Written by: Krystal Decker
Integrative Health Coach
Hello Every.Body! Welcome Back, so happy to have our gyms back. Working out at the gym fits in perfectly to my new blog series called Word To Your Health. This month’s Word(s) is: Immune System!
Seems like a hot buzz word of late, our immune systems have always been there, running and protecting us. Did you know there are over 300,000 deadly viruses and bacteria in our dirty world? That number is not to scare people, but to bring a little realization that we come into contact every day with germs and our beautiful mitochondria (cell powerhouse) fight them off. See if our cells are nourished and working properly they are like superheroes fighting off the bad guys! This is how I explain it to my 5 year old. When a virus or disease enters the body there are 3 things that can happen.
- Our white blood cells assemble an army and fight the infection
- Our white blood cells can’t fight them off and we get sick, this can be from have an auto immune disease, pre-existing condition(which lowers white blood cells activity like cancer) or simply not eating well or sleeping good makes our cells were not equipped or prepared.
- The virus lays dormant and you have no clue you have it because you are already immune, either you had it before or your parents did and passed immunity on to you.
So giving our cells the best chance they can at the Front lines (cause they really are our own Health Hero's) gives us the best chance at staying well. Only you can choose to be healthy, think about it, you put food in your mouth, choose to go for walks or the gym (or both) and you decide who to listen to and what you say to yourself (positive or negative) and these 3 things really can build Healthy Cells or deteriorate them! Let's dissect that a little bit more....
You are what you Eat, Do and Think!!
- Eating the rainbow. Each color of fruits and vegetables contain different phyto-nutrients, which help build and repair cells in different ways. So eating a colorful variety is key to wellness. Your whole food multi vitamin. Eating non processed, whole (real) foods, organic when possible, using the clean 15/ Dirty dozen method is great to reduce toxic load. Reducing rubbish foods that hinder you like artificial colors and flavors, corn syrup/artificial sweeteners and any processed foods that you can’t read the ingredients label was probably made in a lab and cannot be absorbed in our bodies. Foods like this bog down our liver and create toxic cells that have no fighting chance. Eating a clean healthy diet can keep you at a healthy weight and starve off disease, diabetes may be pre dis positioned too. You certainly can flatten the curve on hereditary illness by eating well!
- Move It or Lose It- Anyone who lifts weights, or does intense cardio like bike riding knows that when you take time off you can lose gains and stamina. If you live a sedentary lifestyle it’s not just muscle that wastes away, its bone as well. Arthritis can set in to joints that don't get proper nutrients and movement. I say nutrients because our ligaments feed blood to the joints and they only get fed by movement. No matter how or where, exercise is important and it’s the one thing you feel immediately. It has helped millions with mental health like depression, anxiety and addiction. Even a simple walk in nature can do wonders. How are you gonna move your body today?
- Your mind controls your body- I’m not talking about levitation and magic tricks, I simply mean our mind can control how our body feels and how we feel about ourselves. If you wake up every day and feel pain in your body and pop pain killers and think there is no other way, there won’t be, your mind has you stuck.
If you wake up and give gratitude for your body and life and think how am I gonna GET to use this vessel today, how will I nourish it, then the sky is the limit!
In the End this is Self-Care at the Most Basic Level!
Tips to take away:
- Look up and try a new recipe with whole foods. Create a meal for your family with love!
- Buy Local and Eat organic when possible.
- If you can’t get organic, wash your produce in vinegar water to get most pesticides off.
- Try a new exercise, go one a hike with your child, sign up with a personal trainer and learn a new workout routine.
- Taking extra vitamins like A,C,D,E & Zinc can help boost your immune system. Remember vitamin D is fat soluble, so one can store it, where vitamin C is water soluble so you use it immediately. Just 1 cigarette burns up 100 mg of vitamin C. If you smoke you should take more (Upwards of 1000mg a day at least)!!
- Create mental space, morning or night, to try and silence your mind for just a few minutes. Tell yourself what you are grateful for and how you want to create a better day than yesterday.
- DO IT! Saying it and writing it down are 2 different things. Consistency and accountability will get you there.
If you need accountability please contact me kdecker@the-mac.com for a free health assessment
Below is a link to my 4 week online Nutrition 101 course. I will be doing a different course every month so watch This Space......