BUILD YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

BUILD YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

Does your family get sick with colds and flu and fevers over and over again during the fall and winter? In order to stay healthy, it is beneficial to build up your immune system. Here are some well researched, tried and true ways our family has found that will help your family get well and stay well.

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VITAMIN D3

Vitamin D3 is vital as both a preventative and treatment for disease. The chief source of D3 is the sun. During the summer, if you spend 20 minutes in the direct sun at midday each day, without sunscreen, and with your sleeves rolled up, your body will have sufficient D3 to help keep you healthy. In the northern hemisphere, sunshine is virtually useless for vitamin D transfer once fall has begun, due to the sun’s rays being too indirect to be of benefit. This may explain why so many get ill in the fall and winter months.

Every cell in your body needs vitamin D3, and when the sun is NOT direct, which is all throughout the fall and winter, you must replenish it in your body through supplements. For years the recommended daily allowance has been around 400-600 iu of vitamin D3 per day. This is not enough to keep your immune system strong, and fight off colds, flu. arthritis, diabetes, cancer (especially breast cancer,) heart disease and the inflammation that is the root cause of so many serious diseases. The correct daily dose of vitamin D for adults is about 5,000 IU/day. Studies show that children who take 1,200IU daily will have 50% less chance of getting the flu.

MAGNESIUM:

Every cell also needs magnesium. Most people are deficient in magnesium. It helps prevent thyroid problems, enhances insulin secretion, which facilitates carbohydrate or sugar metabolism, cuts the risk of heart disease and stroke, helps prevent insomnia, aids in bone health, is believed to cut the risk of colon cancer, can help prevent migraines, and more. Take 500mg of magnesium or more every day. If your intestinal system cannot handle oral magnesium, you might want to try magnesium oil or lotion.

VITAMIN C:

Take Vitamin C, Airborne or Emergen C before you get sick. Most are aware that Vitamin C has been shown to help prevent colds, but it also has been known to fight cancer, lower the risk of heart diseases and stroke, regulates sugar levels in diabetics, helps in reducing arthritis symptoms, and so much more.

REGULATE YOUR BODY’S PH LEVELS:

Drink lots of fluids EVERY DAY make some lemonade to drink in the morning, or throughout the day. If you add a little baking soda to it, you’ll help alkalize your body. Our bodies need to be in an alkaline state in order to fight off inflammation, which is the cause of most diseases, with arthritis being the most obvious. For many years I have taken coral calcium every day, in order to maintain an alkaline ph. Taking magnesium, will help the body’s ph level as well.

You might also wish to follow an alkaline diet .

SLEEP:

Seven to eight hours of sleep each night seems to be the target amount of healthy sleep, with seven hours being optimum. My Daddy was a general practitioner. He believed that sleep was the great healer. He was a missionary doctor in West Africa and often instructed his orderlies at the hospital to let his patients sleep rather than awaken them to take medicine. If you can’t manage seven to eight hours of sleep each night, try to lay there for at least seven hours, or take naps. If your body wants to nap, do your best to fit one in. Without sufficient sleep, there is a greater likelihood of getting sick, of obesity, increased risk of diabetes, heart problems, and even depression. Please also realize that if you are currently healthy, it is can also be dangerous for an adult to sleep nine hours or more a night.

TAKE A GOOD PROBIOTIC:

Probiotics help keep bad bacteria from multiplying. They will help take control of your gut and help get rid of the bad bacteria that are in the small intestine before they take hold and cause harm. A study published by the National Institute of Health showed that healthy kids from 1 through 6 who drank probiotic milk had significantly fewer colds.” It would make sense that taking those probiotics in other natural ways, like yogurt, would also help.

EAT NUTRITIOUS REAL FOOD:

Avoid processed food as much as you are able. Technically this means anything with a list of chemical ingredients. These can be harmful to the body. Here is a partial list of those deemed most dangerous. MSG and its derivatives, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated fats, food colors, sodium sulfites, potassium bromate, sulfur dioxide, BHA and BHT, should all be avoided. AND stay away from sugar (even the real cane stuff.)

The most nutritious food is in the perimeter (outer edge) of your supermarket. This is where you will find the real foods: fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, butter, cheese, beef, turkey, chicken, and fish.

SOME BASIC REMINDERS TO HELP YOU STAY WELL:

Use those wipes at the entrances of stores to wipe off the cart handles – and keep a bottle of hand sanitizer handy – in your purse or car. We have a huge bottle at the back of our church sanctuary for folks to use as needed. One man in our church, who is a beef company executive, will often bump elbows rather than shake hands – in order to avoid transmitting illnesses or bacteria. It has become standard practice at their company.

DO NOT GET THE FLU VACCINE: Though getting the vaccine seems the logical and correct thing to do, and there are signs in every pharmacy to “get your flu shot here,” there is little proof that it helps. One reason is that it is always a best guess as to what the actual flu strain will be for any specific year, and it cannot protect against any other strain than the one contained in that particular vaccine. There is much information that it can actually cause significantly more upper respiratory illnesses and flu than those that are not vaccinated.

Consider avoiding situations where germs are rampant. If I’m walking down an aisle in the store where someone is coughing or sneezing, I turn around and walk the other way. Day care centers are notorious for transmitting illnesses from one child to another. If you need to put your child into someone else’s care, consider a home rather than a large business. If your child is exhibiting signs of illness, keep them home from school or daycare. You hate it when others bring their sick ones to school, don’t do it yourself. If you are starting to feel sick – especially if you have a fever – stay home.

IF YOU ARE STARTING TO GET SICK:

Keep following all the preventatives listed above.

* When you start to come down with the flu or a cold, meet it head on. Try using essential oils – a combination of lemon, peppermint and lavender can act as a natural form of antihistamine. Diffused, or massaged into the palm of the hand where it can be breathed in. Essential oils are like food, and need to be repeated every few hours to feed our bodies. Even a simple generic antihistamines can stop nasal drainage so that it doesn’t go into the chest. Our Doctor Daddy, always started us on antihistamines when we showed cold or respiratory (flu) symptoms. It often helped keep our family from getting sicker. Always remember to drink lots of water. This acts as a natural antihistamine, because it downgrades the productions of histamines.

Be wary of continually taking diphenhydramine (Benadryl) or chlorpheniramine maleate (Chlortrimeton,) because there is evidence that, taking it continually, can result in temporary memory loss. The good news is that this is reversible. Diphenhydramine is also an ingredient in many sleep aids. If you need a regular antihistamine, change to one like loratadine (Claritin).

* Sometimes Echinacea can be of benefit at the start of a cold or flu as well. A word of warning: those who have grass or ragweed allergies could have an allergic reaction to Echinacea.

* Take megadoses of Vitamin D3. Doctors recommend 50,000 iu of vitamin D3 every day. You can split it up morning and evening, for the first 3 days, at the first sign of flu or cold.

* If you a getting a lot of phlegm, be sure and take Goldenseal, Mucinex or a generic of it. Keeping mucous out of your lungs can help keep a cold from turning into bronchitis or even pneumonia.

* You can also take some natural antibiotics like Colloidal silver that may cost more at the start, but a little goes a long way and they are very effective, against both viruses and infections. Owning a colloidal silver generator to make your own can be very cost saving. Garlic and Goldenseal are less expensive antibiotics and they will also help greatly. Oregano oil is one of the best natural fighters of infections and flu. If you don’t like the taste or smell, try rubbing it on your feet. Buy good quality oils like doTERRA through my link.

* Make a good bone broth. There really is something to the saying that eating chicken soup will help you when you are sick. Don’t forget to drink lots of fluids too.

Get lots of sleep, AND stay home!

Disclaimer: I am not a trained dietitian, nutritionist, chef, or doctor. The information on this blog is based on facts, my research, and my personal experiences. This information is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure any disease. Please follow the advice of your doctor.
Marjie Briggs

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