Building Strong Immunity
Boosting your immunity by adopting the following principles is easy.
As you will know, Phytonutrients come from a plants own immune system and are helpful for our own healing. The best known of these being antioxidants; Phytonutrients can be found in all plant foods.
It is essential to give your body excellent daily nutrition to keep your immune system healthy and strong. Nutritional deficiencies make it easier for us to be susceptible to viruses and bacteria. Make sure you have a variety of organic wholefoods including grains, beans, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. It is vital to have a balanced macrobiotic/wholefood vegan diet with a variety of ingredients. Bill and I call our approach MACROVegan and it’s our daily mantra to the world.
Today many foods are highly processed and loaded with sugar. These additive rich foods will actually weaken the immune system as will the animal foods, especially dairy which I have already written about. All the foods in my video link here are top notch for building a robust immune system.
Stay Strong
Excessive amounts of raw fruits and juices have a weakening effect on the immune system and should be eaten in moderation and only in hot weather, if at all. It is best to eat the whole fruit.
Add fermented foods such as good-quality miso soup to your diet. A cup every day is what we enjoy. Adding good bacteria to your intestines helps build up your natural defences. A small amount of good-quality pickles (1-2 tablespoons) to each meal is another way of adding good bacteria to your intestinal flora.
The greatest concentration of cells related to our immune system is in our small intestines. The healthy bacteria from fermented foods interact with the cells in our intestines in a way that has been shown to activate our immune system.
Enjoy sweet tasting vegetables such as squash, carrots, cabbage, parsnips and onions. Lightly cooked leafy greens like are also extremely beneficial and we enjoy them three times a day. Sea vegetables also provide important minerals and help to strengthen the immune system.
What Else Can You Do?
There are a number of factors that contribute to the health of your gut microbiome, including your environment, the amount of exercise and sleep you get, and of course, stress. But the number one factor that determines what microbes live in your gut (and which ones die off) is your diet.
As I teach all and sundry… food makes the blood, blood makes the cells, cells make the tissue, tissue makes the organs and here we be….
Getting out into the fresh air can stimulate the immune system cells in lungs and help make our immune system more active. Deep breathing can help as this will also bring more oxygen to our blood. Relaxing exercise will help blood and lymph circulation, making it easier for our immune system to operate and get rid of unwanted bacteria or viruses.
When your desire to change your life to one of health and longevity is strong enough anything is possible and wonders come about at great speed. Without absolute faith and belief in what you are doing you would get nowhere.
This is the art of living, the art of manifestation. - Hydrate, eat plants, exercise, get some sun,
Stay well, take care and go cook some grains and beans – every day should be a day we all Go Vegan
In good health
