Live Right Now - Episode 019 – Building Immunity Make your body an inhospitable host for the Flu season The sugar season is here! It’s also the Flu Season! From Halloween to news year day…we binge. Dehydration, stress, less sleep, more alcohol, less sunlight, less exercise, eating more crappy, sugary food than usual. No wonder we get sick!! Your department of defense (DOD) needs you to provide weapons. Your immune system is your body’s version of the military: sworn to defend against all who threaten it, both foreign and domestic.  Truth-Natural forces within are the true healers. Your immune system works hard to protect you every day, but there are things you can do to help it out: Your immune system protects against disease, infection.  Sugar Is A Real Immune System Destroyer Sugar sucks and is a Human toxin-1960’s Bribed physicians reported that fat not sugar cased disease. Liar, liar pant on fire! Foods high in sugar tend to be devoid of nutrients, further hampering immune function which depends on vitamins, minerals and enzymes to function Princeton University- sugar can be physically addictive. Hits your brain like crack.  Sends a message to the brain, activating the its reward system.  Sugar has a similar effect on your brain to hanging out with friends, sex, and even drugs. Sugar reduces your white blood cells’ ability to kill pathogens in the body. In fact, 100 grams of sugar – about the equivalent found in 1 medium-sized soda bottle – can reduce the ability of white blood cells to kill microorganisms by 40%.   Other diseases: Sugar promotes obesity.  Sugar promotes heart disease. too much sugar tends to have higher blood triglycerides, and this increases the risk of cardiovascular disease Sugar promotes diabetes by increases pancreatic secretion of insulin,  The impact on immune function occurs within 30 minutes of ingestion, and lasts up to 10 hours (Sanchez, 1973). Sugar competes with vitamin C for absorption into white blood cells.  Sleep If you’re not getting more than 5 hours of sleep a night, your immune system can become depressed, just like you. This leaves you open to colds, flu, and infection.  Sunshine Take a walk. Or D-3. Exposure to sunlight is how your body naturally produces vitamin D. This helps ward off depression, heart disease, and certain cancers. A fair-skinned person only needs about 10 minutes on a sunny day to get all the vitamin D they need. However, too much sun can cause temporary damage to your immune. Remember some sun is good, but you need to protect your skin when you plan to spend time outside.  Stress, Fear, Anger Your immune system is ready for anything you can throw at it. But it can only handle so much. During stress, a series of events release cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones from the adrenal gland. Together they help your body cope with stress.  Deep breathing exercises Focus on the breath. Excessive Alcohol Excessive alcohol can damage the immune system because the alcohol will prevent nutrients from feeding your immune system. Alcohol will reduce the white blood cell count in the body. The lower the number of white blood cells, the more difficult it is to fight off disease.     The “Plant-based” solutions. Elderberry syrup or tincture Probiotics, alkaline ACV, D-3, hydration, sleep. Hydrate with water, not diet coke or sports drinks Eating more fresh RAW fruits and vegetables is a great way to get immune boosting benefits from Vitamin C and other phytonutrients found in fresh raw foods.  Dark greens like kale and spinach contain beta carotene and Vitamin E that help your body fend off cold and flu infections. Fresh red and pink produce like tomatoes, strawberries and pink grapefruit are especially high in Vitamin C. Citrus Fruits: However, it is common knowledge vitamin C provided by citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, tangerines, and clementine’s contain antioxidants that can help prevent a cold before it happens.  Get a good