What common sense AND solid research tells us:

• Get plenty of sleep, 7-9 hours of quality sleep (hint- go to bed early)
• Handle stress daily through meditation, prayer, journaling, exercise, etc.
• Move your body every day, ideally outdoors (but not to exhaustion)
• Find joy and laughter often throughout the day
• Chiropractic adjustments to reduce stress and balance your neuro-immune system

Foods and supplements that support your immune system (not a complete list):

• Vitamin D3, during the winter months and esp. now. Adults in Vermont need 1000 or even 5-10,000 IU/day. It’s impossible to get enough from our food and we get little from the sun in the winter
• Vitamin A, 5000 IU/day, or Beta-carotene the precursor to Vit. A, found in orange, red and green veggies
• Vit. C – 1000mg/day and vitamin C-rich foods (fresh fruits and veggies)
• Probiotics and fermented foods that contain live bacteria (sauerkraut, kimchee or Kombucha)
• Elderberry syrup – 1 tsp. children, 1 T. adults/day
• Fish oils – 1000-4000 mg/day (reduces excessive inflammation)
• Calcium rich foods – green veggies are best (dairy products are not, they are a net drain of calcium). Your white blood cells (WBC) need calcium to respond to an infection
• Mushrooms, esp. shitake and mitaki
• Timed eating: do not eat for 14 consecutive hrs, eat the remaining 10 hrs. of the day

Foods and behaviors that reduce your immune response:

• Stress & fear (deal with it daily – prayer, meditation journaling, exercise)
• Sugar and foods that convert rapidly to sugar (foods above a glycemic index of 55)
• Inflammatory foods (breads, fried food, grain-fed protein, Omega-6 oils, to name a few)
• Alcohol in all of its forms
• Over-eating
• Being sedentary and exercising to exhaustion (the two extremes)
• Unnecessary antibiotics (ask 2x if your provider is certain you have a bacterial infection)

Important note:

If you do find yourself or a loved one sick, I would strongly recommend that you avoid taking Advil, Ibuprofen and similar drugs (known as NSAIDs), at least at first. These drugs block inflammation. Inflammation is your body’s natural response to injury and infection. Artificially reducing inflammation lowers your response to an infection. Research tells us this PROLONGS illness. This could also make you infectious to others for longer. The foods and supplements listed above help control and reduce unnecessary inflammation.