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Five Immune-Boosting Foods and Foods to Avoid
Flu season is almost upon us, and the push is on for everyone to receive “preventative” influenza vaccinations. But is there another way to prevent or reduce the severity of the illness?
Our bodies are uniquely equipped to avoid illness via their own innate immune systems – when those are functioning properly. But traditional naturopath and certified clinical nutritionist David Getoff believes that many people sabotage their immune systems this time of year. He quotes nutritionist Shari Lieberman: “We don’t really have a cold and flu season. What we have is many months in a row of eating immune-depressing foods.” Getoff explains, “Germs don’t have a season.” He feels that “over-consumption of overly-sweetened foods” depletes the immune system tremendously, and his number one recommendation for people is to “stop eating junk.”
That “junk” includes sugary foods (candy, desserts, ice cream) and too much starch (white potatoes, white bread). He advises cutting down on the amount of starches – even the good starches – we consume. “When you do have a starch, have the best you can – yam, winter squash, or sweet potato instead of a white potato – and then cut the quantity in half from what you normally would consume. Eat a small baked potato instead of a large one, a half an acorn squash instead of the whole thing, and eat the starchy food with good quality fats and proteins, to slow down the conversion into sugar.”
Consuming those good-quality fats and adequate proteins help build our immune systems, as does eating plenty of non-starchy vegetables. Getoff also recommends probiotics to build up our immune systems, which are tied to the ecosystem of bacteria found in the gut. Probiotics can come from cultured diary products (like kefir) or fermented foods (like sauerkraut, kombucha, or kimchi) and can also come from supplements.
Flu season is almost upon us, and the push is on for everyone to receive “preventative” influenza vaccinations. But is there another way to prevent or reduce the severity of the illness?
Would you rather boost your immunity with natural superfoods?
Another important food Getoff recommends for building the immune system is clean raw milk from grassfed, organically-raised cows. “It must be consumed raw. I find that for 80 percent of people who have problems with milk, the problem vanishes if they switch to raw.”
Flu season is almost upon us, and the push is on for everyone to receive “preventative” influenza vaccinations. But is there another way to prevent or reduce the severity of the illness?
Or boost your immunity with unnatural poisons?
Mark McAfee, founder of Organic Pastures Dairy and chairman and President of the Raw Milk Institute, agrees that clean raw milk is a wonderful way to build up the immune system through building the gut bacteria ecosystem. But McAfee advises taking it slowly. “If you have a healthy, strong immune system with no digestion problems, but have never consumed a raw dairy product before, we recommend allowing an introduction period. This introduction of raw milk should be gradual [for example, four ounces every few hours and increasing that amount slowly] and it will allow your body to digest and absorb all the new beneficial bacteria raw milk brings. Our natural immunity has been compromised, and it will take time and patience to rebuild it.”
So how do we avoid illness? By building our immune systems. According to Getoff, we do that best by avoiding “junk” (sugary foods and unhealthful starches), and by consuming good-quality fats, adequate protein, non-starchy vegetables, probiotics, and raw milk. And the result, as McAfee sums it up: “A strong immune system means that your body has ‘earned’ its own ability to do battle and protect itself.”
For more information, see “Building Immune Resistance, Naturally” by Diana Allen, found in the Winter 2005 issue of the Price-Pottenger Journal of Health and Healing.