Transformation Station - Healthy at Home & Abroad
A Holistic Approach to Strengthening Your Immune System: in The Time of COVID- 19 and Winter Flu Season
Research has proven diet and lifestyle changes can improve health. With that said , reducing inflammation through the foods you eat supports the immune system which in turn is a preventative measure for reducing the risk of illness. With viral infections, making the appropriate changes could offset the severity and lasting negative effects from an illness.
By evaluating your current diet and lifestyle you can reduce your risks from acute viral infections and possible long term and permanent damage to your health.
There are 5 areas of your life which could help strengthen and improve your overall health
giving you greater stamina and resistance to Covid-19 and the winter flu season.
Nutrition
Identifying Stress, Stress Reduction/Management
Social Activities & Connections
Exercise/Body Movement
Sleep
Nutrition
Food as Medicine is very important in understanding how making the appropriate dietary changes can help downregulate an overactive immune response. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Aim for 9-13 servings per day of a variety of types for a wide array of phytonutrients to enhance the gut microbiome. Consume 28-35 grams daily from freshwholefoods. Consumedailyprobioticsorprobioticfoodsintheformoffermented vegetables to build and maintain optimal gut function. Reduce or avoid immune offenders such as added sugars and salt, high-glycemic foods (including processed carbohydrates), and excessive saturated fat.
By following these suggestions for daily food and nutrition input it makes active the ability of food-derived compounds to reduce viral infection and severity by:
● Balancing inflammatory pathways.
● Reducing oxidative stress and increasing antioxidant levels.
● Balancing the gut microbiome.
Inflammation and your immune system responses often occur together in a viral infection. It is recommended to lower your inflammation risk to avoid eating a Westernized diet and shift towards a balanced diet resembling the Meditteranean diet consisting of fresh, preferably organic, Reducing or omitting foods that negatively impact the inflammatory cascade—such as those containing added sugars, salt, or trans fats, as well as those that have a high glycemic index or excessive amounts of saturated fats—would be helpful in lessening the overall inflammatory burden.
In conjunction with avoiding foods that provoke inflammation, increasing foods with known anti-inflammatory effects may be beneficial. These include plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, and legumes, which contain phytonutrients shown to have anti-inflammatory effects such as polyphenols and flavonoids. If you are eating an inflammatory meal, by adding plant-based foods can help to offset the damage done by the meal.
To alleviate oxidative stress, it is important to consider a double fold approach in order to reduce food-derived oxidative compounds and fortify the body’s reserves of antioxidants. You may need to adjust your food preparations. In protecting and strengthening your immune system - grilling, frying and broiling can inflame immune cells! Cookingfoodsatlowertemperatureandusingmoistmethodsoffoodpreparation such as boiling and steaming are preferable. Studies have shown that high heat preparations lower insulin sensitivity, omega- 3 , vitamin C and E levels. Both antioxidant-rich, nutrient-dense foods in the daily diet, such as those from plants, may be a helpful measure for crowding out nutrient-depleted foods and reducing oxidative injury. Antioxidants can be vitamins or phytonutrients that are water-soluble (e.g., vitamin C) or fat-soluble in nature. The food categories with the lowest antioxidants are fats/oils, meat, poultry, fish/seafood and eggs. The following foods are some of the highest in antioxidants:
● Spices/herbs ● Nuts/seeds ● Chocolate
● Vegetables
Healthy gut microbiome is essential for a healthy immune system. The gastrointestinal tract harbors a majority of immune system activity, it is essential to keep it nourished with the necessary nutrients.
Fermented foods such as unsweetened yogurt, kefir, kimchi, miso, and sauerkraut can provide microorganisms that can help with immune response and even reduce the incidence and duration of respiratory infections. Lactic acid, which is a byproduct of fermentation, has been shown to reduce pathogen growth in the oral cavity, oropharynx, and esophagus. Specific strains of microorganisms may impact specific viruses and may be important for improving immune function.
A common thread throughout the mechanisms related to immunity relates to the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and gut-balancing effects of plant-based foods. Specifically, plant foods contain thousands of phytonutrients, which have been categorized into phytonutrient families. One of the groups of plant compounds shown to be helpful for immunity is polyphenols, a category consisting of more than 8,000 different compounds such as flavonoids (e.g., isoflavones and anthocyanins) and non-flavonoids . These phenolic compounds are found in plant foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains. On a physiological level, they can
serve as foodstuff for the gut microbiome, resulting in the metabolic production of favorable metabolites for an optimal immune system.
What is key for immunity is not just ensuring the intake of plant-based foods in the diet but getting a diverse blend of plant compounds for the gut microbiome. “The more diverse the diet, the more diverse the microbiome and the more adaptable it will be to perturbations.” The gut microflora can be modified through dietary components and, ultimately, significantly impact markers of metabolic health that relate to inflammation.
After several studies, some may contend that meeting daily servings of fruits and vegetables is sufficient; however, a study in healthy women suggests that diversity is a major factor. The higher diversity diet resulted in a significant decrease in DNA oxidation specifically. As a general guideline, it has been suggested to optimize your immune system by consuming 50 unique, plant-based foods in a week.
Stress Reduction & Management
Both acute and chronic stress can result in dysregulated, suppressed immune function. Under these conditions, susceptibility to illness is more likely. Monitoring stress levels through biofeedback markers such as heart rate variability (HRV) may assist in knowing when to implement stress management strategies and in having a means to assess their efficacy, as well in helping to track resilience-building approaches. Practicing stress-modifying techniques on a regular basis using HRV and other modalities can result in greater resilience when confronted with stressors.
It is now well established in the health community that these stress states can significantly alter not just wound healing but make inflammatory immune states such as autoimmune disease, asthma, and allergy, worse. They have also been implicated in the morbidity and mortality seen in diseases of immune dysregulation, including cancer,
HIV, and inflammatory bowel disease. More specifically, chronic stress is associated with increased risk of viral infection like the common cold. It’s fair to conclude that stress affects both respiratory disease susceptibility and severity.
Due to the chronically elevated baseline of stress that most people have and fail to recognize because they have become accustomed to higher levels over time , it is helpful to have assessments that gauge stress level. Stress reduction and/or management has been shown to reduce infection and the severity of infection. There are several mind-body practices such as yoga, meditation, mindfulness, tai chi, qigong, relaxation response, and breath regulation result in favorable gene expression patterns that benefit immune regulation.
Sleep
Due to its restorative and regulatory abilities, sleep has a major influence on immune function and inflammatory signals. Getting good quality, sufficient quantity (seven to eight hours) and adequate deep uninterrupted sleep is of utmost importance as part of immune maintenance, as well as during times of recovery from illness. For optimal health, practice good sleep, hygiene, and maintain consistent sleep hours by turning off screens, ensuring the room is cool, quiet, and dark, and setting reminders to go to bed on time.
Exercise & Body Movement
Moderate, regular physical activity helps the immune system function by raising levels of infection-fighting white blood cells and antibodies, increasing circulation, and decreasing stress hormones. A personalized exercise program can be designed even during homestay by utilizing features in one’s home environment, including apps, the internet, and technology, or by taking the opportunity to experience the calming,
immune-supportive effects of being in nature (while, at the same time, social distancing).
Physical activity provides the movement the body needs to oxygenate, circulate blood and nutrients, and eliminate waste from cells, all of which are essential to the function of the immune system. In addition to the blood vessels delivering blood to organ systems, the lymphatic system, present largely in the neck, armpits, and groin, plays a big role in the transport of immune factors. Indeed, the social distancing and homestay that has been recommended by many states and nations may invariably disrupt people’s activity schedules and lead to more sedentary behavior, such as more screen time or sitting, reclining, or being stationary, which could further negatively impact immune activity.
Research has shown that a single bout of physical activity can stimulate immune function due to the rapid cellular changes that take place but regular exercise is much more robust in its effects on immunity. Due to the constraints brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, exercise may need to be adjusted to fit a home-based schedule. Suggestions include stretching, walking in nature, stair climbing, chair squats, and even simple yoga poses since they require no equipment. “Some activity is better than none, and more is better than less,” seems to be particularly relevant during these times of quarantine and the resulting risk of increased sedentary lifestyle. Ideally, 30 minutes of physical activity every day, or a total of 150 minutes weekly, should serve as a guideline for most people.
Social Activities & Connections
Social connections are important to consider and evaluate with patients as part of their health status. In some cases, interactions with others will be supportive, and in other instances, there may be conflict or stress. For immune health, the focus should be on reducing exposure to interactions perceived as hostile and non-supportive and, at the same time, on emphasizing and encouraging time with others who are positive or affirming. For those people who may be lonely or isolated, such as the elderly, as well as those who may be at increased risk of immune compromise, providing ideas for regular social connection may be helpful for establishing a routine. Ideas might include participating virtually in local community events or in a religious or spiritual group.
Social relationships are a significant determinant of immune health. The absence of these essential relationships, collectively referred to as social isolation, loneliness, bereavement, and/or conflict, has been implicated in the upregulation of proinflammatory processes and reduced immune functionality For those who are socially isolated have heightened response to stressors. Older individuals may be particularly at risk for the effects of loneliness if their immune system is already compromised.
The opposite of social isolation is to have support and connection, which can come through a variety of means, such as family and friends, community, and spiritual or religious practices. Overall, research indicates that individuals who feel this sense of interconnection, either horizontally with other people or vertically through a sense of something greater than themselves.
Lifestyle modifications can be an effective means to help you regain your locus of control during times of uncertainty like those experienced in a pandemic. Substantial research indicates that certain dietary patterns and lifestyle patterns offer viable options for improving overall health, especially by reducing inflammation. The anti-inflammatory effects of foods and aspects of how you choose to live may, in turn, favorably influence and support the immune system function as a preventative measure for reducing the risk of illness. Furthermore, in the case of (viral) infection, implementing these changes could significantly offset the severity and long lasting injury incurred from illness.