Episode THREE - Real Immunity + What to do to actually protect yourself

SHOW NOTES:

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Now last week I dove deep into stress, fear and the media, it was a big topic and I covered a lot so if you missed it jump back to last weeks episode to catch up after you finish this one.
 
Now today I'm gonna chat about your immune system and how you can best support it. Cause in my opinion not enough health professionals are talking about it and it's definitely not getting any real air time on mainstream media.
 
There's an overwhelming amount of talk around masks, gloves, social distancing, isolation and a vaccine, leading people to believe that these are the only things that are going to protect them.. Because that's what the government and actors on the tv are telling everyone. So I get why people are thinking this.
 
Though I'm gonna say right now that this is so backwards and doing nothing to actually support your immune system, and there's a few examples I want to give.
  1. There are always many people who get the flu vaccine each year and still get the flu.
  2. You need a healthy immune system to actually respond to the flu vax by making protective antibodies for it to actually work properly.
  3. Masks, gloves, vaccines and social distancing can't and won't offset the need to eat healthy, sleep well, exercise and look after yourself. Because a truly healthy body is always going to give you the best chance in overcoming illness.
  4. We need bacteria and viruses to survive and without them we wouldn't exist.
  5. Plus a part of building a healthy immune system requires you to actually interact with people and come in contact with viruses and bacteria in order for it to evolve.
 
Diversity breads immunity.
 
So in this episode I'm going to dive into all of this  and what you can do to support your immune system.
 
Firstly I just want to bring awareness to all the things that make up your immune system, which include:
  1. The organs that produce your white blood cells - which are the cells that protect your body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. 
  2. The lymphatic systems - which helps to circulate the white blood cells around your body.
  3. Antigens and antibodies that your system makes to fight viruses and other threats.
  4. Your gut microbiome which is made up of thousands of different strains of bacteria plus viruses and fungi, that when healthy support your immune system.
 
 
Vaccines and herd immunity
 
Firstly I just want to clear something up around vaccines, as many people believe a simple vaccine protects them, though it's actually your immune systems response to the vaccine that protects you.
 
I know it can be confusing because the mainstream always say "make sure you get your vaccine to protect you from the flu this season", so I get why you think that.
 
But how they work is when you receive a vaccine your body thinks a virus or bacteria has infected you, which signals to your body to create protective antibodies. So the next time your body meets that bacteria or virus, it’s ready to fight it off.
 
But what many people have seemed to forgotten is that we can also develop resistance naturally, as the same thing happens  when your body is naturally exposed to a virus or bacteria, through community exposure.
 
You pick up a bug and your body creates antibodies to fight off the infection. Then when you recover your body keeps these antibodies, to know how to fight off the infection again.
 
This is how herd immunity happens. When enough healthy people come into contact with a virus and their body creates antibodies for it, the virus naturally slows and can even stop the virus from spreading.
 
This happens when a large part of the population develop immunity and when enough people are resistant to a virus for example, as it has nowhere to go.
 
Now not every single individual may become immune, but the group as a whole will have protection, making infection rates drop.
 
And just so we are clear, I'm not anti-vax by any means. I'm simply pro choice.
 
If you have done your own research and made an educated decision to take any particular vaccine, that's your choice.
 
I fully support freedom of choice, around what they put into their body and be able to make whatever decision they please based on knowing all of the facts.
 
Microbiome
 
So now thats out of my brain, I want to chat about your microbiome, which is the bacteria or microbes (whichever you want to call them) that live in and on just about every part of your body. They're on your skin, in your gut, and even up inside your nose.
 
And what might surprise you is that humans have more bacteria living inside them, than actual human cells. So we are more bacteria than human in a weird way.
 
And of course there are some harmful bacteria that can cause you issues when out of balance. Though most of the time these little bacteria friends actually live in harmony with you, and without them we actually wouldn't thrive or even survive for that matter.
 
As the beneficial bacteria are actually needed to help you properly digest food, detox, produce vitamins that your body cannot produce on its own, create particular compounds that regulate your immune system and even play a role in supporting mental health and regulating your mood.
 
But what I really want to highlight is that, 70-80% of your immune system is in your gut...
 
So, if you what a strong immune system you need to have a healthy gut and happy bacteria community living inside you for starters.
 
Humans relationship with bacteria
 
And this is why this bacteria phobia we are all currently seeing, could actually be hurting your immune system.
 
Humans relationships with bacteria starts literally at birth, when the baby comes out through the mothers vagina. This is the first inoculation of bacteria a baby gets which begins to build a babies immune system.
 
Breastfeeding also passes on beneficial bacteria to the baby, and then as the child grows what does it do? Puts a LOT of stuff in its mouth like dirt, keys, toys, mums phone, I've seen it all.
 
Babies do this to explore their environment, but also intuitively to diversify their internal ecosystem of bacteria which helps to build their immune system.
 
The reason I mention this is because I want to highlight that we are naturally in relationship with bacteria and viruses our entire lives.
 
It's also been said in many research studies that social exposure, outdoor activities, more nature time and a healthy diet are essential for kids to build their immune system.
 
This also applies to adults, as we require exposure to these same things in order to maintain a healthy bacteria balance and strong immune system also.
 
Which is a major reason why I don't believe isolation, masks, staying at home and sanitising until your hands turn bone dry is the answer to our current situation.
 
Yes practice good hygiene, but this new "normal" as their calling it goes against human evolution and how our immune systems evolved.
 
We need community connection and bacteria to maintain a strong immune system. Simple.
 
Why we need viruses
Plus I feel it's really important to know that without viruses, life and the planet as we know it would cease to exist. We need viruses just like we need bacteria.
 
There are literally thousands of viruses that have been classified and there are likely thousands or even millions more, that are yet to be identified.
 
Now just so you're aware, in the big scheme of things almost all viruses out there are not evil pathogenic things like we think they are. Most actually don't cause harm to humans.
 
And viruses actually make up an estimated 8% of the human genome, and have even helped humans evolve throughout time. They have shown to be supportive for things such as:
  • Long term memory formation
  • Placenta development
  • and support digestion
 
Scientists have only really just begun to scratch the surface to the ways that viruses help sustain life on earth.
 
There's even something called Phage therapy which I found super fascinating. This therapy actually uses viruses to target particular bacterial infections. And now it’s a quickly growing field, due to many people becoming antibiotic resistance, but also because of it's apparent precision in being able to knock out specific bacterial species rather than wipe peoples entire bacterial populations, which is what antibiotics do.
 
Antibiotics + resistance
Which leads me into talking about antibiotics and antibiotic resistance.
 
I myself am actually antibiotic resistant, which happened from the many years of antibiotic use in my teens due to my constant battle with tonsillitis.
 
I was stuck in a vicious cycle of getting tonsillitis, taking a round antibiotics, coming off them, then a week or two later I'd get it again. It was a freaking nighmare.
 
In hindsight I understand why this was happening, because of my poor gut health and the very little beneficial bacteria I had left in there due to the constant antibiotic use, which of course crashed my immune system. Because 70-80% of your immune system is in your gut remember?
 
So, I ended up getting to a point where even a penicillin injection in my bum cheek wouldn't even work, and to top it off I was given a long term antibiotic when I was 18 to keep me tonsilitis free until I got to the top of the waitlist to get my tonsils out.
 
6 months later and still waiting, I got to a point where I couldn't even keep food down. My gut bacteria was totally wiped out, my gut lining was inflamed and irritated, I had bugger all energy and my tummy was in agony every time I ate.
 
My digestion wasn't the same after this for a very long time.
 
After I got my tonsils out I ended up getting glandular fever, my energy crashed even more and I was constantly at the doctors with headaches, sore tummy, no energy etc.
 
I finally reached a point where I was fed up with going around in circles with the conventional medical model, and I started researching, changing up my diet and ended up studying Naturopathy and nutrition.
 
It was a long journey but I can definitely say that I was able to fix my digestion, enjoy food again, strengthen my immune system and regain my energy. It was a process but it was freaking worth it.
 
Now to help you out I'm going to give you some key things and pointers that can help support your immune system:
 
Immune support
 
  1. Real food first as its going to help your beneficial bacteria thrive, whereas processed foods actually create more inflammation and the perfect environment for the bad bacteria to take over and thrive.
 
  1. Vitamin D which is a key player in regulating your immune system, and studies even show that illness as well as autoimmune conditions are more common in people who are vitamin D deficient. So make sure you get your daily does of sunshine, or get tested to see if supplementation is required. Plus sunlight helps to energise your T-cells that help to fight infection. Plus the added nature/outdoor time is also very helpful.
 
  1. Vitamin C & Zinc are super well known to support immune function.
    1. Some sources of zinc are: oysters, grass fed beef, lamb, cashews, pumpkin seeds/pepitas, lentils, chia seeds and tahini. Though a general rule it is a lot harder to attain optimal zinc levels on a vegan/vegetarian diet so if you are vegetarian or vegan and extra focus on food sources needs to happen or potentially even supplementation.
    2. And some sources of vitamin C are: Acerola cherries, kiwi fruit, capsicum, cabbage, oranges, cauliflower, broccoli, papaya, lemons, green leafy veg and sauerkraut. - Sauerkraut was actually used way back in the day when people were dying on long sea voyages from scurvy, which is basically total vitamin C deficiency, as they couldn't bring fresh food with them. So they started making sauerkraut which is fermented cabbage and bringing that on board with them and they started to survive the trips. How cool is that?
 
  1. Fermented food or probiotics as fermented foods are a potent source of beneficial bacteria which is also known as probiotics. So food like sauerkraut and other homemade fermented foods like coconut yoghurt etc are super supportive for your gut and immune health.
 
  1. like cacao, pine pollen, collagen and medicinal mushrooms which are absolutely amazing for building and maintaining a strong and adaptable immune system. I have these just about every day as I make myself a cacao elixir most mornings made out of ceremonial high grade whole cacao, with 1/2 a tsp of medicinal mushrooms and a tbsp of collagen powder. Plus I also add a sprinkle of pine pollen to my homemade coconut yoghurt.
 
I've linked my online health shop Malla Naturals in the show notes where you can read more about these superfood and even grab some for yourself if you'd like.
 
Plus I'm offering all listeners of my podcast 10% off their order, just use the code: podcast10
 
Also I just wanna add a few other things that can help to support your immune system like: drinking enough water, getting enough quality sleep, looking after your gut health, moving your body and managing stress. These are all foundational things, so don't dismiss them.
 
Now if you do have digestive or gut issues or want more support in dialling in stress, sleep or your diet I can definitely help.
 
I cover all of this plus more in my membership program the Holistic Living Hub which has all the training, recipes and resources you need to start transforming and rebuilding your health & body from the inside out.
 
So, thats a wrap for this week. I hope you got some juicy takeaways from this one to start supporting your body, the way nature intended.
 
Now remember:
  • Humans need bacteria and viruses to survive, and they help build and evolve our immune system - We simply live in a symbiotic relationship with them.
  • Your gut is the home to most of your immune system, so look after it.
  • Support your immune system with real food, sunshine, vitamin C, Zinc and fermented foods or probiotics.
 
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