It finally feels like summer is disappearing and winter is just around the corner. Already, people I know are becoming sick with colds and sore throats. Now is the time to boost your immune system by taking good care of your nutrition. Here’s some things I’ve been doing to boost mine.
1. Using probiotc yoghurt
If you thought about your immune system, where would you think of? I’m guessing not many people would say your gut, but along with digestion, your gastrointestinal tract is an important part of your immune system – in fact it’s the biggest area of lymphoid tissue (type of immune tissue) in the body! Our gastrointestinal tract is home to around 400 different species of bacteria, most of which play an important role in immunity. This is a huge topic, and I don’t want to give you a whole science lesson on the immune system, but if you’re interested read here for a summary. So you can imagine, keep a healthy gut then is important to having a healthy immune system.
2. Managing stress
While there’s nothing wrong with a small amount of stress, prolonged stress causes a cascade of hormones cortisol and adrenaline which suppress the immune system. Deep breathing, yoga and running are my personal favourite ways to help de-stress.
3. Eating lot of vegetables and fruit
I always try to eat lots of veges and fruit, but it’s especially important over winter because we really need all those antioxidants and vitamins to help boost our immune system and fight infection. Antioxidant vitamins include vitamins C and E, plus beta-carotene. To get enough, make sure you eat a wide variety of coloured vegetables as different colours provide different nutrients.
4. Vitamin D + Sunshine
We make vitamin D through sunshine making contact with our skin. In the cooler months, when we’re covered up, some of us could be missing out getting enough of this essential vitamin. In terms of the immune system, Vitamin D triggers the immune cells known as T cells. These seek out and destroy any invading bacteria and viruses. Try and get some bare skin in the sunlight in the winter to boost your levels. Find out how much you might need here.
There are lots of other ways to boost your immune system that I’ll share later in the month, but if you’ve got any tips, please leave a comment below.
Leave a Reply