Health is a Choice … so is having a Strong Immune System!

The first step to strengthening your immune system is to address the following questions:

What do you believe about health and fitness?
Do you rely on your doctor for health, or do you take responsibility for your own health?
Is your health determined by your genes, or do you have control over your gene expression?
In other words, how important is it to feed and take care of your body according to how God designed it?

I can give you numerous ways to get healthier, but if you haven’ made the choice in your mind, and know why you believe it, you will go right back to your old ways and on the same path you’ve been on … the path to sickness, disease, aging faster, and a life of prescription drugs and doctor appointments.

If that sound harsh, maybe so, but its reality and we see it everywhere we look.

My desire is for you to live in abundant health, with all day energy, fit, toned, and agile, and be that way all your life! But no one can do it for you, its a personal choice. God gave us free will to choose our path. But His Word tells us that life and death are placed before us … this pertains to all the categories of our life, and the Word gives us a big clue, its says, choose LIFE, so you and your children may live!

Having said all that, below are various tips and ideas on how to boost your immune system:

Take a probiotics and eat prebiotic foods.

The health of your gut is where most of your immune system is. Taking a quality probiotic supplement and eating fermenting foods support the microbiome – good bacteria. Eating prebiotic foods provide healthy fiber that your bacteria feed on.

Fermented foods: sauerkraut, naturally fermented pickles, yogurt, kimchi, tempeh, miso, and natto.
Prebiotic foods: onions, garlic, Jerusalem artichoke, bananas, apples, oats, jicama, asparagus, legumes

Avoid drugs whenever possible

It takes three to six months for our microbiome to recover from one week of antibiotic treatment. Note: if you eat meat, make sure that it’s organic so you won’t be ingesting antibiotic residues from chemically treated animals. It’s also important to avoid drugs that lower stomach acid. You need healthy stomach acid to kill parasites, viruses, and bacteria that we accidentally ingest on a daily basis. Limit your use of painkillers, like ibuprofen and other NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories) that damage the gut and weaken your immune health.

3 Important Nutrients:

Zinc affects multiple aspects of the immune system … google foods high in zinc and add them to your diet, like pumpkin seeds.
Vitamin D: Although we need to get vitamin D through sunlight, taking a quality and bioavailable vitamin D supplement can do wonders.
Whole Food Vitamin C powder: avoid ascorbic acid, and take only whole food vitamin C … a powerhouse vitamin for immunity.

Enzymes – Digestive and Proteolytic

Enzymes run everything in the body. To get the most out of what you eat you must be able to properly digest your food, as well as absorb it.

Digestive enzymes are taken with meals. Especially important if you eat cooked food, which is void of enzyme activity. My favorite is Liyfzyme.
Proteolytic enzymes are powerful. One takes them in-between meals on an empty stomach. They help clean up the blood, breakdown fibrin, and countless other benefits … this is a must on my personal list. My favorite is Purazyme.

Power of Medicinal Mushrooms

Some of the most power immune-boosting, antiviral, and anti-cancer substances are found in mushrooms.They are rich in anti-inflammatory bioactive compounds like polysaccharides, terpenoids, and phenols.

Reishi: Although not edible, these mushrooms contian antiviral and anti-cancer properties. I personally use it in powder form.
Shiitake: The delicious mushroom easily found in grocery stores contains substances called beta glucans, which stimulate the immune system and strengthen our white blood cells. Beta glucan could be an immune booster listed by itself … its powerful and I suggest you google foods that contain it.

There are others medicinal mushrooms or fungus, google if you want more info.

Raw Garlic … nature’s antibiotic

This superfood has very strong antimicrobial and antiviral properties. The potent sulfur compound allicin is known to treat serious GI infections such as SIBO (small-intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and kill parasites and yeast infections. At the first sign of an infection, take a clove a day. I personally like to cut it up and add to salads, or take one or two cloves, crush them to release the allicin, and then cover them with applesauce, part of my smoothie, or with blackstrap molasses and then chug-it down as fast as possible.

Oregano Oil

Oregano has a long history of being used as an antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-fungal. I keep a bottle of oregano essential oil up in the pantry … and when needed will put several drops in an empty capsule and take with food.

Exercise – move thyself!

The body was meant to move. Movement keeps blood flowing, helps to deliver more oxygen, and stimulates your lymphatic system! Lymphatic is part of your immune system. It helps to get rid of waste and toxins, and delivers nutrients throughout the body. If you are not moving, you are not moving your lymphatic fluids properly. Best exercise to move lymphatic system is swimming and Cellercising.

Stop Doing What’s Causing the Health Problem in the First Place

1. Manage STRESS!

Perhaps the biggest factor affecting health or recovery is one’s mindset … stress, anxiety, worry, depression, doubt and unbelief are KILLERS (physically, emotionally, and spiritually)!

There are exercises, such as deep breathing, and herbs such as ashwagandha and others, that will help balance and reduce stress. Trust in God is a vital component of health … the opposite of faith is fear, and contained in fear are stress, anxiety, worry, depression, doubt and unbelief.

I have written a book called Fully Persuaded Faith. The book is designed to help Christians develop and walk in Abraham-type faith.

2. Quit Eating Like the Rest of the Culture

If you want to get healthier, age slower, and have a strong immune system, eating a healthy diet is mandatory. Get rid of dairy, limit meat and when you do eat meat, make sure its organic. Stop eating refined sugar, reduce dramatically processed foods, and get rid of all the pesticide laden, poorly processed flour products. Most of the food people seem to gravitate towards today is NOT REAL FOOD. Say no to the Standard American Diet, and eat more like God intended.

Make a decision to eat more organic or wild-picked plant-based foods … greens rule! Green are the most nutritious food on the planet.

To get more greens, veggies and healthy food into your diet, make a green smoothie daily. It will change your life. Have a real salad with dinner or for dinner. A rainbow of color salad with romaine, kale, spinach, cilantro, sprouts, onion, grated carrot, or beet, avocado, and the list go on.

Diet … Immune Boosting and Anti-Inflammatory Foods

Below are a few suggestion for immune boosting foods:

Green Leafy Vegetables

Greens contain protein and numerous health building nutrients.

Broccoli and other Cruciferous Vegetables

Broccoli contains sulforaphane, a chemical compound which has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Eat an array of cruciferous veggies … Brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, etc. These are power packed foods!

Raw Cacao … Real Chocolate!

Real chocolate helps you fight inflammation. It has a high concentration of flavonoids. Regular consumption of small doses of dark chocolate may reduce inflammation. But it doesn’t stop there …

Real chocolate that has not be altered with sugar and dairy is a health food. When you eat chocolate with diary, such as milk chocolate or having a glass of milk with chocolate, or chocolate milk or ice cream … you just destroyed the benefits … that’s right, dairy neutralizes the benefits of chocolate.

Personally, I use organic raw cacao powder and make my own dark chocolates … low sugar and they are delicious … see recipe.

Ginger

Known as one of the healthiest spices, ginger is rich in bioactive compounds that are beneficial to your body, gut, and brain. I purchase fresh ginger root as the Asian market … fresher and alot less costly than grocery stores. I cut off a couple inches and add it to our smoothies. I also use it when making green juices.

Onions

Onions contain quercetin … have this anti-inflammatory properties.

Beets

The anti-inflammatory activity of beets reduces the production of cytokines, thus, inhibiting inflammatory reactions. Also is great for blood and arterial function.

Peppers

Not green, but red, orange, and yellow peppers and chili peppers contain antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds.

Omega 3 Foods

The omega-3 fatty acids include EPA and DHA … they reduce inflammation. Found in chia and flaxseed, walnuts, hemp seed, and wild caught salmon, not farm salmon. You can also get a daily dose by taking an omega 3, EPA and DHA rich algae supplement.

Healthy Oils

Virgin olive oil contains various phenolic compounds that exert anti-inflammatory actions. Personally, we use coconut oil and olive oil. I prefer to get most of my oil/fat from foods like avocado, nuts, and seeds rather than from bottled oil whenever possible. Plus, I am not a fan of heating oils … oils go rancid with exposure to heat, air and light.

Blueberries, and more Berries!

Organic blueberries contain anthocyanins, which are widely known as powerful antioxidants. But not just blueberries, eat a variety of berries, including organic strawberries, black and raspberries! Personally, we buy frozen organic blueberries and strawberries at Costco, and add them every morning to our green breakfast smoothie.

Avocado

The polyhydroxylated fatty alcohols (PFAS), polysterols, and flavonoids found in avocado are anti-inflammatory in nature. I include avocado in my smoothies and add to salads. Having the healthy fat actually helps absorb fat soluble vitamins found in other foods I use in smoothies and salads.

Psst … try avocado, raw cacao powder, half of frozen banana, a couple dates or date paste, in a small amount of coconut or almond milk, blend in a vitamix and walla, you’ve got a great, smooth in texture, chocolate pudding!!!

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is now well-known for its ability to help you cut inflammation in the body, and it reduces blood sugar. I add some to our smoothie every morning.

Green Tea

Green tea contains polyphenols, particularly EGCG which has anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. Green tea can also reduce the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Turmeric

Turmeric is the most popular and powerful spice of all. It contains Curcumin … an antioxidant in turmeric that is responsible for its anti-inflammatory properties. This is must use spice. But not all products are the same, this is true of food products, supplements and powders. You must know what you are buying, otherwise you could just be throwing you money down a hole, and can actually be harming you instead of improving you.

Right now I’m trying a turmeric product called Smarter Turmeric … its had alot of great testimonies from users.

The above are a few ideas, but don’t stop with these … chlorella and spirulina are loaded with chlorophyll, protein, and so much more, as well as they are detoxifiers. You can get these and so much more in superfood powders.

Super Foods Powders

I love the powders I use … they contain a vast array of superfoods, protein, etc. For more information, Click Here

David Cooley
Certified Health Consultant
Author

David spent over 27 years in the mortgage/real estate business. But 33 years ago, God re-directed his life and placed in him a passion for natural health and the prevention of disease. Today, David is a certified health consultant, and for the last 33 years has lived a natural food lifestyle and discovered simple, key components for living a lifestyle of health and vitality. One of the early things David realized is that disease was NOT the result of a drug deficiency. And that everything we think, say, and consume or are exposed to in some manner or another either supports our cellular structures or causes them to age faster and breakdown.

David believes there is nothing more important than to live within God’s blueprint for one’s life. Each of us has been given specific gifts, talents, and purpose that are to be lived out on a foundation of faith in Him and His Word.

“It saddens me to see people suffering, frustrated, or discouraged with life … and fall into the rut of living, unable to reach their full potential: spiritually, emotionally, physically, and financially. I think it’s also a travesty in this country people that are not educated in personal health care, nor in how to protect their privacy, assets, and often liberties. God has designed us to live amazing lives, and sometimes it just helps to find someone who will come alongside us and provide the hope and direction needed at that moment. It’s about bringing together your personal and business aspirations into a balanced vision for your life, aligned with His Word.“

“Bottom line, what balance do you need to bring to your life, what type of life do you desire to create that enables you to be all you can be and live a life with no regret – a life that produces a faithful servant?”

To learn more about David, go to Image What Could Be.

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