many negative ions that it is literally good for you! 

So you're going to want to find one of those, an patient just called to ask me what I could recommend as she is elderly and lives in a condominium in the city so she really doesn't have much Nature around and risks exposure going outside. I found her a salt lamp on Target's website for like $7.99, we have them in every room, it's an inexpensive way to purify your air and bring the outdoors in, so to speak to increase the negative ions in your space improving not only your mental state, but your quality of air and respiration. Other air purifiers are plants!

2. Take An Organic, Fermented, Food Based Multivitamin. Nutritional deficiencies can create all kinds of biochemical reactions in the body when it doesn't have what it requires to perform it's daily functions. Especially right now, that is one of the best things that you can give your body and your children especially who are growing and whose nutritional needs being met are crucial to their developing bodies. And it's so easy, if you're someone who is forgetful, try to get a One A Day so that you don't forget to take it and start each morning off with it. Some vitamins' doses are 3 a day which is fine if you can remember. Make sure they are at least Non-GMO if organic seems like a challenge. But if they aren't good vitamins, you don't need to take something that is going to create more imbalances like a synthetic or low quality vitamin can do, which would decrease your immune system defeating the whole purpose.

3. Take Vitamin C. Get a good organic, food based, fermented (vitamin C Complex would be first choice) vitamin. Acting as a powerful antioxidant in your body, as well as an essential nutrient, it has many functions it improves besides boosting immune function. A vitamin that your body does not store so making sure to incorporate foods that are rich in vitamin C is any easy way to boost your immune system as it boosts your absorption of nutrients as well. Eat oranges, strawberries, lemons, grapefruits, honeydew, kiwis, papaya, pineapple, peppers~green, red, broccoli, kale, parsley, tomatoes, peas. Replacing processed foods with fresh foods will increase not only your vitamin C intake, but many other vitamins, minerals and amino acids that your body uses to perform optimum function. Infants recommendation for 0–6 months is 40 mg/day and 7–12 months is 50 mg/day. For children the recommendations for 1–3 years is 15 mg/day, 4–8 years is 25 mg/day and for 9–13 years is 45 mg/day. Adolescents needs change recommending ~Girls 14–18 years have 65 mg/day, pregnant teens is 80 mg/day, breastfeeding teens is 115 mg/day and for boys 14–18 years is 75 mg/day. For adults~women age 19 years and older is 75 mg/day, men age 19 and older is 90 mg/day, women age 19 years and older is 75 mg/day, pregnant women is 85 mg/day and breastfeeding women should have 120 mg/day. The thing with vitamin C is, you know you're taking too much when you start having diarrhea. Then you can just back off until you stop. Vitamin C is a potent ally to have on your side.

4. Increase your Vitamin D intake~it is estimated that 90% of adults in the US are deficient in this important vitamin, odds are you are one of them. Individuals who are overweight have an increased likelihood of displaying vitamin D deficiency symptoms, as well as folks who work indoors. Supplementing vitamin D can be as simple as making sure you spend 45 min. a day in the sun with out any sunscreen. This is a daily dose of vitamin D. If you can't risk exposure by going outside for this duration, than supplement with some organic vitamin D. Some vitamin D containing foods are eggs, mackerel, wild caught salmon, cod liver oil, tuna fish and beef liver. Individuals ages 1–70 require 600 IUs daily, while children under 12 months require at least 400 IU per day and older adults require even more vitamin D and should aim to get at least 800 IU of vitamin D each day.

5. Go Outside, Take a walk in the woods. If you can't because of your living situation, than you can just keep this info in mind for when you can. Spending 2 hours in the forest can increase your (NK) or natural killer white blood cells by 50% and it lasts for 30 days!! This study is research that has come out of Japan. It's all in my book, Discover The Essence of Plant Medicine~The Lifesaving Principles of Herbs, these studies and many more. They call it Forest Bathing and for us in Vermont, some of us live Forest Bathing surrounded by Nature.

6. Turn Up The Tunes and Dance! I know you think I'm crazy, but you can read details in my book, dancing to your favorite music actually increases your white blood cells, increasing your immune function. Those are what your body uses to fight off invaders or pathogens of any kind, so if there is any way that you can easily do that, why not?

7. Increase Your Probiotics Consumption. 80% of your immune system is in your gut, if you don't have enough friendly bacteria, you will be more susceptible to illness without them. They improve your gut health. And I say, 'gut' because that's literally what it's called. Antibiotics kill our friendly gut bacteria, whether they are necessary or not is irrelevant. Supplementation after rounds of antibiotics is imperative to restoring the delicate balance of your microbiome. These are seven types of bacteria that your body requires and that you are going to be looking for if you buy one~

• Lactobacillus acidophilus
• Lactobacillus bulgarius
• Lactobacillus reuteri
• Streptococcus thermophilus
• Saccharomyces boulardii
• Bifidobacterium bifidum
• Bacillus subtilis

Many foods have prebiotics and probiotics, by increasing your consumption of these compounds, you are increasing your immune function directly. Foods that you want to increase your intake of include: sauerkraut, yogurt, kombucha, kefir, apple cider vinegar, raw cheeses from reputable farmers not limited to dairy from cows, sheep and goat cheese are also high in beneficial bacteria and enzymes that are destroyed during the heating process, pickles, tempeh, miso, kimchi are just to name a few. But this is another easy way to build your immune system to be as strong as it needs to be.

8. Plenty of Rest. When I say rest, I don't just mean sleep, although I do mean sleep is imperative to vital immune function. Lack of sleep can wreak havoc on your body, part of immune boosting is making sure your body gets enough rest, relaxation and removal from the worries of the world. Rest could mean reading a good book, taking a bath, meditating, listening to soft music and stretching, there are many ways to rest. Ease your mind. let go of your cares, remove your self from your current situation. Sit still. Be quiet. Listen to yourself. Listen to nothing. Just be. For as long as you can. You'll feel better after, I promise.

9. Turn Off The Media. Take a break, you already know there's a Worldwide Pandemic. For people who don't like to miss stuff, you're not gonna miss it, the whole world knows. Now there's nothing more that you can do than be responsible. You watching the news 24/7 is not going to change anything. It will however change your physiology which can decrease your immune function if you are feeling fearful. Instead of your body focusing on functioning and it's specific tasks at hand, now it's got to deal with increased stress hormones and decreasing the inflammation they are causing, taking away their focus from their everyday tasks of metabolism, digestion, circulation, etc. Just be proactive, do what you can. Watching the news is not going to help you not get sick but washing your hands often, definitely before you eat, even if you haven't left the house is going to have a direct action on whether you get sick or not. Watching the news makes you feel less empowered and more at the mercy of whatever is going to happen that they are projecting. It's like a sitting duck mentality. If you are proactive, you wash down surfaces, germs could be lurking on door handles, toilet seat handles, refrigerator or cupboard door handles. It's just ALWAYS good practice to wash your hands before you eat, your mom or dad or gram or someone told you that when you were little, common sense.

10. Use CBD. You know I'm going to say that, right? Either Topically or Sublingual matters not. It's true, responsible for maintaining cellular homeostasis which is balance on all levels from temperature, glucose, appetite. Who doesn't need that kind of balance? We actually have CB1 and CB2 receptors all throughout our bodies to receive the benefits that CBD oil has to offer. Not to mention it has antiviral properties. Meaning it will make you more resistant to pathogens.

Remember health comes from within, we have no receptors for pharmaceuticals. Take your health into your hands.

If you are being proactive, taking your supplements, eating right, boosting your immune system optimizing it's function then you can feel empowered, more like a 'Bring it!' attitude because you know your body is strong and ways to boost it to make it stronger if it's not as strong as you'd like. You know that you are not a victim of your body. YOU ARE THE MASTER, if you feel weak, CHANGE IT! Only you can and only you will. Do it for yourself, do it for your family and now, you're even doing it for the planet.

I HOPE THIS HELPS! HAPPY NEW YEAR!