An unstable immune system may have a significant effect both on your health and your weight. An immune system that’s constantly overworked and activated, never being allowed to break, will inevitably lead to long-term inflammation and an over production of stress hormones, and if you are trying to drop weight and improve your wellbeing, these factors can hinder that process and might actually lead to you gaining weight and seeing a decline in your health.
Immunity
Likewise, a suppressed immune system may allow bacterial and viral infections to take hold in a person’s body, which is also a significant strain on the body and could possibly result in weight gain, along with long-term health issues, if not addressed quickly. In this column I’ll be focusing on the latter, suppressed immune activity, and what could be done to give it a helping hand. During the winter months our bodies are more vulnerable to colds and the flu because of cold temperatures, which dampen our immune activity and reduce the amount of immune cells.
By eating a careful choice of herb, spices, and foods, we could help reverse this resistant dampening effect and cause stronger immune activity in our body. When our bodies our vulnerable to prolonged periods of cold, as a protective measure to maintain our vital organs, the mind and it’s functions living, our bodies will limit the flow of blood to the extremities, in an effort to help preserve body heat for our vital organs and the mind. Unfortunately, this restriction also reduces the supply of white blood cells (which are the cells of our immune system), which makes us somewhat defenceless against bacteria and viral assault.
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Including fresh root ginger and cinnamon daily to the diet can help offset this impact. E.g. adding ginger to curry dish or a smoothie, sprinkling cinnamon on fruit salad, etc.. The reason why this is beneficial is because ginger and cinnamon stimulate blood flow, thus having a heating effect on the human body and halting the requirement for it to limit the circulation of blood.
In the winter months are vitamin D levels decrease (as vitamin D is synthesised in the skin in the presence of sunlight, which there’s less of during winter) and vitamin D is necessary to be able to mount a sufficient immune reaction. Oily fish is the most abundant source of vitamin D and will help maintain vitamin D levels. The inclusion of good excellent fatty fish three times a week should include salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines and herring.
Final note
For vegetarians, vitamin D may also be acquired by eating maitake and/or portabella mushrooms. One of the world oldest medications, dating back 10,000 years, garlic is a leading contender when it comes to combating pathogenic bugs within the body, as it has several protective advantages, including being a highly effective antimicrobial (meaning that it kills or inhibits the growth of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and yeasts). You can directly benefit from this wholesome herb when cooking, with the addition of garlic at the end of cooking rather than at the start, which will indicate that its health benefits will not be destroyed during the procedure.
