It seems one of the main topics these days is Swine Flu. There is quite a bit of fear around it and questions about the vaccine. I am not one of those who has fear around sickness, as it is the way we build our immunity, and would like to share my perspective. My focus is to build the immunity naturally and you become less susceptible to any flu or cold. So if you end up getting sick with a strong immunity it may not feel good at the time but it benefits you in the long run.
A note on vaccines… If you haven’t researched them, please do, especially if you have children! Two really great books to start with are The Sanctity of Human Blood by Tim O’Shea and Vaccines, Are They Really Safe and Effective? by Neil Z. Miller.
Most of us don’t realize our immunities could easily be stronger by simple choices we make in our lifestyle, mindset and food. Natural whole foods, mostly fruits and vegetables, will keep our systems stronger than and pill or vaccine. Deep breathing and focus on health, rather than fears of ill-health, and detoxing our bodies will support our systems to keep any virus or bacteria out.
3 Things you can do:
1~ Deep Breathing: Spend some silent time away from distractions and get out of your head. Do your best to clear your mind of any thought that shows up. Let it show up and then let it go. Either sitting or lying down, close your eyes and place your hands on your belly. We have a tendency to breathe high up in our chests…and unfortunately this triggers more stress in the body. Instead, focus on deep breathes into the lower abdomen, the stomach expands as you breathe in and contracts as you push the breath out and releases toxins from the body. If you want more in depth lessons in healing breathe, Dr. Andrew Weil has a website and a great cd~ Breathing, The Master Key to Self Healing.
2~ Fresh Vegetables and Fruit: I am sure everyone is very aware that natural healthy foods especially fruit and vegetables are good for you. But do you really understand that are the building blocks to your cells? So if you are eating processed food, heavy in meat, sugar and caffeine and lacking veggies and fruit and grains (vitamins and minerals to be specific)… it will result in a weaker cell more of a target for viruses and bacteria. For example, one cup of broccoli or parsley is more likely to strengthen the immunity than 700mg of synthetic Vit. C. Or one cup of Kale contains, Vit. K, A, C and a heavy dose of Calcium plus so many other nutrients to build healthy cells. We have natural sources of ‘Bug Busters’ through our food but we need to add them to our diets to gain those benefits and be aware of our intake of processed foods that are actually harming our bodies. There are too many positive properties and nutrient rich fruits and veggies to list all of them. I’m sure you get the idea… but if they are fresh, full of color, preferably local (and best if local and organic), raw or cooked properly, whatever is best for you, they will build your system.
3~Detox: We take on more toxins into our bodies than our system can handle without help. We natural detox our body through our breath, skin, urine and stool. But if our body is overwhelmed the toxins stay in our system and begin breaking us down. Make sure, as I mentioned above, to breathe; it is a great way to detox the body. Also, Sweat…our skin is our largest organ and we take in toxins through the air and things we put on our skin but we can release them too, by sweating. Make sure to either work out enough to ‘get your sweat on’ or do steam rooms or saunas. Also, add a loofah to your bathroom or salt scrubs in the shower; they help circulation and remove old skin cells. And finally, clean out your bowels and kidneys. Make sure you are getting enough water and fiber to move everything through. If you aren’t having, at least, 1 bowel movement a day all the toxins sitting in your system waiting to be ‘flushed’ are reabsorbing into your blood stream. Toxins that stay in your system keep your bodies immunity down….so clean ‘em out!
There are so many other things I could write about to build immunity but it would end up being a book rather than a blog…I hope this helps.
