As the warmth and brightness of summer begins to fade and the cooler autumn air settles in, it is time to prepare ourselves for the colder months ahead. Autumn is a wonderfully colourful season, but it also brings a higher risk of colds, flu and other illnesses as outside temperatures drop, the schools return and the central heating is turned on indoors.
Optimising your immunity during this season is crucial to staying healthy and resilient in the months ahead. Our aim at Body by Nature is to empower you with the knowledge and supplements to support your immune system naturally via diet, supplements and awareness of lifestyle influences on health. In this and the next blog we will seek to help you know how to stay in the best of health for the next 6-7 months!
Understanding the Immune System
The Immune system is a complex network of cells, tissues and organs that work in harmony to protect you from threats from harmful invaders like viruses, bacteria, toxins and other pathogens. In health your immune system is designed to rapidly recognise threats and mount an army of defences that can rapidly and efficiently eliminate the threat before it can get a foothold and cause illness. Unfortunately in the modern world there are many influences that undermine the efficiency of the immune system and cause it to either over-react, which is the basis of most allergic and auto immune reactions, or to respond too slowly and permit the adhesion and replication of a virus or bacteria allowing it to cause disease in your body.
Factors like poor or sub optimal diets, low intake of immune essential nutrients, lack of exercise, stress, lack of sleep can all weaken your immune system making you susceptible to illness.
The Role of Nutrition Immune Health
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Eat a rainbow diet- all the year round
A nutrient-dense diet is the foundation of immune health. In the summer it is easy to have a full complement of locally-grown antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetables and there are many delicious options making it easy to acquire and enjoy a colourful nutrient-rich diet. But this changes in the autumn and winter, not only from the reduction in local fresh food availability but also our inherent desire for more cooked and carbohydrate rich options.
As a rule it is important to eat a rainbow diet. That means having foods from all colour spectrums in nature…reds, oranges, yellow, white, purple, green and blue. Each colour in nature carries a different group of protective nutrients which collectively offer us all we need for health. Only if we have the full colour spectrum in our diet do we get everything we might need for health and protection. This is easy in summer…but gets harder in autumn and winter.
But don’t forget Autumn is harvest time and perfect for collecting fruit like blackberries, plums, damsons and apples and storing them appropriately to retain the nutritional value for the winter months. Purple coloured fruits are of particular importance as very high in powerful antioxidants that can protect us in a multiplicity of directions, most particularly our eyes and cardiovascular health.
Although it is possible to get most of the nutrients we need for health from food…it is not easy and for most people there is a nutrition gap of most micronutrients. It is for this reason many people, including all the nutritional therapists that I know choose to take a well formulated bio effective multivitamin and mineral formulation to give peace of mind that all nutrients are being ingested that are needed for their daily health and protection.
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Don’t forget healthy fats
Omega 3 fats play a significant role in reducing inflammation and supporting immune health. They are often low in the diets of people as depleted in the food chain. Hence to ensure good intake one has to be mindful of dietary intake or supplement regularly to ensure good levels. Foods like chia flaxseed, pumpkin and other seeds, wild salmon and free range meat re god inclusions but this is an area of nutrition when supplements play an important role.
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Ensure good intake of high quality protein
Protein is vital for the production of immune cells and antibodies. Ensue you eat adequate amounts of high quality protein from sources such as lean free range meat, wild caught fish, eggs, dairy, legumes nuts and seeds. Vegetarian options like tofu, quinoa and lentils are also good protein sources.
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Stay well hydrated
It is all too easy to swap fresh cold water for warm comforting drinks during the colder months. But staying hydrated is just as important in the colder months as it is in summer. Water helps to regulate the balance of body fluids and supports the circulation of immune cells. Herbal teas can be a good way to t keep hydrated whilst gang your immune system an extra boost.
Essential supplements for optimal autumn and winter health
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1. Multivitamin and mineral formulations.
Taking a daily multivitamin and mineral formulation is an ideal way to ensure you get all the nutrients needed for health every day. It is important to buy from reputable companies only and those who use the chest quality active nutrient sources. It is also important to make sure the formulation contains a good complement of essential nutrients at good levels of potency.
All of Body by Nature multi-nutrient formulations meet this criteria. They have been designed to “bridge the nutrition gap” as it exists in the diets of most people in the western world. The nutrients are all of the highest quality and activity so when taken regularly will bolster your reserves and give peace of mind during times when your diet might be less than perfect!
Choose from the following:
https://www.bodybynaturesupplements.com/catalog/multi-vitamins-vegan-supplements
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2. Extra Vitamin C, D, antioxidants
Many people myself included choose to increase intake of Vitamins C, D and antioxidants during the winter months. More are needed at this time to bolster your defence shield against winter bugs.
Choose from the following, or include all for a few weeks on and off during the winter:
Vitamin C – Vitamin C is water soluble and is needed on a daily basis. It is an important anti oxidant and essential for the immune system to function properly. We need more in winter months to save off the threat from viruses particularly. It is also anti inflammatory so offers a multiplicity of daily benefit. And of course with the reduction of fresh food in our diets in the winter supplements play a key role in maintaining our levels:
Vitamin D – As the days get shorter, our exposure to sunlight decreases, which can lead to a drop in vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is crucial for immune function, and a deficiency can increase your risk of infections. Consider taking a vitamin D supplement during the autumn and winter months, especially if you’re not getting enough sunlight. Theres a good level in Body by Nature multinutrient product but extra during the winter can only benefit you.
Anti oxidant boost: Nutrients like COQ10, NAC, ALA and gingko boba all offer significant and individual antioxidant activity. Bod by Nature has put together an antioxidant boost containing all the powerful antioxidants that are not necessarily included in diets, but which confer significant protection and healing capabilities. In my opinion this is a MUST for the winter months.
https://www.bodybynaturesupplements.com/product/body-support-vegan-4-pack?search=Body+Support
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Probiotics
It is easy to forget the value of probiotics in immune health. Gut health is closely linked to immune function. Probiotics, the beneficial bacteria found in fermented foods like yoghurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi, help maintain a healthy gut microbiome, which in turn supports a strong immune system. If you don’t regularly consume fermented foods, a probiotic supplement may be beneficial.
I LOVE the Body by Nature Probiotic Plus. It contains 9 active strains of probiotics that are active throughout the whole GI tract. You can take 1 daly to help ensure gut health or increase if you feel your gut or digestion need more acute support.
https://www.bodybynaturesupplements.com/index.php?route=product/search&language=en-gb&search=Probiotic%20Plus
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Omega 3
As mentioned above omega 3 plays an important role in immune and cellular health and is quite depleted in the food chain, The long chain omega 3 fatty acids from seeds and nuts are often not well converted into the short chain omega 3 metabolites that are the form needed by our body. The best sources are from oily fish but as many people are vegan this poses a problem. An easy and ideal solution is to supplement a vegan form of short chain omega 3 fatty acids acids as can be found in the following body by nature product
https://www.bodybynaturesupplements.com/index.php?route=product/search&language=en-gb&search=Omega 3 vegan. This is a favourite of mine!
If you have any questions on any of the above or would like help knowing what you or your family should take for peace of mind and winter protection please DO email me Amanda @ info@bodybynaturesupplements.com
In the next blog we will look at other important aspects of maintaining winter health including exercise, sleep and stress reduction and products that can support you.
Article from Amanda at Body by Nature Nutrition Team. BANT, CNHC, AFMCP. Dip Nutritional therapy (Worcester)