11/20/2021
How to Fight Covid & Other Ailments Naturally
November 18, 2021 |
Article by Dr. Karen Miller, Miller Family Chiropractic
How to keep your immune system healthy to fight off invaders
As we are going into the colder months of the year, it’s a great time to discuss how to keep all your fighting armies of your immune system strong. What weakens your immune system is stress in the form of chemical, emotional or physical.
Chemical stress can be in the form of a poor diet. Its important to give your body what it needs in the form of nutrients thru your food. Fruits and vegetables should fill half of your plate, with approximately two-thirds of this space taken up by vegetables, which are some of the most nutrient-dense foods available. Eat a variety of different vegetables, preferably organic, in a range of colors to get a wider variety of vitamins and minerals. Your protein source should take up approximately one-fourth of your plate. This means your piece of meat shouldn’t be the main item on your plate and should be smaller than your portion of vegetables. However, you shouldn’t always eat meat. Vary your protein sources to also include seafood, poultry and protein alternatives (like beans and nuts). That leaves one-fourth of your plate for complex carbohydrates example of which is rice or quinoa. Keep hydrated, a good rule is to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water. For example if you weigh 150 lbs you would drink 75 oz of water per day. That is your base line, if you exercise and sweat you need more. Sugar is addictive and fun, but can really stress the immune system. For example, It’s been said that if you drink a can of a sugary beverage your immune system armies (your line of defense) is down for the next hour and can allow invaders to get by your infantry.
It’s not always possible to get all we need thru food sources, adding whole food nutritional supplements to your daily regiment is a great idea.
One protocol to boost your immune system, is to take Daily
2000-5000 IU of D3,
15 mg of Zinc,
500 mg of Quercetin,
500-1000 mg of Vitamin C.
[The Querecetin is a carrier to get the zinc into the cells which then stops the replication of viruses.]
One of my favorite topics is Exercise! It’s important to get at least some of your workouts in the great outdoors with fresh air and sunshine. Exercise increases blood and lymph flow as your muscles contract, it also increases the circulation of immune cells, making them roam the body at a higher rate and at higher numbers. Specifically, exercise helps to recruit highly specialized immune cells-such as natural killer cells and T cells-find pathogens (like viruses) and wipe them out. In one study, participants who took a 45-minute brisk walk experienced this uptick of immune cells floating around the body for up to three hours after the walk. While you do get an immediate response from your immune system when you exercise, that will eventually go away-unless, that is, you keep working out consistently. A good rule is to get 30-45 minutes of aerobic exercise 3-5 days per week along with strength training and don’t forget to stretch. it’s important to lengthen those muscles after they’ve been contracted and it feels good too, use it as a time cool down after a workout.
One-third of our day should be spent sleeping. When we sleep, our bodies repair and restore vital systems that help keep us alive. This includes muscular, skeletal, and cellular repair during our REM stages of sleep. If we are not getting adequate REM sleep, our bodies ill not recover and we will be more susceptible to illness. It’s important to get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. We get the best sleep between 10 pm – 4 am. There are a few causes for this recommendation 1) some studies have shown that 1 hr before midnight equals to 2 hrs after it in terms of deep sleep. An average ideal duration is 6-8 hours, it sums up to 8 effective hours of sleep. 2) We have circadian rhythm based on our hormonal levels which follow sunlight. Hence, it’s advised to get up with sunrise as high cortisol levels help us feel more energetic. 3) Late night sleep has been linked with many medical problems including obesity, hypertension, premature ageing, poor memory in the long run.
I hope this information motivates and encourages you to take control of your health. Start with baby steps and slowly move forward into greater health!
Dr. Karen Miller
Karen Miller Chiropractic
https://millerfamilyhealth.com/
805-636-9376
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