Fortifying Your Immune System for Fall

We are close to that time of year where we will get a media barrage of flu shot propaganda. Take a look at September’s newsletter: in it you will find a piece talking about the hype behind the flu vaccine. We aren’t alone in believing that the flu shot is probably more hype than it is worth.

However, it is close to the season where you will be at greater risk of coming down with a cold. So what is the best way to prepare? There are a couple of strategies that could help keep you and your family from catching a cold.

1. Keep it practical

Washing your hands after being public places is some of the most common sense advice you can give. Avoid touching stairwell hand rails, escalators, public computers – anywhere where copious amounts of fingers have access. If you do go out in public, keep your hands clean, and always wash them before you eat. It is best to avoid the circulated air of close environments. This isn’t always an option, which leads us to the next strategy:

2. Supplement

There are a couple supplements that will help fortify your immune system. Probiotics are a good place to start; probiotics are the good guy bacteria lining the gut. They can often get thrown out of balance because of antibiotics, poor diet, stress, alcohol, etc. Replacing them keeping your gut flora vibrant is a great way to keep your immune system strong. Anne Louise Gittleman says that good health begins and ends with the gut. Keeping a healthy flora will help keep your immune system strong.

Beta glucan is also an excellent choice. Beta Glucan is an immune system modulator; it primes your system to do what it is designed to do best. Frank Jordan of the NSC company has a wonderful, well researched product. Try it out this fall and see if you don’t stay well.

3. Diet

This is perhaps the most critical part, because the other strategies hinge on the strength of your diet. Diet (followed closely by exercise) is the key factor in determining wellness. Without a clean diet – and one would be remiss to not recommend a Kaufmann 1 diet – the aforementioned strategies lose quite a bit of potency. Try sticking as close to a Kaufmann 1 diet as you can this fall.

If you should happen to get sick, remember that antibiotics are designed to fight bacteria, not viruses. If you come down with the flu, taking an antibiotic might not be the best strategy. As always, you should heed your doctor’s advice. But make sure that whatever they prescribe is absolutely necessary. Often, resting for a few days, eating a clean diet and drinking plenty of pure water are enough to give your body what it needs to fight off infection. The human body is an amazing machine; if you give it what it needs it will thrive.
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