My family and I never had COVID-19 because we followed four key pillars of immune system health. In this article, I'll share my secrets to good health that can help you and your loved ones stay healthy no matter what health challenge comes next.
New health challenges pop up constantly, so maintaining a strong immune system is more important than ever.
With threats like a resurgence of Type A H5N1, also known as the bird flu, which is difficult for humans to contract, and 'Disease X,' understanding how to support our bodies has become a priority for many.
Fortunately, naturally boosting immunity isn't complicated. You don't need to take drastic measures.
This article explores four fundamental pillars that can help you boost your immunity naturally.
Why it Matters: You can use nature to help your body's immune system work better to keep 'Disease X' and other viruses at bay and keep you out of the hospital.
The 'Disease X' immunity diet: pillar 1
Pillar 1: Diet — Eating unprocessed, whole foods, nutritious carbohydrates, and choosing a Mediterranean-style diet like the Greeks and Italians. Instead of the standard American processed foods with toxic dyes, sugars, high fructose corn syrup, seed oils, genetically modified seeds, chemicals, and little nutritional value. It would help if you ate as closely to how your ancestors back on the farm ate.
A Mediterranean-style diet reduces inflammation in the body. A standard American diet increases inflammation, leading to an unhealthy immune system and disease. Vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements are also important to good health. We're working on future articles on using supplements to get and stay healthy.
Your doctors have probably never talked to you about how the foods you eat and drink are making you sick.
The National Institute of Health said, "Our study shows that nutrition education continues to be very limited in most medical schools, a situation that casts doubt on the readiness of future physicians to effectively counsel their patients about appropriate nutrition."
You won't learn how to eat and drink your way to good health from your doctor. Most doctors get only two to three hours of nutrition training in medical school. And your insurance company won't let you get an appointment with a nutritionist until you've been diagnosed with something significant like heart disease or diabetes.
Since I was a kid, I have always eaten clean foods, and my family grew fruits and vegetables. However, kidney-destroying medications, the hidden toxins that I didn't know about in the foods I bought, and sugar created massive amounts of chronic inflammation in my body. And it started to damage my kidneys to the point of kidney failure.
The biggest food changes I made are carefully reading food labels, growing most of my own fruits, vegetables and cooking and medicinal herbs, buying non-GMO foods, limiting sugar and learning how to wildcraft for wild foods and natural medicine.
I got you! In future articles, I'll teach you how to grow and wildcraft food.
We at the New Normal Big Life Blog (NNBL) did the research to help keep you informed. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated. Check out our upcoming podcast to learn how the healthcare system failed me, the symptoms I suffered for years that you might feel today, and how I helped myself get healthy again.
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'Disease X' survival of the fittest: pillar 2
Pillar 2: Physical activity — More doctors and researchers than ever are making the connection between exercising, especially outdoors in sunlight, and good health. Now more than ever, it pays to be one of the fittest.
Nicholas Kardaras, Ph.D., said, "We're just not meant to be sedentary, screen-staring, and meaning-devoid creatures," in his book, Digital Madness. Kardaras says, "Psychologists have known for decades that the best non-pharmaceutical antidepressant is physical activity — taking a walk, riding a bike, jogging, playing a sport. Anything that gets the body moving also increases serotonin levels and helps to oxygenate the brain." Bolded for emphasis.
When I survived a Traumatic Brain Injury and a broken back, my doctors, including several specialists, told me to rest. They said to sleep as much as possible to allow my body to heal. When I was diagnosed with what my doctor called "dangerously low (A1C) blood sugar," I followed their advice and ate more sugary foods. By 2014, following the doctors' advice, I was using a walker, a service dog, and a full-time caregiver.
I was getting sicker by the day.
When it comes to disease, listen to your body
Then, I stopped listening to the doctors and listened to my body. My body knew that I needed to get out of bed and move. Within two weeks, I put down my walker, climbed into a little plastic boat, and learned to kayak. Today, ten years later, my service dog is semi-retired. I don't use a walker, and if you scroll through my social media, you'll see me whitewater kayaking some gnarly whitewater on the Cache la Poudre near Fort Collins, Colorado.
Becoming active, getting outside with others in your adventure sports community, making friends, and learning a new activity has many benefits.
First, there's so much value in connecting to other humans face-to-face. I even met Matt, the love of my life, on a camping and kayaking trip with fifty friends.
Next, wanting to become a whitewater kayaker gave me a reason to exercise, and the goal of kayaking kept me motivated on the hard days. While training and improving my fitness for whitewater kayaking, I lost fifty pounds, ate healthier, and made life-long friends. Today, I'm a sponsored adventure sports athlete and an all-around outdoorswoman.
Disease survival and prevention require good sleep: pillar 3
Pillar 3: Good Sleep — Immunity experts recommend six to eight hours of sleep each night. They also recommend napping throughout the day when you're sick or have a chronic disease. Your body heals while it's sleeping. Getting less than six and a half hours of sleep slows down your immune system and increases disease-causing inflammation. But remember, too much rest and not enough exercise is unhealthy.
Here are some natural ways to ensure you get enough sleep to keep your body healthy.
One 5mg tablet of melatonin, a hormone in your body that plays a role in sleep. Melatonin is usually made naturally in your body. Sometimes, you don't make enough of this hormone, and a melatonin sleep aid can gently make you start to feel sleepy. Melatonin is a dietary supplement that can be created in a lab or made from animals like cows. When choosing nutritional supplements, you should talk with your healthcare provider and choose a natural over a lab-grown source. Nature's version will be gentler and more easily absorbed by your body. Not all nutritional supplements are created equally. We'll teach you more about choosing quality supplements in future articles.
How to choose a natural sleep aid
When I need a little extra help falling asleep, I brew a cup of homegrown German chamomile tea. You can grow chamomile in a container in a sunny apartment window, on your balcony, or in your garden. This small act of self-care gardening helps you have organic chamomile year-round.
Celestial Seasonings brand of chamomile or 'Sleepy Time' tea are also good choices when you can't grow your own.
When psychosocial stress is high, like during the BLM riots, the increased crime over the past four years, and during the early COVID lockdown days, I needed a little more natural help to fall asleep and stay asleep. My go-to natural sleep aid in hard times was 'Down N' Out.'
Down N' Out contains 4mg of melatonin and three sleep-support herbs: German Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Valeriana Root Extract and passion flower.
I've used these natural sleep support supplements for six years with no negative side effects. However, some people report feeling drowsy the next day. You could try a natural sleep supplement at night when you have nothing important to do the next day.
The social factors associated to disease: pillar 4
Pillar 4: Psychosocial stress — Social factors and how you think and respond to the stress created by social factors can have a huge impact on your immune system and general good health.
"We now have molecular evidence that when we are internally happy with our lives this dynamic state of being satisfied, inflammation goes down and immune health goes up. When we're socially isolated, when we have stresses that may be beyond our control, when we are depressed or anxious, when we don't handle our stresses the way that we really want to, all of that is immunocompromising." Bolded for emphasis.
— Dr. Leonard Calabrese, rheumatologist and immune system expert
The psychosocial impact of rapid change on your immune system
More social change has occurred in the past four years than in the previous decade. The political climate, the bad economy, job insecurity, food insecurity, the lack of affordable housing, race relations, the looming threat of World War III and 'Disease X,' and crime rates are soaring. And how we think about the safety and effectiveness of healthcare has changed dramatically. Not to mention how divided the country is — even your family is divided on many of today's biggest problems. Psychosocial stress is out of control.
The importance of a social network when battling disease
That's why building or re-building your post-COVID social network is important. Also, learn some stress management techniques. The best way I've found to meet like-minded people that I can talk to about my feelings on social change and my health is by doing the things I love, like adventure sports.
A step-by-step, stress management deep breathing exercise
Deep breathing is the most effective stress-reduction tool in my toolbox. Here's how you can practice a simple and effective deep breathing exercise. Inhale through your nose for five seconds, counting one, one thousand, two, one thousand, and so on. Then, exhale through your nose for five seconds. Repeat the five breaths in and five breaths out technique ten times.
Afterward, I feel calmer, and my brain has more oxygen available to help me think clearly and perform tasks better. This technique also gets rid of that out-of-breath feeling. This five-second inhalation and five-second exhalation strategy is based on an ancient Tibetan technique I'll teach you more about in a future article.
Now you know: Now you have all the tools to start practicing the four pillars of boosting your immunity — a Mediterranean-style diet made from natural, non-GMO ingredients and quality health supplements, getting physical activity outside with other people, getting quality sleep, and managing social stress.
You can build a healthier immune response by making simple lifestyle changes today.
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