Hi my friends - hope all is well in your lives today. So, I'm sure you have heard the words "immune system" a lot throughout your life but do you know exactly what it is and how to keep it healthy? Especially in the day and age of Autoimmune Diseases, people tend to think our immune systems (and our bodies) are fighting against us. Well, kinda, but not in the sense, you would think. The immune system is our body's way of protecting ourselves from invaders and damage. Let's say you get a cut on your leg. What happens? Your white blood cells come to the rescue to heal your skin, muscles, and tissues. That area of your body will get warmer, it will begin to swell, you then grow a scab, and then brand new skin will grow, and voila! your body just healed itself. For internal invaders like viruses, bacteria, pathogens, etc. your body goes after those guys with the biggest guns you have. Shooting them down wherever they find them. No holds barred. I gave you two examples of the immune system working exactly as designed. But what happens when it doesn't and what causes it? The immune system tolerates, defends, and repairs. Protects us from foreign invaders and from cells that no longer function optimally anymore. The immune function requires nutrients. The immune function modifies based on what the nervous system is communicating based on your environment. They key is to help your immune system work as little as possible so that when real invaders come along they can go to work and defend your body. Here are ways that you can build up and support your immune system: 1. Remove any Trapped Emotions inside your body. We are all made of energy. Just like the wind, the trees, or the building you may be inside, it is all energy. (Just moving at different frequencies) When we experience negative emotions and don't properly deal with them and release them, they can get trapped in the body like a ball of heaviness. That ball can be located in certain areas of the body causing friction around the nearest organs. It can also help explain why you have certain mood triggers you can't quite explain like when you think of that ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, a death, a moment when you were super embarrassed, etc. (If you'd like to learn more, I am a Certified EmotionCode Practitioner and can work with you on clearing those emotions so you can find more freedom in your body) 2. Nourish your body with lots of healthy, whole foods. The old saying is "we are what we eat" but actually it is we are what we eat, break down, digest, absorb and convert into our cells. See, the things we eat are exactly what gives our bodies the energy and vitality we need to thrive. The nutrients are absorbed through the small intestines and colon and are converted to energy, building blocks, and sustenance for each and every cell to play out its purpose in our body. This includes building up the cells of each one of organs, muscles, tissues, hormones, etc. When we eat toxic and processed foods, our body signals this as "Danger, this is not food" and begins to have to try to find what little it can out of it to survive. It can overload our detox system and immune system. 3. Find ways to manage your Emotional Stress. We all have stress. And we all have stress limitations. Life is about 10% of what happens to you and 90% on how you react. So many of us learn bad behaviors of managing stressful situations from our upbringing and then is amplified by social media, news, and the outside critics and bad bosses of the world. But what if you changed your outlook? What if you took CONTROL and decided that YOU are the only one that gets to decide how you feel and whether you suffer. What if you began questioning things more about why you react the way you do to things? Most of us, when we begin questioning this, we tend to notice that we are living in a victimhood state. That "only if so and so would stop bothering me" or "if only my boss wasn't such a jerk" etc. What if you decided that life is too short to live life in such drama and dis-ease? Being in a state of stress over time, wears down the body tissues, the immune system, and our ability to thrive. What if you began to view life as: Life is happening FOR me and not TO me! 4. Try your best to avoid Mental Stress. Mental stress can be just as bad for the body as emotional stress, and can actually turn into emotional stress. Our focus is the power here. Again, we get to decide what we focus on. We can either focus on the problems in our lives or we can focus on the things we are grateful for and the solutions to our problems. Let go of the ego that needs to solve everything though. There are many things in our lives we cannot control. How many of you sit and think about something bad that happened to you over and over and over and over...? Our brains don't know the difference between what is real and what is imagined. So our brain is getting signals that these events KEEP ACTUALLY HAPPENING! The brain then sends the biochemical signals to the body and your body goes into stress mode again and again and again. Take up the habit of learning to care for yourself most in these moments. Stop and think: "are these thoughts serving me or hurting me?" 5. Focus on your Physical Stress. As mentioned above, physical stress can be brought on by emotional stress, mental stress, AND the food you choose to put in your body! That's empowering information right?? It lets us know we DO have control over our health and wellbeing! Lastly, for physical stress, I want to talk to you about exercise. Exercise is amazing for the body! But depending on your lifestyle it can be an aid in health or a detriment. If you have a super stressful lifestyle, where you are on the go all the time and cortisol is running free in your body, going for a run is probably not the best idea as an exercise. You are telling your body to remain in the sympathetic nervous system as you are "running away from your threats". This keeps cortisol high and begins to act as oxidative stress on your body and tissues. Rather spend some time just walking in nature, hiking, doing yoga, dancing, or going to the gym and lifting weights. (If you choose to lift weights make sure you are foam rolling, stretching, drinking enough water, and eating the right foods to support the flushing of the lactic acid out of your body or that can cause more physical stress on the body.) 6. Stop the poisoning. Whether it be sugar, alcohol, smoking, bad food, beauty products, environmental pollutants, herbacides on your food, etc they all create a toxic overload in the body which requires your body to do extra work to detoxify them and flush them out. If your body isn't able to proper flush out the toxins they swim around in your blood stream and find tissues to store in. This whole process weakens the immune system and creates inflammation and added stress in the body. 7. Get proper deep Sleep. At night while we sleep, is when our bodies rest and repair the damage from the day but ALSO it's when our bodies regenerate our white blood cells for the immune system. 8. Try a cold plunge or a cold shower. Engaging in cold plunges leads to an increase in glutathione levels. Glutathione is our body's most powerful antioxidant. Move over blueberries, our bodies know exactly what to do to heal ourselves. 9. Supplements can help where the diet may be lacking.
To build a strong immune system, Vitamin C is a powerhouse. You can find Vitamin C in foods like cherries, oranges, peppers, herbs, leafy greens, and more.
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant and can be found in seeds.
Vitamin A helps fight infections and can be found in carrots, sweet potatoes, and leafy greens.
Vitamin D is hands down one of the most important vitamins to protect your health (also when you are deficient it can cause leaky gut)
Zinc is a key mineral for tissue repair.
Out of these tips, which did you find most helpful to hear about? I'd love to know! Comment below and let me know! ____________________________________________________________
May you live your life with purpose, passion, and joy. Have Courage, my Friends!
In Health & Wellness,
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