Immunity – More then just Vitamin C
Vitamin C is one of the most commonly known about winter immunity remedies. However when wanting to look after your immune system this winter, there’s a few more factors to consider other then just popping your daily dose of Vitamin C.
We often think we get sick due to a season change, getting cold or being run down. Really all these things shouldn’t matter too much if our immune systems are fighting fit. In fact getting the occasional yearly cold isn’t bad, it’s the frequency and how fast we recover which are key points to note. Where we talk about the immune system, we talk about the gut.
The gut is super important when wanting to boost our immunity as around 80% of our immune system resides in the gut due to the presence of the bacteria that live there.
One of my favourite sayings is ‘If you listen when your body whispers, you won’t have to hear it scream. Symptoms are your bodies whispers, so where is your body telling you it needs some attention?
Is you gut out of balance?
When our gut isn’t functioning optimally, we can experience a number of systems, these may include:
- Digestive discomfort e.g. bloating, gas, cramping and/or pain
- Reflux/ indigestion
- Constipation and/or diarrhea
- Skin issues e.g. eczema, acne, dermatitis or psoriasis
- Allergies such as hay fever or chronic sinus
- Brain fog, low energy or mood disturbances
- Sleep issues
- Hormone imbalance
These are possible indications that your gut may be functioning sub-optimally and therefore could be playing a role in reducing your immune function.
What can I do?
In order to get your gut in balance and working well for you, addressing the underlying issues leading to the symptoms is the first step.
Stress is a major playing in the development of gut issues. When the body is stressed, digestion is hindered, this is due to the body prioritising coping with the stress. Energy is taken away from digestive function, limiting digestive acid and enzymes responsible for the breakdown and absorption of nutrients from food. This leads to undigested food particles being present in the gut and passing through the gut wall (leaky gut) causing inflammation, food sensitivities and an imbalance in gut bacteria – this is where the immune function is affected.
Poor quality foods such as a diet high in processed and refined foods can upset digestive function due to the low quality ingredients found in these foods which are hard for the body to recognise and digest. Eating a diet rich with natural foods, as close to the earth as possible are not only easier for the body to recognise and digest, but also contain a far more beneficial nutrients which help build a strong immune system.
Practice mindful eating. When you eat, create an environment/ setting which facilites good digestion such as not eating on the run, rather sitting down to eat, chewing food properly, avoiding drinking fluids while eating which dilute digestive acids and cooking and preparing your food from scratch – digestion begins with food preparation.
The function of the gut plays a huge role in our immune function, and gut related imbalances are incredibly common. It is our individual responsibility to pick up on these ques of imbalance, to take control and make improvements for our health and wellness today, and into the future.
