PREPARING YOUR BODY TO FIGHT!
As winter in Austin heads into the stretch run of cold grey days there is a higher percentage of patients who begin to come in the office saying “Doc, I’m sick. What should I do? What are your recommendations?” Ultimately, it’s best to treat your body well and keep your immune system strong so you can avoid getting ill this winter. Your body is an incredible complex of systems. And your immune system is interactive, totally integrated, and constantly communicating with the other systems of your body. How those systems communicate plays a part in producing you and your current state of health. So, if you do ‘get sick’ and your body’s fighting something, what can you do?
7 Steps to Boosting Your Immune System:
1. No Sugar – It cripples your immune system. Your body uses Vitamin C in your immune system to fuel your white blood cells. It fights colds to cancer sores to cancer. Sugar, or glucose, in the blood stream will compete with Vitamin C to get into your cells. Less Vitamin C in the cells means an impaired ability of the white blood cells to sweep up and kill bacteria. Sugar also robs your body of nutrients like zinc, which is important factor in your body’s ability to fight infection. Sugar suppresses your immune system.
2. Drink Water – It helps to regulate temperature during a fever and it’s critical for all cell functions. Dehydration promotes the production of Histamines, which are the mucus promoters in your body. So dehydration causes mucus, inflammation, and swelling. Whether we are fighting something, whether we are in the best health of our lives. We want to be fully hydrated. All of the time. Best practice for daily requirements of water is to divide your weight in half and drink that number in ounces of water per day.
3. Get Plenty of Rest – The immune system requires a lot of energy to work. When you notice that you’re tired, your appetite is suppressed, and you’re low on energy, your body is diverting energy to your immune system. Instead of taking drugs so you can rush off to work, listen to your body and get some rest. Stay home, stay warm, allow your body to use the energy to feed your immune system, and get healthy.
4. Eat Simply – Your energy needs to go to your immune system, not your digestive system, when you’re fighting something. Stay away from pro-inflammatory foods, your dairy, your gluten, your wheat and refined grains. They promote mucus build up and inflammation. Eat plenty of whole foods, like vegetables which are loaded with water and the phytonutrients your body needs. And if you’re only going to eat a small amount of food, make sure it’s nutrient dense food that will bring energy and life into your system.
5. Boost Your Supplements – Supplements are supplemental, not a replacement. They should not replace healthy foods. However, they help because our lives are fast, stress is greater than ever, and it’s hard to get all the foods we need in our diet every day.
a. Whole food supplement – for multivitamins
b. Probiotic – to replenish the normal bacteria in your gut
c. Omega 3 Fatty Acids (Fish Oil) – decreases inflammation and builds up the immune system
d. Vitamin D – it’s critical to your immune response. Get sunlight, spend time outside, or supplement with a natural source.
e. Zinc – great for the upper respiratory tract and fighting infections.
6. Let Your Body Fight – Your immune system will get stronger and smarter if you let your body fight. If you interfere and suppress it because it’s more important for you to be comfortable rather than healthy, your body will get weaker and dumber.
7. Chiropractic Adjustments – Nerve irritation suppresses your immune function. Specific Chiropractic adjustments decrease nerve irritation, restore balance in your body, and restore your parasympathetic (rest and repair) state. Adjustments increase your white blood cell count; it’s measurable. Chiropractic patients have been shown to have a 200% greater immune competence than people not under chiropractic care. Getting adjusted boosts your immune system.
What kind of body are you building? How you live your life, the choices that you make everyday, will determine the health and vitality of your systems, including your immune system. Every single decision we make in our life will either move us closer towards health or move us closer towards sickness, disease, and death. What choices will you make to boost your immune function AND your health?
“Watching Your back,”
Your Health Coach,
Dr. Ross Coccimiglio
Monday
7:00 am - 12:00 pm
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Tuesday
7:00 am - 12:00 pm
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Wednesday
7:00 am - 12:00 pm
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Thursday
7:00 am - 12:00 pm
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Friday
7:00 am - 12:00 pm
Saturday
8:00 am - 1:00 pm
Sunday
Closed
Four Points Family Chiropractic
10815 Ranch Rd 2222 Bldg 3C, Ste 100
Austin, TX 78730