Boost Your Internal Army

With the approach of fall, we can look forward to cooler temperatures, the holidays, and sadly, a potential increase in viral threats, such as flu and it’s cousin, Covid-19. I don’t address this to depress you, but rather to encourage you to take steps to prepare yourself.

I’m not encouraging you to seek out a vaccine either. Rather, I am encouraging you to focus on strengthening your inner army – your immune system. It has far more influendce on your overall health than you likely realize. You have the power to strengthen it with your daily choices, and I’d like to outline the primary areas for you.

It Starts With Stress

Actually, it may start or end with stress. Whether stress is prominent in your life, or flowing as an undercurrent, it is surpressing your immune system. It is important to mindfully moderate it by taking breaks each day to breathe deeply, meditate, or take a calming walk in nature.

Upgrade Your Food

If we have been connected for any amount of time, you knew I was going to mention this one. Food is essential information for your bodye. Eating food that is as close to the way it grew is vitally important. Chemicals, sugar, artificial sweeteners and flavors, and foods that have ingredients you can’t pronounce are all working against you.

Optimize Your Microbiome

Upgrading your food will go a long way in this area. The community of bacteria in your digestive system are a significant part of your immune function. In addition to eating real food, you may also benefit from eating fermented foods and taking a probiotic supplement. One way that you can evaluate the status of your microbiome and digestive system – do you eliminate solid waste daily or is it more infrequent?

Cultivate A Positive Mindset

We are constantly bombarded by sources of negative though, and certainly, the ups and downs of this year have further contributed to frustration and fear. Since negativity and fear suppress the immune system, I encourage you to turn off the negative influences. Put your attention on a daily gratitude practice to cultivate a positive mindset.

Get moving!

Movement can improve mood, aid in controlling blood sugar, improve sleep and raise energy. A key benefit of movement is the increase in lymph circulation which collects waste in the body and carries immune cells to where they are needed.

Hydrate!

A proper level of hydration in your body supports nutrient distribution, waste removal and proper organ function. But hydration requires more than just drinking liquids – your body needs the right liquids. These would be water (whether plain or with lemon or lime juice added) and herbal teas. Other liquids are more likely to dehydrate your body, which works against you.

Get More Sleep

Sleep affects immunity through the many functions your body does while you are sleeping. These include recharging antibody levels, cleaning up damaged tissue, clearing waste, and priming Natural Killer cells. If you don’t wake up in the morning feeling refreshed, your body is not likely able to engage in these processes that are vital to your immune system.

Minimize Toxic Exposure

Get rid of toxic items in your house, starting with personal hygiene and cleaning products. These products are generally full of chemicals that have not been tested for their safety. Most women are exposed to an average of 170 chemicals through personal hygiene products on a daily basis. Many of these have actually been demonstrated to hinder function (including immunity) or damage the body. Filtering chemicals from your water is also important. I can provide guidance if it would help.

The body is amazingly resilient. Each decision you make to incorporate these steps will support a stronger immune system to fight a potential increase in viral threats on your behalf. Rather than being caught up in fear of viral threats, you can take a proactive approach and make changes to strengthen the army that fights for you every minute of your life.