Are you the one who always catches the bug first (and then catches it again at the tail end)? Who often has swollen glands in your throat, tonsils or armpits?
Do you feel really tired or weak? Do you get headaches frequently? Have you lost your appetite?
Those are all signs that your immune system could use a boost.
Often when dieticians and nutritionists talk about what you can eat to boost immunity, it makes it seem like getting sick is our own fault. But there could be lost of reasons for lower immune function, and it could be beyond your control.
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Heredity plays a large part, as does fetal nutrient absorption when your body is forming. You could also be subject to a lot of pollution, environmental toxins, or just a lot more germs than other people.
We can still do everything we can to give our bodies the best chance to stay healthy, and one of the best ways is to nourish ourselves with nutritionally-dense foods that give the nutrients your body needs to maintain things like optimal immune function.
It isn’t always about what we put in our mouths – but how much of that we actually digest and absorb.
An underappreciated aspect of nutrition is that if our digestive system isn’t functioning properly, we won’t get all the nutritional value out of the foods we eat. That can happen if we eat too much at one sitting, if we eat too often, if we take antibiotics, if we don’t get enough fiber, if we throw off our body’s pH balance, if we aren’t active or getting any exercise.
I live a pretty healthy lifestyle year-round, but I do a cleanse twice a year to give myself a reset and lighten things up on my digestive system. If you heard yourself in the questions at the start of this page, it could be very helpful for you immune system to get a few days to nourish and reset before cold and flu season hits.
How to naturally boost your immunity with a cleanse:
My definition of cleanse is a bit different from most though. I see it as geting out of the way, and allow our livers room to do their jobs the way they were designed to do them. I also incorporate certain natural supplements to help rebalance and catch up from nutritional imbalances or deficiencies.
There are different styles of nourishing cleanses you could do, and for an immune boost I usually an alkalizing and mineral-rich veggie cleanse to lighten things up while still getting all the nutrients and fiber your body needs to function and purge any toxins that need to be released.
If planned properly, a cleanse can help reset and boost your immune function, and cover all of these steps at once.
- Eat immune-supportive nutrient-dense foods.
- Decrease exposure to things that depress immunity (sugar, allergens, environmental toxins).
- Nutritional and botanical supplements that support immune function.
- Light activity and yoga sessions with twisting movement to encourage lymphatic system function.
If you don’t want to plan this out yourself, check out my fully-planned and nutritionally-balanced cleanse program.
Some of these changes may seem overwhelming at first, but all you need to do is create a plan, and work towards it one step at a time. Remember that instead of a forced detox, your plan should incorporate both cleansing and nourishing.
Our bodies need the proper fuel to keep working effectively. Just like you need to be paid appropriately for the work you do, so does your body in the form of nutrients to give you the energy and health to do what you want in your life.
Now that you know what your immune needs, let’s work to support it.
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