By Thomas Sellers Jr.
For the record, I am not pro-vaccine.
Nor am I an anti-vaxer. I fit into an often ignored category. I am a part of ISBA, the Immune System Boosters of America.
No, it’s not a group focusing on taking over the counter products like Airborne or gummies. We are a group of people who have been taking vitamins and exercising prior to March 2020. We trust in our routine and regiment to keep us healthy and strong.
If it becomes a mandate to take the vaccine, we believe our already strong immune systems will absorb the medicine in the drug and utilize it to defeat all viruses including COVID.
I have a triple tray of proteins, vitamins and supplements I take each day to hit the gym and attack my job at full strength. I realize over the past year and half, those nutritions are helping me fight whatever is in the air these days.
The immune system protects your body from outside invaders like COVID-19. It also fights against bacterias, other familiar foes like the cold and flu, , fungi, and toxins (chemicals produced by microbes). Our immune systems are made up of different organs, cells, and proteins that work together.
So let’s give the team a boost with these 10 ways to strength your immune system.
10. Maintain a healthy weight
We come in different shapes and sizes. So a healthy weight is what your joints can handle, what allows you to function normally and what your heart accepts allowing you not to have high blood pressure or diabetes.
Keep your body moving and keep your weight at a manageable limit. If you do that, your organs won’t have to work so hard to do the basics to keep you alive. Giving it more time and energy to fight off any foreign invaders.
9. No smoking
I am not the Surgeon General, but here is a familiar warning: smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.
Got it? So put down the cancer sticks and other tobacco products until we get this pandemic under control. I don’t need your second-hand smoke jeopardizing my immune system either. There are good germs but cigarette smoke ain’t one of them.
8. Diet with fruits and vegetables
Before summer calls it quits in a few weeks, head out to a farmer’s market and grab some freshly grown fruits and veggies. Try to enjoy your vegetables raw to take full advantage of the nutrients. Time your eating of fruit to get good sugars in the morning and some energy after work.
Fruit and vegetables are a good source of vitamins and minerals in any diet. Some of the best benefits from fruits and veggies are foliate, vitamin C and potassium.
Fruits and veggies are also a source of dietary fiber, which can help to maintain a healthy gut and prevent constipation and other digestion problems. If the body is naturally dumping out waste, that means a lot of bad stuff is leaving your body. That gives your immune system a healthy setting to operate.
7. Alcohol in moderation
I recently purchased a pint of brandy so I can make hot toddies for me and the Mrs. this upcoming winter. And I keep red wine nearby for it’s health benefits. These beverages will last me months or even years because I drink alcohol in moderation.
Moderate alcohol consumption provides health benefits like reducing your risk of developing and dying of heart disease. Also a little alcohol will reduce your risk of ischemic stroke (when the arteries to your brain become narrowed or blocked, causing severely reduced blood flow). It can assist with reducing the negative effects of diabetes. And it can also reduce stress levels.
6. Minimize stress
Speaking of stress, it is a silent killer. Stress is like a steroid to bad things in your body or going on with your body. Our jobs, lives and uncontrollable factors will have us pulling out our hair. We’re ready to pop battling the everyday struggles of life.
It is easier said than done to say minimize stress. But we must during a global pandemic.
Keep allowing stress to pull you down and you might die from COVID-19 and other classics like heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, obesity, diabetes, headaches, depression/anxiety, gastrointestinal issues and even Alzheimer’s disease.
Please find ways to relax and relieve your stress.
5. Exercise Regularly
One way I release stress is by hitting the gym regularly. From an upper body routine to leg day, I feel so much better when I got a good sweat. I love the atmosphere and challenge of pushing my body to new extremes.
Just like smoking, the list for the benefits of exercise are cliché at this point. Immediate benefits like the release of dopamine, weight management, reducing health risks, building muscles, strengthening bones, improving physical skills and living longer.
Part of that long life if fighting off old and new diseases.
A big part of my gym family at 901 Fitness are the Silver Sneakers. Most of them are in the high risk range of COVID-19. They are benefiting from all those years of working out. They still put all the young people to shame and will hold a conversation with you. Of course about 6-feet a part.
4. Hang around people
Learning from my sage seniors, I realized another way to keep your immune system strong is being around the elements. From visiting Shelby Farms, Aycock Park, Freeman Park and Centennial Park in Tipton County, I also engage people.
If your body gets just enough interaction with others, it won’t go into DEFCON 6 when a virus pops up. You need a balance of normal, everyday life to keep the immune system strong. That doesn’t mean sweating on others, licking germs off another person or neglecting proper hygiene.
3. Wash your hands
One of the best forms of hygiene is washing your hands. Since the pandemic, businesses, churches and even homes are full of hot water, soap and hand sanitizes. Your hands are the keepers of the gate. Rub your eyes and you just introduced all that bacteria to your body.
So please remember the four basic tips of washing your hands. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap. Next lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Step three is scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Try to get as close as possible. Then rinse your hands with running water until clean.
2. Go to sleep
As a child, you want to stay up all night and play games. Watching TV is more important than a good night’s rest. By your 30s, you schedule naps and will slap someone who interrupts your slumber.
Sleep is you precious and awesome. It is the way to rejuvenate the body and help it fight the ills out there. Get a good amount of sleep, get sick less often and maintain that healthy weight.
You also lower your risk of health problems, like diabetes and heart disease. Plus sleep makes you nicer to people limiting stress to you and others.
We can’t wait until COVID is under control and we can get back to being near each other comfortably. Remember sleep plays a part in the recovery and us being nice to each other once this virus is neutralized.
1. Take Beet Root Powder
I discovered a new weapon in the fight for good immune health about a year ago. I take daily beat root extract or beet root powder. Simple it helps your blood stay strong to fight off anything.
Beet root is great for heart health, healthy blood pressure, and circulation of your blood. It helps pumps oxygen into the body and blood stream.
You will see a difference with your increased stamina, endurance, energy and recovery because your blood flow is better. If you working out more, you are maintaining all those other ways of boosting your immune system above.
Beet root extract is a nutrition. Beet juice is a source of calcium, iron, and potassium. All three minerals are important to keep your body healthy and in good shape. Beet powder contains the essential minerals iron, potassium, and magnesium.
We need natural allies in the fight against COVID or any virus. Remember viruses have been here since the beginning of time. And God has given natural ways to survive this long. And that was just 10 ways right there.
THOMAS SELLERS JR. is the editor of The Millington Star and both the sports editor and a weekly personal columnist for West 10 Media/Magic Valley Publishing. Contact him by phone at (901) 433-9138, by fax to (901) 529-7687 and by email to [email protected].
