Healthy Nutrition

The information I shared last week appeared to be very helpful to many of you, based on the number of hits the site had.  I have additional ways to boost your immune system that I thought you might appreciate.  It is a relief to hear that the health professionals have said that we likely don’t have much to worry about with Swine Flu but what hasn’t been emphasized is:

• Keeping our immune systems strong is our best defense against Swine Flu or any other disease, both from catching the virus in the first place and especially from preventing death.
• There will be more illnesses coming around.  We don’t know if they will come next week or next month or next year.  Of course each year there is a new strain or two of the flu that makes it’s way around.  What about the next “bug” that no one has seen before?

So some additional immune-boosting tips are:

• Have an Echinacea and zinc supplement “standing by” to boost your immune system when you have been exposed to illness or are starting to feel a little run down.  Echinacea is not meant to be consumed every day of every year because our bodies will develop a tolerance.  Instead use if for a couple weeks at a time to give yourself a quick boost then stop taking it again.  Just keep it handy because when you feel like you need it, you don’t want to have to be running around trying to find it.
• Avoid sugar.  I did a post last week on some of the dangers of sugar.  What I didn’t discuss was that sugar is the “anti-nutrient” and it actually depletes your body of vitamins and minerals that are essential for your immune system (like B Vitamins, antioxidants, and zinc).  A side note, based on the number of hits for THAT post, people don’t want to read about the dangers of sugar.  So, I am going to take a lesson from the food industry and rather than outright address sugar, I am going to incorporate my anti-sugar message in places where you wouldn’t expect to find it.  That is what the food industry has done.

In 1900 the average person ate 10 pounds of sugar a year.  In 1985 that was up to 124 pounds per year.  In the year 2000 we reached 160 pounds per year.  When will it stop?  How much sugar do YOU want to consume each year?  How much sugar do you want your kids to consume each year?  I’m not saying to never have sugar.  I had rhubarb crisp as a Mother’s Day dessert with my mom and later I had a chocolate, peanut, and caramel candy last night, two actually.  They were tasty!  I’m suggesting that we be more thoughtful in our sugar intake and reduce BOTH how much we consume and how often we consume it.

• Reduce exposure to toxins.  It is remarkable how many things we have been conditioned to think are actually a good thing are, in fact, dangerous to us.  Everything from air fresheners to having a green and dandelion-free lawn increase our levels of toxic exposure.  The air quality in our homes is 2 – 5 times worse than the outside air, according to the E.P.A.

Some of the top toxins our bodies are battling everyday (in my opinion):

• Household chemicals that touch our skin or that we inhale (cleaners, detergents, etc)
• Pesticide or herbicide foods (most farms that produce our foods use pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides to create “prettier” and more plentiful results then we consume that when we consume our food)
• Artificial, synthetic drugs that we take.  You have probably heard that many of the drugs that are available actually were originally discovered in nature.  And that is true.  What isn’t stressed is that the researchers take the natural component, isolate it, and figure out how to make a synthetic version of it (for two main reasons: 1) They can better control the consistency of dosage with synthetics because natural components vary in their dosage based on water and nutrients in the soil.  2) They can put a patent on a synthetic compound and then sell it for higher profit.  The downside is that there are side-effects for drugs.  Look at the warning labels.  How many of them warn against damage to your liver or all kinds of damages to your stomach or eyesight?  For some of them the cure is worse than the disease.

There is a time and a place for drugs but my belief is that time should be few and far between.  We need to keep our body’s strong and be less reactionary about our health.  We, as Western humans, tend to expect that we can ignore advise about eating healthy and exercising and figure that the medical community can take care of our ailing bodies when that time comes.

There will be more “Immune-Boosting” tips to come!  In the meantime, choose one or two things for yourself that you could see yourself doing that will boost your immunity.

Donna Copeland is an Independent Shaklee Distributor who dislikes seeing other people in pain or hurt.  It is her mission to help make the world a safer and healthier place for all by sharing information about how we can easily impact our health and the health of others and the planet through our consumption choices.  She blogs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays about a variety of health and wellness tips.  You can visit her website at www.DonnaCopeland.MyShaklee.com.  Donna is paid by Shaklee for purchases made through her or her website.