It’s that time of year again – the kids are in school, the leaves have turned and the drug companies are blitzing the airwaves with ads to get your flu shot. Whether or not you decide to do so, there are many natural ways to boost your immune system and significantly reduce your risk of getting sick and/or staying sick.
Boost your Vitamin D Levels
Almost everyone in the upper Midwest has low vitamin D levels. Our clinic, located in Wisconsin, has tested hundreds of people and only a handful had adequate vitamin D levels (and they were all supplementing with at least 4000 IU/day of vitamin D3). If you are not supplementing, your levels are most likely quite low. If you’re not sure, we have testing that can be done, please contact us for details.
For supplementation, we offer two easy options:
Bio-D Mulsion Forte – 1 drop twice daily (each drop contains 2000 IU of vitamin D3) with meals
Iso-D3 – 1 tablet twice daily with meals (please contact us to purchase)
Feed the Good Bugs
Everyone has billions of microorganisms (‘bugs’) that live inside their gastrointestinal tract that are intricately involved in your immune function. Imbalances in these bacteria can dramatically impact your immune status. Eat foods that promote the good ‘bugs’ like yogurt, kefir, fermented foods, fresh and cooked vegetables, beans, peas and lentils; and avoid foods that feed the bad ‘bugs’ like sugar, white flour products, alcohol, soda and trans-fats. In addition, taking a probiotic (‘good bugs’) can help make up for any deficits; we recommend Ortho Biotic – 1 capsule 1-2x/day on an empty stomach.
Take Supplemental Support to Boost Your Immune System
Research has shown that the immune system benefits from adequate amounts of vitamin C and zinc. In addition, recent research has shown that certain mushroom extracts help the body identify and destroy foreign invaders (viruses and bacteria), keeping you healthier.
From October through April everyone at our clinic uses a product called ImmuCore on a daily basis (1 tablet 3x/day with meals). As you can imagine, we see a LOT of ill people on any given day and if we are sick, we can’t help very many people get well.
Doing these three things won’t guarantee you won’t get sick, but the research shows that it will drastically reduce the frequency, intensity, and duration of whatever Mother Nature throws our way this cold and flu season. And that’s something we can all benefit from!
