With the pandemic in full-swing in Australia, I have friends who have caught the infection and deliberating what they can do. Today’s article will go through what you can do to boost your immune system, in 10 easy steps.

Whether you’re vaccinated or not, you can still catch the infection or transmit it. While there is no magic pill, we can still do something about our health. After all, COVID-19 is a respiratory viral infection and a strong immune system can stand up and fight the virus. A holistic approach including diet, nutrition and lifestyle actions can boost your immune system. For example, eating enough protein will help provide the raw materials for growing antibodies and ingesting essential vitamins and minerals will power-up all the necessary enzyme pathways for optimal immune function.

So what can you do to boost your immune system?

It would depend on your baseline overall health: do you have an autoimmune condition or a chronic condition? what medicines and supplements are you taking, what are your diet and lifestyle choices?

There is just so much confusion out there on what works; highlighting a big need for simplified information, dotted with practical tips and optional further reading for those somewhat-inclined hence I am writing a book on this (To stay informed, subscribe here plus receive my complimentary Top 3 Supplements guide)

Here’s a sneak preview of the 10 steps to boost your immune system:

Step 1: Minimise toxins, drugs and foods that trigger imbalance

Industrial seed oils like vegetable oils, canola, corn, grapeseed, rice bran, soy and sunflower are heavily processed, deodorised and can prove difficult for the body to breakdown.

Some prescription drugs like acid-reducing agents (proton pump inhibitors) may reduce the absorption of micronutrients like vitamin B12 and magnesium. I’m not saying don’t take these drugs: there is a place for them when the benefits outweigh the trade-offs. What you can do is to try to figure the why: assessing the root cause of the problem may identify alternative strategies to solve the problem e.g. raising the bedhead by 20cm can reduce symptoms of reflux or chewing slow can reduce the production of excessive gas. If you have been on these drugs for a while, stopping them suddenly can cause a withdrawal effect: there is nothing like withdrawing these agents with the assistance of your health authority who can monitor for withdrawal effects and recommend a reducing program.

Read food labels carefully. Avoid industrial seed oils. Cook with cold-pressed oils like avocado, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil or ghee that are less processed. Grow your own vegetables/fruit and buy spray-free produce

Regularly assess the benefits/trade-offs of taking prescription drugs

Step 2: Address nutrient deficiencies: Eat a nutritious and diverse diet

My preference is to obtain nutrients from whole foods and if inadequate, to supplement. A nutritionally balanced diet comes from diversified food sources that provide adequate nutrients for optimal health.

Eat macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats) moderately according to your predisposition. Both quantity and quality is important.

Avoid eating meat that has been hormonally treated. Consider buying quality foods. If you have a limited budget, buy select organic foods (prioritise organic proteins and soft-skin fruit and vegetables). If you buy non-organic, wash them in a basin of water with several drops of lemon juice to remove surface lead.

Eat seafood at least twice a week to obtain your weekly omega fats!

Eat 2-3 eggs daily, ideally poached to boost choline intake, precursor to Acetylcholine, a major neurotransmitter of your Rest & Digest system

Practise mindful eating: chew 32x per bite if you have 32 teeth!

Step 3: Address nutrient deficiencies: supplement adequately if necessary

A micronutrient is a vitamin, mineral or trace element that your body cannot make adequately and must be consumed from the diet.  Nutrient deficiencies can increase the risk of infections and delay recovery. There is a complex interplay of micronutrients in the biological pathways where subsequent pathways are dependent on the availability other nutrients, so each part contributes to the whole. This could explain why various research papers found inconsistent results when only single micronutrients or select combination of micronutrients were studied. A wealth of research show that micronutrients, including vitamins A, B₆, B₁₂, C, D, E, and folate; trace elements, including zinc, iron, selenium, magnesium, and copper; and the omega-3 fatty acids[i] play important and complementary roles in supporting the immune system.

Here are my recommended supplements:

Step 4: Sleep

Getting enough sleep ensures the body’s immune system is in tip top shape. Sleep is important for detoxification, tissue repair and cell regeneration. Sleep affects various immune parameters, is associated with a reduced infection risk, and can improve infection outcome and vaccination responses.

Aim for at least 7 hours of sleep per night. You should feel rested and refreshed in the morning.

Step 5: Time Restricted Eating

Time-restricted eating can be good for health is that it promotes autophagy. Restricting eating to a condensed window, say 7am to 7pm gives time for your digestive system/’kitchen’ to rest and allow your immune system/’housekeeping’ to start working. Autophagy is the body’s natural way of recycling tired cells into new, refreshed cells. Fasting can promote autophagy hence fast-tracking the body’s natural recycling and quality control system, ensuring removal of damaged cells to make way for development of refreshed cells.

Stop eating 3 hours before going to bed so that your ‘kitchen’ can rest and ‘housekeeping’ can start working

Step 6: Hydration

Our body is made up of fluid and adequate hydration enable robust metabolic processes, maximise transport of nutrients and help flush out toxins. Healthy hydration incorporates both water and electrolytes/minerals. My favourite refreshment includes adding frozen raspberries, a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon, fresh mint into a pitcher of water and topping this up with a teaspoon of chia seeds.

Keep a water-bottle handy to help remind yourself to hydrate! And mix it with flavours you love!

Step 7: Exercise

To compensate the sedentary effects-induced by lockdown, the MOVE-IT research group recommended 150 min to 200–400 min aerobic exercise distributed across 5–7 days, with at least 2–3 resistance sessions, to compensate for the decreased mobility during lockdown[ii].

Step 8: Good dental health

It is true that healthy teeth lead to a healthy body seeing the mouth is the gateway to our blood circulation and major organs. Our mouth is the entry point for pathogens and keeping this 1^st line of defence strong means we can protect the body from unwanted invasion of bad bacteria and viruses. I see a holistic dentist who advises me on preventative measures every 6 months. My dental-hygienist is excellent in reminding me how to floss my teeth according to the contours of my gums and remove any debris from these blindspots.

Step 9: Stress management

When you’re stuck in traffic and late for a meeting, your ‘fight, fright and flight’ system (otherwise known as your sympathetic nervous system) is activated increasing the stress hormone, cortisol. Appropriate cortisol release is healthy however if this becomes chronic, the body will pull all it’s resources into this system instead of the ‘rest and digest’ system (parasympathetic nervous system) and become quite imbalanced and malfunctions. This is not a healthy place to be.

The fastest way to activate your rest and digest system is through box breathing.

• Breathe in for 4 seconds
• Hold for 4 seconds
• Breathe out for 4 seconds

It is said that the Special Forces, public speakers, and surgeons use box breathing to help control their thoughts and emotions when faced with challenging situations. Now you can do the same.

Step 10: Mindset

It can take several weeks to form a habit. Good things take time.

Start these changes gradually. Have an accountability partner. Stand on the shoulder of giants.

These are excerpts from my book, The Pharmacist Edit’s Guide to Boost your Immune system. Over the next 10 weeks, I will be going through each of the steps in greater detail.

If you’re travelling, don’t forget to read my Must Have List for Travelling during the pandemic

You may be interested in my 3-part article, focusing on the pandemic

Part 1 Pandemic focus: risk/benefit approach to the jab here 

Part 2 Pandemic focus: Interview with Supplement Founder, Ben Warren here

Part 3 Pandemic focus: Interview with Integrative Pharmacist Nic Parkes here

Affiliate Disclosure: Products and services recommended are limited to products that Therese’s uses and recommends to clients. The educational materials may contain affiliate links, which means The Pharmacist Edit may receive a commission on any product or service you purchase using the links provided. You will pay the same price (or lower) for all products and services, and your purchase helps support Therese‘s ongoing research and work.

References:

[i] Iddir M, Brito A, Dingeo G, Fernandez Del Campo SS, Samouda H, La Frano MR, Bohn T. Strengthening the Immune System and Reducing Inflammation and Oxidative Stress through Diet and Nutrition: Considerations during the COVID-19 Crisis. Nutrients. 2020; 12(6):1562. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12061562

[ii] Jiménez-Pavón D, Carbonell-Baeza A, Lavie CJ. Physical exercise as therapy to fight against the mental and physical consequences of COVID-19 quarantine: Special focus in older people. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2020; doi:10.1016/j.pcad.2020.03.009, 63(3):386-38