Naturopathy In Wintertime

As we move into winter and flu season emerges now is the time to up your self-care for an improved immune system. Consider it your superpower. While we're all genetically and immunologically different, some of us are more resilient to infections than others. When you apply self-care, the benefits are universal. It's clearly preferable to act in advance while it’s still early, thus avoiding unnecessary colds and flus.

Avoid Immune-Suppressing Foods
White sugar, caffeine, alcohol and high-fat food, all have the effect of suppressing the immune system. An excess of high-fat foods can clog up the lymphatic system, limiting the body’s ability to clear infection. Now’s the time to steadily take a break from the above, before the festive season begins, to avoid withdrawal effects, and help your body to increase its natural defenses.

Get the Healthy Bugs In!
The best place to start for the prevention of infections is actually to boost our levels of good bugs! Studies have shown that children who take probiotics with a little vitamin C every day get fewer coughs and colds. Further research shows that the bacterial strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus is effective in reducing the number, severity, and duration of respiratory tract infections. So, probiotics, including Lactobacillus, may be the best thing to take all winter to prevent coughs and colds.

Keep up with Vital Nutrients in Your Daily Diet
When it comes to your immune system, there’s no substitute for a good diet.  Vegetables and fruits are the main sources of dietary vitamins and minerals, so ensure you’re eating a wholesome diet that has a predominance of these, eating as wide a variety as possible to get a range of nutrients. One why to do this is by covering 50% of your dinner plate with a variety of brightly colored vegetables. Mix things up by experimenting with types you’ve never tried before. Onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, rosemary and oregano are great health allies when it comes to fighting infection. Vegetables equal fiber and are the food of choice for our gut bacteria. Fermented foods, including kimchi, kefir and kombucha have a ‘probiotic’ effect in the gut and support our immune system, however, they have limited effect without fiber.

Nutritional Supplements
Depleted soils and a greater demand for certain nutrients in times of physiological and emotional stress mean it’s not always possible to get everything we need from food. Not all supplements are created equal. Go for brands that have a clinical nutrition team behind them and are transparent around their ingredients.

Zinc supports gut immunity and hinders a virus’s entry into the cell. Dietary sources are poultry, shellfish, nuts and seeds but supplementing your dietary intake provides both an effective antioxidant and protection via its anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties.

Vitamin C is handy to have in the cupboard over the winter months. When we’re unwell our immune cells demand nearly double our normal daily amount.

Beta-glucans are a type of fiber found in the cell wall of specific yeasts. Beta-glucans have been clinically proven to strengthen the immune system and are effective at reducing upper respiratory tract infections. Over 70% of our immune system resides in the gut, once the beta-glucan reaches the digestive system it gets swept up by an immune cell called a macrophage and ferried to different lymph organs throughout the body. There it gets released into the care of neutrophils, our most abundant immune cell, which primes the immune system to be virus- and bacteria-ready.

Vitamin D could almost be thought of as a designer drug for helping the body to handle viral respiratory infections. It boosts the ability of cells to kill and resist viruses and simultaneously dampens down harmful inflammation, which is one of the big problems with many respiratory infections including covid, colds, flu, and strep among others. One of the first things to understand about vitamin D is that it’s not actually a vitamin. It has the chemical structure of a steroid hormone, similar in structure to our sex and adrenal hormones, and is made from cholesterol. The majority is created from our skin's exposure to sunlight. It hangs out near the skin's surface where it starts out as vitamin D1 and, once bathed in sunshine, turns into vitamin D2. From there it's converted into D3 by a healthy liver.

We can get a small amount of D3 through our food chain including oily fish, egg yolk and beef liver, and a little D2 from plant sources including mushrooms. D3 is the body’s preferred source and nearly every cell in the body has a vitamin D receptor, a clear measure of how important it is for health. Many factors influence the level available to us including decreasing exposure to sunlight, compromised gut absorption and genetic differences in the body’s ability to both transport and uptake Vitamin D.

Spend Time in Nature
Spending time in nature can help relieve stress and anxiety, improve your mood, and boost feelings of happiness and wellbeing. Whatever you call it – forest bathing, ecotherapy, mindfulness in nature, green time, or the wilderness cure - humans evolved in the great outdoors and your brain benefits from a journey back to nature. Spending just 20 minutes connecting with nature can help lower stress hormone levels, according to studies. Along with the stress-lowering effects of nature, a Sunday walk in the woods (especially on sunny days) will increase your levels of vitamin D. Vitamin D enhances the immune system’s ability to recognize pathogens and initiate a response against them, especially influenza and other respiratory tract infections. If you live in an area where exposure to sunlight is limited during winter, it's important to be proactively engaged in supplementing your vitamin D levels.

Get Plenty of Exercise
Exercise boosts your immune system by increasing circulation and relieving stress. Increased circulation allows antibodies to travel throughout the bloodstream faster, making it easier for the immune system to fight off an illness. Exercise also enhances your immune system by relieving stress and slowing the release of stress hormones in the body. Being physically active encourages the release of a chemical messenger called Interleukin-7 (IL-7) which helps keep our thymus gland in shape. The thymus gland produces T cells, the immune system's ‘critical response team’, but as we age it gradually reduces in size. As well as improving the delivery of oxygenated blood and removal of metabolic waste, exercise slows this decline thus keeping our immune system better resourced. Note that working out more isn’t necessarily better. Exercising beyond your reserves places unwanted stress on your body which in turn is counterproductive to strengthening your immune system.

Watch Your Lifestyle
Stress is among the major suppressors of our immune systems. Make quality time for yourself by perhaps reading books or keeping a gratefulness journal to take a daily mental health break. Consider sitting or movement meditation, yoga, qigong, or other alternative practices on a regular basis in order to minimize stress.

Sleep Hygiene
Sleep is fundamental to our emotional and physical health. There’s not a single organ system that doesn’t benefit from a good night's sleep and routinely sleeping too little compromises the immune system. Make bedtime rituals a habit including reducing tech exposure in the evening, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, and perhaps even taking a bath with Epsom salts and a few drops of lavender oil. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Your body relies on sleep to repair from daily stressors, physical activity, and exposure to toxins. Chronic sleep deprivation can significantly reduce your immune function.

Don’t Forget Your Fluids
Sufficient hydration is very important for keeping viruses out of your body. We need about 1 quart of water per day for every 50 pounds of body weight. If you can’t drink so much water, up your intake with herbal teas (remember coffee, tea and alcohol have a diuretic effect so don’t count towards your water intake). Add some fresh lemon or frozen berries, ginger, spearmint to the water to make it tastier and add some antioxidants to give it a detox effect.

Supplement With an Immune Booster
Look for a quality supplement that contains high levels of Vitamin A, zinc, Vitamin D, Vitamin C all in their bioavailable forms. Antioxidants (flavonoids), elderberry, echinacea, beta-glucans, medicinal mushrooms, garlic, lysine, olive leaf, and sage are all excellent anti-virals and immune boosters.

What To Do If You Do Fall Sick?
Rather than fighting the symptoms and reaching for painkillers, support your body naturally by resting and having plenty of fluids and nutrients. Some of the most effective immune-boosting foods include:
• Natural anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory foods: garlic, ginger, turmeric, sage, coconut oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice with warm water and honey (locally sourced and raw, if possible).
• Bone broths: use organic chicken or beef bones, add a mixture of vegetables such as carrots, leeks, onions and herbs. Cover with water and gently simmer for a few hours. Strain and drink the broth daily. An ideal meal would be soup with chicken, garlic, onion, ginger, vegetables and some lemon, and orange starchy vegetables like carrots, sweet potato, and squash (rich in beta-carotene).
• Vegetable juices: if you have a low appetite, fresh vegetable juices can be a great source of nutrients and antioxidants.
• Probiotic foods: sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, natural yoghurt, kefir, and kombucha.
• Essential fats: avocado, oily fish such as sardines, mackerel and wild salmon, seeds such as flax, chia, and hemp seeds.
• Coconut water: for hydration and replenishing electrolyte stores. Don't overdo it: drink in moderation.

It’s normal for most people to get a cold once or twice a year, but by keeping up with the basics, the frequency, intensity, and duration of the illness is likely to be less. Think what self-care you can bring into your daily routine over the coming weeks and your immune system will thank you for it.