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Flu Season Is Coming – How To Stay Healthy Without Shots
Written by Wellness Club on August 23, 2012 – 7:11 pm -Fall Is In The Air – In August – Says A Customer In Wisconsin
By Nurse Mark
Can it be too early to start thinking about the cold and flu season that is just around the corner? A frequent customer, Millie from Wisconsin, called the other day to place an order and lamented that “fall is in the air.” A local friend reported that her kids are now back in school and like kids everywhere, they are passing around their colds to make sure that no one goes without. More tellingly, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is ramping up their annual flu vaccine promotional campaign on behalf of Big Pharma – those are your tax dollars, hard at work for the drug companies!
Yes, it is inevitable that colds and flu will be all around you again this year – as they are every year. You will be exposed – there is no escape unless you choose to live as a hermit, shunning all human contact.
So what can you do? Must you just accept the inevitable and just stock up on tissues and chicken soup?
Of course not!
First and foremost, make sure that your immune system is in top shape. Diet plays a big role in your health, and your immune health is no exception.
Did you know that sugar suppresses your immune function? It’s true, and study after study have proved that eating simple sugars (such as sugar in your coffee, or a glass of orange juice, or syrup on your pancakes) can suppress the ability of your white blood cells – your body’s natural germ-fighters – for up to 5 hours!
No wonder kids all seem to share their colds – we feed them sugary cereal and a glass of sweetened orange juice and then pack them off to school where they sit together in close contact – with stunned, non-functioning immune systems!
The same goes for anyone who has to work in a crowded office or in contact with the public – knocking out your immune system with sugar is a sure-fire way to ensure that you’ll catch whatever bugs are going around…
Once you have stopped insulting your immune system with sugar, it is then time to make sure you are nourishing you body for health.
Here are some nutrients of particular immune-enhancing importance.
* vitamin C – people with daily intakes of 500-1,000mg per day are less likely to catch colds, respiratory tract infections and pneumonia. Vitamin C also shortens the duration and severity of these infections. But you knew that, right?
* vitamin E – 200IU or more per day reduces the rate of common colds and upper respiratory tract infections and increases resistance to influenza in seniors. And if it’s good for seniors…
* beta carotene – seniors with a high plasma beta-carotene concentration have a lower occurrence of acute respiratory infections. …it’s good for “juniors” too!
* vitamin A – needed to maintain normal “barrier” function of skin and mucous membranes, thereby preventing entry of viruses. Normal levels improve immunity and disease resistance. And it’s healthier than all that hand sanitizer!
* vitamin D – Improves immunity and may enhance response to vaccinations. (We’ll talk more about vitamin D…)
* zinc – normal zinc status lowers the risk of pneumonia by nearly 50% and decreases the incidence, duration and severity of upper respiratory infections and pneumonia. Improved zinc status also enhances the body’s response to vaccinations. Zinc is one of those “folk remedies” that actually does work…
* selenium – Decreases the risk of respiratory tract infections. Improved selenium status also enhances the body’s response to vaccinations. A dose of selenium, taken at the first sign of the cooties, can often stop ‘em in their tracks. I’ll bet you didn’t know that!
If you are not getting these your daily multiple vitamin, then add them separately OR get a better multiple vitamin/mineral formula. You can take a lot of “separate stuff” to achieve immune-boosting “target doses” of nutrients, but why would you want to work that hard? We make it easy with Maxi Multi !
And now, about that vitamin D…
Vitamin D has become well-recognized for it’s importance to a strong and healthy immune system and even conventional medicine is now admitting that most Americans are deficient in vitamin D. Even so, the Recommended Daily Allowance (aka RDA or “really dumb advice”) is for far less than what is known to be needed to ensure optimal health.
Dr. Myatt recommends a daily adult dose range of 800-2,000 IU and says that doses as high as 10,000 IU may be needed to normalize low vitamin D levels.
Maxi Multi contains 800 IU and MyPacks contain 753 IU of Vitamin D.
A Vitamin D Test can provide valuable information and guidance, saving you time, money, and uncertainty as you improve and normalize your vitamin D levels
Please learn more and find a full list of references for the benefits of vitamin D in this Vitamin D Special Report
The “Missing Mineral”
Iodine plays an important role in immune function and many Americans are woefully iodine deficient. Iodine is an important anti-microbial mineral that concentrates in our mucous membranes – the very same tissues that cold and flu bugs try to enter through. Iodine can often relieve skin, lung, GI tract and other infections when antibiotics fail. In fact, from 1900 to the 1960’s, virtually all US physicians commonly used iodine (as Lugol’s solution) to treat low and high thyroid conditions, infections and many other conditions with excellent results.
Maxi Multi contains 150 mcg of iodine. If you think you might be low on iodine and need more than that amount to bring your levels up we recommend performing an Iodine Test that will allow you to know exactly how much you should supplement. Remember, too much iodine can suppress thyroid function. Iodine Supplements can bring levels up quickly, but for daily, less aggressive supplementation Modfilan – a seaweed source of natural iodine is a safe and effective choice.
Herbal support for immunity
There are lots of folk remedies that are touted to help strengthen immunity – a few are helpful, most do nothing good or bad, and some are even harmful, like recommendations to eat plenty of raw honey (Sugar suppresses the immune system, remember? And honey is sugar…) Dr. Myatt has created a formula of the most “tried and true” (and proven) immune enhancing herbs including Echinacea, astragalus, medicinal mushrooms (Maitake, Shiitake, Reishi), Ligustrum, Goldenseal and Garlic. Learn more about her Immune Support formula here.
And a crazy, money-back no-flu-for-you guarantee
Finally, Dr. Myatt is once again offering an unusual guarantee this year as she has for the past several years. Believe it or not, Dr. Myatt will actually guarantee that you won’t catch a flu this year – as long as you are taking her Maxi Multi and her Immune Support faithfully. Will the doctor who wants to jab you with a flu shot make that same guarantee? I didn’t think so…
Learn more about Dr. Myatt’s crazy offer here
References:
http://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/29/why-use-expensive-drugs
http://www.ajcn.org/content/26/11/1180.abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4117287
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/369990
Sanchez A, et al. Role of sugars in human neutrophilic phagocytosis. Am J Clin Nutr 26 (1973):1180-4.
Ringsdorf W, et al. Sucrose, neutrophil phagocytosis, and resistance to disease. Dect Surv 52 (1976):46-8.
Bernstein J, et al. Depression of lymphocyte transformation following oral glucose ingestion. Am J Clin Nutr 30 (1977):613.
Wintergerst ES, Maggini S, Hornig DH. Contribution of selected vitamins and trace elements to immune function. Ann Nutr Metab. 2007;51(4):301-23. Epub 2007 Aug 28.
Mora JR, Iwata M, von Andrian UH. Vitamin effects on the immune system: vitamins A and D take centre stage. Nat Rev Immunol. 2008 Aug 8. [Epub ahead of print]
Hayes CE, Nashold FE, Spach KM, Pedersen LB.The immunological functions of the vitamin D endocrine system. Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2003 Mar;49(2):277-300.
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