Your Toolkit for Immunity

What can you do to armor yourself for the winter and avoid a bad cold or the flu? And what steps can you take if you DO become ill?

Besides getting adequate rest, moving your body and maintaining a healthy anti-inflammatory diet here are some proactive and reactive things to have in your tool chest.

Preventative Tools:

Foundational supplements such as vitamin D, C and zinc really do help with a robust immune system. There are multiple studies showing serum vitamin D levels are inversely associated with risk of COVID – meaning the higher your vitamin D levels the lower your risk of COVID (and other illnesses). Although the “range” may be from 0-100, optimal levels for immunity are above 50 ng/dl. Having your D levels measured every 6 months is a good idea to determine your dosage since levels in food are quite low. Although it is touted as the “sunshine vitamin” it is challenging to get enough vitamin D especially during winter months.

Liposomal vitamin C is the most well absorbed form since it does not go through the gut. Besides eating a varied diet with multiple colors of fruits and vegetables (red bell peppers, broccoli, strawberries, kiwi and citrus) aim for a minimum of 1000 mg. of supplemental vitamin C. This powerhouse vitamin supports immunity by maintaining the integrity of the epithelial barrier (the barrier that protects the body from the environment and pathogens).

Zinc at bedtime (15 mg.) helps the immune system while you sleep. Insufficient levels of zinc impair production of t-cells, which can increase your risk of colds, pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses. Foods high in zinc include seafood, grass-fed beef and lamb, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds and lentils.

A probiotic at bedtime that targets your immune system helps modulate the inflammatory response as well. There are multiple strains of probiotics and it’s hard to know which one will be optimal for you without doing an advanced stool sample. However, if you want to try a general one aim for a product that contains above 25 billion cells per gram with at least 8-10 strains of the bifidobacterium and lactobacillus family. Most drug store brands are 1-3 billion and are not all that effective.

Management Tools:

Once you become sick there are some very useful things to manage and decrease the length of a cold or flu. This first one might seem a bit outside the box, but it is super useful for limiting the length of a cold or even irradiating it.

1. Nebulize – buy a nebulizer and have it on hand for exposure to illness. This video will show you how to make nebulized hydrogen peroxide to put in the nebulizer and use within an hour or two of the initial symptoms of a respiratory illness. I became exposed to someone coughing on an airplane a few months back and 2 days later I felt a bad cold coming on and immediately started nebulizing.  I was tired for a few days but avoided getting ill. Here is a link to the nebulizer to purchase.
2. Organic Oil of Oregano – oregano is the ultimate anti-bacterial, anti-microbial agent and kills most anything. I prefer buying an organic tincture with a high percentage of carvacrol which helps fight many bacterial infections. Put 4-5 drops in a blank veggie cap and take 3x/day.
3. Organic garlic – peel a clove of organic garlic and cut off the ends and smash the clove and swallow (coat in raw honey if needed). Do a few times a day. Garlic has 25 different compounds which help the immune system and unlike antibiotics you don’t’ develop a resistance to it.
4. Manuka honey – Manuka honey is a special honey from New Zealand and Australia. It is made from the nectar of manuka flowers which is a precursor to MGO (methylglyoxal) – an antimicrobial agent not found in other types of honey. MGO can combat antibiotic resistant infections. Use a teaspoon a few times a day and if your throat is sore gargle with it.

Other products:

I discovered this small company that not only has hilarious names for their products but have great effectiveness with a combination of herbal products.

Wish Garden Herbs– I like their Kick-Ass Sinus, Serious cough and Get Over It formulas for managing various symptoms of colds and flu’s.

You don’t have to be a sitting duck during the cold and flu season.  Having a healthy lifestyle, taking daily foundational supplements and having your to-go toolkit for illness can mean all the difference in not getting sick or eliminating a long, drawn-out cold or flu. Having your immunity tools on hand is more important than ever given the environment in our world.

Research:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6613335/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19651563/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5707683/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4632412/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19519463/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31294240/