Checklists For a Strong Immune System

Is Your Immune System Strong?

A strong immune system does more than fight against colds and flu. Effective immunity prevents or overcomes all types of infection, cancer cell growth, and disorders such as those involved in allergy and autoimmune disease. 

People who enjoy  good or excellent health have strong or very strong immune systems. If you are among these people, basic recommendations for immune protection may be adequate. 

Basic Immune System Care

Harvard Medical School outlines the measures for immune system care, as follows:

• Don't smoke.
• Eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and low in saturated fat.
• Exercise regularly.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Control your blood pressure.
• If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation.
• Get adequate sleep.
• Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly.
• Get regular medical screening tests for people in your age group and risk category.

This advice is sound but may not be enough to stay well in stressful environments. Many people with strong immune systems maintain their health through measures beyond basic care. 

Of course, people with fair, poor, or failing health have weakened immune systems naturally require more than the basics. (To assess your health status, see Know Your Health Status.)

Optimal Immune System Care

For some people, optimal immune system care involves long-established habits. For others, the following additional measures requires special effort until they become routine:

1. Follow an anti-inflammatory diet.
2. Take appropriate dietary supplements.
3. Avoid drinking or internally producing alcohol.
4. Avoid, minimize, or compensate for all forms of stress.

Anti-Inflammatory Diets

Anti-inflammatory diets include a high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and is low in saturated fat. However, an anti-inflammatory diet provides additional immune system support by reducing inflammation.

Appropriate Dietary Supplements

Your particular circumstances determine which dietary supplements are most important for your immune system and general health. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you susceptible to colds, flu, and other infections? Increased susceptibility to infection correlates with common nutritional deficiencies: vitamin C, vitamin D, and the several others listed on the label of MMF®. Silver, zeolite, and colostrum have unique roles in reducing the burden on a stressed immune system. 
2. Does secondhand smoke or air pollution threaten your resistance to infection? At the least, this problem calls for antioxidant supplements. 
3. Are you prone to digestive trouble, constipation, or diarrhea? Friendly intestinal bacteria are essential to healthy intestinal function and a strong immune system. Probiotic formulas supply health-promoting bacteria often destroyed by antibiotics and toxic foods. Probiotic 55 and Lateroflora are particularly outstanding.
4. Is your diet lacking sufficient fruits and vegetables, the source of phytonutrients? Fruit and vegetable concentrates help compensate for this deficiency. Among fruit and vegetable concentrates, Greens Pak remains the favorite. Greens Pak also includes probiotics important to intestinal and immune health. 
5. Are you chronically fatigued, depressed, or both? These symptoms associate with a weakened immune system. Some supplements (particularly MMF® and E3AFA®) improve physical endurance, improve the mood, and help strengthen immune systems.
6. Do you have trouble sleeping?  Sleep deprivation weakens the immune system and suggests the presence of underlying biochemical disturbances. A number of natural sleeping aids address these disturbances. See Invite Restful Sleep. 

What if most of these questions apply to you? It is usually best to address the needs of your system as a whole first and then focus on your chief concern. In our experience, the top supplements for your system as a whole are  E3AFA®, MMF®, and Detox Pure Pack.

Alcohol Intake and Internal Production

If you drink alcohol, switch to healthful beverages such as green tea. Caring for your health is more important than following toxic traditions.  Toxic Holiday Rituals, part 1 offers a sobering perspective on alcohol consumption.

Avoid refined sugars to eliminate intestinal fermentation and alcohol production. See  Toxic Holiday Rituals, part 3.

Physical, Mental, and Emotional Stress

Do your best to avoid, minimize or compensate for other harmful forms of physical stress on your system. Do the same for the excessive mental and emotional stresses that impair immune system health.

About Horton Tatarian

I’m a biochemist who examines scientific findings on health and disease. My degree in biochemistry is from U.C. Berkeley. UCLA School of Medicine granted an M.D. degree in 1974. Since then, independent research prepared me to advise clients on natural ways of self-care.

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