Get your Immune System ready for FALL 🍁🍃🍂
Fall is on it’s way, which means that it’s the perfect time to boost your immune system!
Whether you have children, an empty nester, or a wise-aged senior, it’s time to pay special attention to your immunity health!
I know for myself the shift from summer to fall is significant, and I thrive on the shift in the season, feeling the creative spirit in the air and embracing the amazing crisp weather outside.
But many people have trouble recalibrating as their lips crack, get dry redness around the nose, waves of sneezing, fatigue, and overall moodiness and a feeling of being ungrounded.
Today I’d like to answer the most often asked question that I hear during this time of year:
#1. How can my family boost their immune system to fight off illness during the change of seasons?
Before I get started, I hope you enjoyed last week’s newsletter on “Ways you can tweak your existing, or completely overhaul, your daily routines to accomplish more, and even stay healthier”. If you missed it, you can use this link, here.
OK, let’s get up to speed on the essential facts regarding immunity, and what you can do to quickly to boost your family’s immunity….
Eat According to the Season
Know that during this change in season a super strong immune system is essential and digestive health is the absolute ruler of your immune system.
For fall, I suggest a shift away from the light salads and raw foods typically enjoyed during the heat of summer, and fill your plate with the abundance of fresh seasonal vegetables available now! Add more warm hearty foods like roasted root vegetables, squashes, and warm soups. Plant proteins (beans, lentils, nuts, seeds) and animal proteins (including eggs) are grounding as well. Just be mindful that dairy foods can potentially create congestion.
Foods that nourish our digestive system this time of year include sweet potato, apple, avocado, asparagus, bok choy, cabbage, endive, Jerusalem artichoke, mushroom, radish, spinach, squash, and watercress. Fermented foods like live sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha help boost healthy flora in the intestines.
Cooking with garlic and taking a garlic supplement can help boost the immune system, reducing the number of days from a cold or flu by 61%. If interested, you can read the report here.
Lastly, minimize refined sugars (such as fruit juices, sweets, cookies, candies, cakes, syrups) and flours (breads, pasta, crackers) which deplete essential nutrients and undermine the immune system.
Remember that during season changes, a super strong immune system is essential and digestive health is the absolute ruler of your immune system.
Avoid Stagnation In The Body
Prevention is the best medicine. A trip to the sauna or steam room is great for eliminating toxins through the skin (it happens to be the largest organ of the human body), stimulating circulation, and relaxing, all of which improve immune function. Nothing feels better than warming up on a chilly day. You can make a sauna appointment for our infrared sauna at the front desk.
Support the immune system with a lymphatic draining massage with dry skin brushing before taking a shower. Brush with strokes starting at the hands, up the arm, toward the axillary lymph nodes and heart, and starting at the feet, up the legs with strokes toward the lymph nodes in the groin and torso. I like to gently brush down the neck towards the heart to drain the lymph nodes that lead to the sinus cavity to decrease congestion. Always brush towards the lymph nodes for each section! Click here, for a great in-depth video .
Shift Your Exercise Focus
Many people cycle through a mindset of “work hard, play hard, go hard and my body will thank me” with “I’m burnt out and I need a vacation to escape.” With a shift in season, I give my body a different routine because going hard like in the summer months is a recipe for a head cold. I make sure to have the following in my weekly cycle during the fall:
Daily mobility exercises to reset the body. These could be foam rolling, rocking, crawling, or a simple 20 minute yoga sequence all moving with the breath. This helps calm my nervous system and go into a state of rest and relaxation (parasympathetic state) to help balance the chaotic feeling of fall. Here’s a great link with 10 easy beginner yoga poses you can do at home 💗
Make your lungs are happy and strong with cardiovascular exercise (2-3x/week) for improved oxygenation of your blood and resistance to illness. Focus on breathing in and out through the nose, as this helps warm and moisten the dry air that enters the body.
HIIT training brings short bursts of intervals to increase the heart rate with ample rest. Choose a weight that allows for 5-8 reps per exercise, with focusing on fewer overall exercises. Do a set of 3 with an emphasis on more challenging weights/loads. Rest between sets should be about 45-60 seconds.
Sleep Like a Pro
It’s a known fact that daily physical activity improves the quality of sleep. But how much sleep do you really need? Your organs are busy detoxifying your body during rest, so make sure to hit the sack and log at least 7-8 hours a night. If you are sleep deprived, studies show your T-cell count goes down and your inflammatory cytokines goes up, increasing the risk of catching a cold or flu. The fall is great sleeping weather, keep the blinds closed for total darkness and the temperature cool around 65 degrees!
Supplements
There are many wonderful herbs to enjoy that also boost immune function. As the weather gets cooler, be generous with garlic and ginger in your food preparation.
Get your Vitamin D levels checked – many people are quite low in D, and appropriate supplementation can significantly reduce the frequency of colds and flus.
Also consider a multi-vitamin, probiotics, CoQ10, quercitin with bromelain, Vitamin C, zinc (balanced with copper), chlorella and kelp.
Every person’s needs are different so feel free to ask the front desk for an appointment to review what your specific needs are to find balance and survive the change in weather.
The Bottom Line
Remember what we learned last week about building routines into your life? Well, now is a great time to start taking those extra steps to build your immune system.
Your immune system develops over time and adapts to your environment. There are many lifestyle choices that can be made that help to boost your immune system, such as eating a diet rich in whole foods, hitting the sauna, getting enough exercise and sleep. In addition, a number of nutrients are especially good at promoting a healthy immune system, such as zinc, vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin C and target-specific probiotics.
Don’t know where to start? Every person’s needs are different, so feel free to contact the front desk for an appointment to review what your specific needs are to find balance and survive the change in weather.
Remember, the (5) Essentials we talk about at Ferguson Life Health Centers are…
Mindset
Nerve Supply
Nutrition
Exercise
Minimizing Toxins
There are NO LIMITS of what you can create, you are POWERFUL and there is nothing that you can not have or achieve! Believe in your power, believe in yourself and let go of what no longer serves you! ♡ Design your life, Create your reality…
This is life changing!
* * * * * * *