This blog was written by Chelsea, our on-staff Holistic Nutritionist! Book sessions with Chelsea over on our registration site at https://reconline.yorkulions.ca/
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Everyone is subjective and each patient is instructed on a case-to-case basis, however, there are a few main rules of thumb to follow when avoiding any illness. Remember, our bodies are amazing vessels that are always on the defensive when it comes to pathogens.
There are unprecedented numbers of fighter cells that are always seeking and destroying any pathogens, without your conscious knowledge! We should always be self-loving and grateful for our bodies. Ultimately, what this means is that you have the potential to heal if given the proper diagnostics and tools. If you are constantly ill or stuck in the house with sniffles, make sure you investigate further and press your healthcare provider for some of the tests and treatments below.
Poor diet or absorption problems.
We all know what is “healthy” or not, or do we? In today’s age, we are told breakfast cereals are healthy and coconut oil has too much fat, or its only calories that matter, not the source that they come from. Don’t believe the hype! Remember that 80% of all immune cells reside in the gut and therefore, especially when you’re feeling unwell, food will help you heal or make you feel worse.
Firstly, try to eliminate all white foods from the diet when you’re under the weather. Sugar, refined carbs like processed bread and snacks, dairy, cheese, sweeteners, sodas, and sugar-laden juices are a no-no. Stick with leafy greens, citrus, herbs, warm teas and liquids, and lean proteins. It’s also helpful to focus as much as possible on buying organic, as pesticides also have been shown to decrease immunity.
Processed carbohydrates and sugar are the perfect breeding ground for harmful bacteria that can reside in our guts, leading to leaky gut and lowered overall immunity. By choosing leafy greens, ample fruits, herbs, teas, and fermented root vegetables, you are choosing a fertilizer that encourages the growth of “good” bacteria. A daily probiotic may also be helpful here, to replace beneficial bacteria.
Studies have shown that a mini fast or decreased intake may also be warranted. This is because when you are eating, energy must be diverted in the system to aid in digestion. If you are fasting, energy may be freed up to go fight the unwanted invaders. Recovery has been expedited this way.
So, you’ve cut down your calories and are avoiding sugar and carbs, but how do you know you are eating the right foods and getting proper absorption?
Nutritional deficiencies
I can’t stress this enough. Most people who are chronically ill have multiple nutrient deficiencies. Often it isn’t the food we are eating, but it IS the foods we aren’t eating. These vitamins and minerals are used in nearly every reaction in our body.
Take, for example, magnesium, which is commonly lacking. It is used in over 300 reactions throughout the body and supplementing this one mineral can stop heart palpitations, resolve constipation, and lull one right to sleep!
Supplementation is necessary here for many people. With so much of our food supply shipped days away from its destination, processed into dead food, pasteurized to denature proteins, and containing food-like substances that are nothing but chemical mixtures, it is very difficult to get our daily dose of essential vitamins. Even vegans have many nutritional deficiencies including B12 and zinc, most commonly. No one diet is perfect across the board for everyone, and a bioidentical diet based on your personal needs and labs is warranted. Attempt to remain open-minded here. And if you have malabsorption issues or leaky gut, please talk to a practitioner and work on a root-cause approach. Because no matter how much “good” you eat, or the money you spend on food and supplements, if you’re not breaking them down or absorbing them, it’s not worth it.
Most common nutrient deficiencies and the best sources to find them:
Vitamin C – This is a biggie if you’re sick with any virus. Vitamin C is a known antiviral and can ward off many infections if given early enough. If you have malabsorption or leaky gut/ candida issues, perhaps investigate IV vitamin C when ill. This bypasses the damaged gut lining and ensures that the full dose is delivered to the bloodstream. Alternatively, you can try a supplement but be sure to look for one that contains vitamin C from fruits and veggie sources like acerola, camu camu, or amla.
Look for these food sources: leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits like grapefruit and oranges, capsicum, chili, berries, parsley, and elderberry
Vitamin D – One out of 3 patients that I see is vitamin D deficient. Vegans and those patients that avoid all sunlight are, particularly at risk. Vitamin D is intimately connected to sex hormones and cholesterol so skewed synthesis can affect all pathways. Vitamin D is also known to protect against cancer, and increase immunity and mood.
Ideal levels should be 50-80 for optimal immune function. If you are 30 or below, start taking 5000 units per day. Be sure to get 15-25 minutes of sunshine a day.
Look for these food sources: wild-caught fish like salmon and tuna; mushrooms.
Zinc – This trace mineral is integral in forming hydrochloric stomach acid that keeps the ph. of our insides acidic. Our stomach is supposed to be acidic! Only when the pH is 3 will digestive enzymes be released so that our food is properly broken down. An acidic pH also serves as an inhospitable environment for many harmful pathogens. This is our protective barrier. Without zinc, we can’t form the acid that provides this environment. Multiple studies have shown a reduction in viral cold symptoms with zinc supplementation. Don’t take over 10mg per day chronically.
If you are deficient in zinc, you may also crave salty and sweet foods.
Look for these food sources: Pumpkin Seeds, Tahini, Dark Chocolate, Crab, Lobster, spinach, cacao, chickpeas, nuts, and Beans
Omega 3 Fatty Acids – The standard diet consists of many more omega 6 fatty acids like processed or fried foods. Many are deficient. This is a huge risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death. This remedy won’t halt any acute infection but over the long term, will increase immunity through decreased inflammation.
Look for these sources: fish, krill oil, cod liver oil, fish oil, and sardines.
Magnesium – Perhaps the most deficient mineral, magnesium is soothing to the nervous system and the bowels! It regulates blood sugar and pressure, and wards off migraines as well. So many reactions in our body require magnesium for proper function. Even the master antioxidant, glutathione requires magnesium to be produced!
This is another mineral that likely won’t fight off an acute infection but will increase overall immune function over time. Epsom salt baths and supplements like magnesium glycinate are excellent ways to get proper magnesium levels.
Look for these food sources: Nuts, Seaweed, and green leafy vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard, avocado, beans, nuts, and seeds, like pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds.
B vitamins – Yep, I mean all of them. B vitamin deficiencies can cause all sorts of problems from brain fog to nerve pain and numbness to depression or nausea and muscle weakness. The most common deficiency is vitamin B12 especially in vegans as it is found mostly in animal sources. Be sure to supplement with sublingual drops or pills. It is also imperative to take active, or methylated, B12 in the form of methylfolate, methylB12, or methylcobalamin daily as many people have the genetic mutation, MTHFR, and cannot activate the B vitamins themselves within their body.
Look for these food sources: eggs, cheese, milk, fish, and liver for vitamin B12. For B6, look for bananas, chicken, tuna, salmon, and chickpeas. For B1 and B2, look for whole grains, milk, eggs, and dark leafy greens. For B3 or niacin, look for chicken, fish, liver, red meat, and peanuts.
Iodine – Iodine is used all over the body and is used intimately in the thyroid and for metabolism.
Recent studies have shown that decreased iodine levels can predispose one to cancer. This is especially important to know since fluoride is used in the public water supply and bromide is used in enriched (brominated) bread. Both are halogens, in the same row of the periodic table, and can interact with iodine receptors, causing them to displace the needed iodine. Fibromyalgia is also linked to low iodine.
Look for these food sources: raw milk, eggs, iodized salt, sea vegetables, seaweed, cranberries, navy beans, strawberries, and potatoes.
Calcium – We all know calcium promotes healthy bones but what most of us don’t know is that calcium exists within delicate homeostasis with vitamin K2 (often deficient as well), vitamin D, and magnesium. Calcium is also integral to heart contraction. Symptoms of low calcium levels are fatigue, irritability, pins, and needles feeling and muscle cramping
Look for these food sources: dark leafy greens, raw cheese or milk, bok choy, tofu, okra, broccoli, green beans, almonds, and some fish.
The Runners-Up – In my opinion, here are some other common deficiencies that should also be investigated: CoQ10 (not a vitamin but an antioxidant), vitamin A, iron, selenium, choline, and vitamin E.
Whew, that was a long category, but I hope you can now see how imperative nutrition and diet are to staying well and keeping a healthy immune system.
Too Much Stress
Stress can be a deadly killer. Nowadays, hard work and little sleep are rewarded. In fact, pushing ourselves too hard can be a lack of self-love to please others. Please find a balance between success and peace in your life. Stress is so important, in fact, that numerous studies have linked stress to heart disease, anxiety, strokes, insomnia, obesity, and diabetes.
Lack of sleep is also detrimental as this is when the immune system regenerates. Adrenal fatigue or insufficiency can also ensue if stress and sleep are issues. Without proper stress hormones, patients feel “wired but tired” and find themselves ill if the condition continues.
This is because stress hormones are needed to catch us when stress occurs. Stress hormones like cortisol, which are consistently high also lead to abdominal fat which puts patients at risk for further chronic diseases. This also accelerates the aging process, harms immunity, and can cause memory deficits.
Learn to take on healthy habits when stress occurs. None of us can get away from it or change some of the stressors, but we can change how we react to them. This is a conscious choice.
Upon encountering stressors, you have two choices: you can adapt and go with the flow by doing something to create change or otherwise ameliorate the situation, or you cannot adapt by withdrawing or losing your cool.
Avoid alcohol, drugs, and sleeping medications which can cause addictions leading to more stress. New scientific evidence has surfaced that stress reduction bolsters longevity by directly and positively impacting DNA. The study involves researching telomeres, the last portion of the chromosomes that have been proven to control the lifespan of the cell. Stress absolutely does produce oxidative stress and shorter telomeres!
Look into yoga, breathwork, meditation, a meaningful hobby, get out in nature, turn off EMF, get 8-9 hours of sleep a night, and investigate natural calming adaptogen herbs like cordyceps and ashwagandha.
Not Enough Sleep
I briefly touched on this above, however, it's worth repeating. I know when I’m sleep-deprived, I have trouble making decisions and often get sick if I’m not careful. As mentioned above, the immune system mainly regenerates at night during REM sleep.
Ultimately, if you are getting 6 hours or less of sleep a night chronically, you are at risk for infection or even an autoimmune condition. Sleep is crucial for hormone regulation, melatonin secretion, liver health, and immune repair. And chronic sleep deprivation leads to adrenal fatigue. The body is an intricate system and functions so every endocrine system is in perfect harmony with the other. When one system like sleep becomes askew, this pulls the other systems to begin to become dysregulated as well. Research has linked insomnia to heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, obesity, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and just about every autoimmune condition.
If you aren’t sleeping, be sure to diligently pursue the root cause. Don’t settle for taking prescription sleep aids like Ambien, which can cause addiction and sleep disturbances. Ask your doctor for a thyroid panel, hormone panel (low progesterone causes insomnia), sleep study, stop all caffeine, treat any pain, work on improving any mental blockages or conditions, and try a warm Epsom salt bath at night.
Not Enough Sunlight
It is a fact that vitamin D must be activated by sunlight to be effective in the body. If you live in an area that is gloomy and does not get much sunlight, then please supplement with vitamin D. It is recommended that we spend 15-20 minutes in direct sunlight a day for our body to function properly, concerning vitamin D and circadian rhythm, or sleep-wake cycles.
We live in an age where many of us work indoors, under fluorescent lights, and get little interaction with nature or direct sunlight. We even subject ourselves to high EMF and the blue screens of our phones that interrupt our sleep patterns at night, leading to insomnia that further compounds pain and mood disorders. Therefore, depressive disorders, like Seasonal Affective Disorder are affecting a larger portion of the population.
The sun also supplies us with nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a pro-oxidant, dilates the blood vessels, and is imperative in regulating metabolism.
Final Tips
If you have tried all these tips and are still getting repetitive infections, be sure to see an immunologist who can test to see if there are any genetic mutations in the functioning of your immune system. Also, press your practitioner for a parasite test, and a full viral panel including Epstein Barr, cytomegalovirus, and Lyme disease, and to review your current medications which can also lower immunity. Be sure to increase good hygiene with natural soaps and hand washing and take good care of gums and inflammation in the mouth, as this is the beginning of your GI tract where immunity resides!
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Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC314438 https://wellnessmama.com/remedies/natural-remedies-for-illness/