Since beginning our soccer season just 4 months ago, I’ve been amazed at how many of our players have been sick. Now I’m not talking about H1N1 (at least I don’t that’s what’s going on) but instead the common cold and even flu.
One of the reasons these kinds of sicknesses can spread so easily within a sports team is that the guys spend a lot of time together, they shake hands and don’t follow proper hand washing protocols, possibly share water bottles, and don’t necessarily eat the healthiest of diets.
After all, they are university students.
So if you find yourself in a similar situation or know someone who is, then the following 3 tips to boosting your immunity will help.
Before we get into the specifics, I want you to consider your overall diet. If you eat a whole foods diet (preferably raw) then you are already providing tremendous immune support – via good nutrition.
However, the poorer your diet, the weaker your immune system and the more susceptible you will be to getting sick.
Look at it this way…
Food can be a form of physical stress to your body. Eat the wrong foods and you increase the stress load, which in turn taxes your immune system even more.
But eat the right foods and you provide the nutrients and stress-free environment for your immune system to focus on more important issues.
Alright, so now let’s look these 3 easy ways to boost your immunity so you can prevent getting sick or get over a cold if you already have one.
1. Alkalize and Oxygenate Your Body
When you think alkalinity, think oxygenation. Alkalinity brings more oxygen into your body. The reason it is important to alkalize and oxygenate your body is that “unfriendly” micro-organisms do not flourish in oxygen-rich environments.
For instance, cancer has been shown to flourish in acidic, oxygen-deprivated tissues, yet will literally die off when exposed to high oxygen environments inside the body. That’s why one of the most important things you can do to prevent (and treat) cancer is drink (and eat) lots of greens – which are the highest source of alkalinity on the planet. It’s actually too bad that the medical establishment doesn’t even know about the power of greens for improving the vitality of the human body.
Some of my favourite strategies for alkalizing my body (and those of my clients) are the following:
- green juices (my favourite contains kale, celery, cucumber, parsley, lemon, ginger, and apple)
- green smoothies (one of my favourites has spinach, spirulina, apple, banana, and lime juice)
- wheat grass shots (just 1 oz has the nutritional value of 2 lbs of vegetables)
- barley grass powder added to water (very similar properties as wheat grass)
- lemon water throughout the day
All of these nutritional strategies will add tremendous alkalinity (ie. alkalizing minerals such calcium, potassium, magnesium) to your body and create an internal physiology that strengthens your immune system and prevents bacteria, viruses, and other nasty critters from spreading!
2. Avoid Refined Sugar
This is an important one. Entire books have been written on the body-decaying effects that sugar brings about. From an immune system perspective, it has been shown that as little as 1 tablespoon of refined sugar can depress your immune system for up to 6 hrs! Moreover, sugar curtails the action of the immune system’s lymphocytes and other “foreign invader-killing” cells.
If you want to avoid getting sick and want to skyrocket your health, minimizing or avoiding refined sugars may be one of the most important things you do.
3. Fortify Your Defenses with Natural Immune Boosters
I’m not a fan of antibiotics – not by a long shot. They actually create more sickness (or business) for the health care system to deal with.
In order to avoid having to use them, you need to eat a clean whole foods diet (preferably a raw diet) and you can further boost your defenses with the following natural weapons:
Garlic – it’s active ingredient – allicin – is an incredible natural “anti-everything” will fend off bacteria, viruses, fungi, and much more.
Oregano oil – wow! If there’s one thing you need in your medicine cabinet it’s this powerful essential oil. Anytime you feel any kind of cold coming on, just drink 1-2 drops of oregano oil with 1 oz of water a few times a day and you’ll be feeling in no time. Oregano oil also kills off the unwanted yeast – candida albicans!
Probiotics – Having good bacteria to balance out the 400 different types of mico-organisms in your colon will definitely support your immune system. Your best source will come from supplementation but naturally fermented foods and drinks like miso, sauerkraut, and kombucha are also good food-based sources.
Not only are these tips great for builing your immune system but they will obviously create a strong foundation for great health.
Considering the spread of H1N1 and how many unhealthy people there are, you need to fortify your defenses – naturally!
To give you some more helpful tips, you can watch this video I put together on natural cold remedies about a year ago. Enjoy!
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I don’t know about you but up here in Toronto we’re in full blown winter. The snow is flying and the temperatures have dropped well below freezing.
With the return of beautiful summer weather, many of us begin to put away the last remaining items that we use regularly during the winter.
