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Boosting Your Immune System

Will Beli Also Help Boost My Immune System?

Immunity is very much top of mind at the moment and it’s important to take steps to strengthen it. We hope this is a useful read...

Beli uniquely works to nourish your internal systems with the highest quality vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Our supplements help to keep your body balanced, harmonized and working at its optimum.  

Our immune system is always up against it.  Being regularly bombarded by foreign invaders, we have developed an array of complex mechanisms that help keep our barriers strong.  Though there are many components to a healthy immune system, our white blood cells in particular work extremely hard.  The moment we’re confronted with anything that might compromise our health, they whip into action, helping to engulf and destroy viruses that may have found their way into the body.  This information is then stored for easy use next time the body is confronted with a particular antigen.  These complex and amazing processes require an array of nutrients that we put in our body.

Who doesn’t want a healthy immune system? (Raise your hand. No one?) You can’t just eat an orange or grapefruit and expect one quick burst of vitamin C to prevent a cold. A truly healthy immune system depends on a balanced mix of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, plus normal sleep patterns and a hefty dose of exercise.

Vitamin C is first on the list, being essential for white blood cell production as well as a whole host of other immune mechanisms.  The body is unable to store Vit C, so we need a daily supply of this to prevent low levels.  Many studies have shown that getting at least 250mg of vitamin C daily can help to ameliorate symptoms and shorten the duration of colds and flu.

Eat - fresh, colorful fruit and veg such as greens, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peppers, dark and citrus fruits and fresh herbs like parsley.  

Vitamin E

Like vitamin C, vitamin E can be a powerful antioxidant that helps your body fight off infection. Almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts and sunflower seeds are all high in vitamin E. So are spinach and broccoli if you prefer to increase your intake through meals rather than snacks. This important vitamin — part of nearly 200 biochemical reactions in your body — is critical in how your immune system functions.

Foods high in vitamin E include sunflower seeds, almonds, spinach, avocados, squash, kiwifruit, trout, shrimp, olive oil, wheat germ oil, and broccoli.

Shilajit

Contains 80+ minerals and fulvic acid which assists in the removal of toxins, improves nutrition to cells and helps restore electricity to the blood. 

Folate

Folate is needed to make DNA and RNA, the genetic material that dictates cell functions, and it helps prevent changes to DNA that may lead to cancer. Since folate helps make and repair DNA, it is essential for a strong immune system.

To get more folate, add more beans and peas to your plate on a regular basis, as well as leafy green vegetables.

Selenium

Selenium plays an important role in the health of your immune system. This antioxidant helps lower oxidative stress in your body, which reduces inflammation and enhances immunity. Studies have demonstrated that increased blood levels of selenium are associated with enhanced immune response.

You can find it in garlic, broccoli, sardines, tuna, brazil nuts and barley, among other foods.

Zinc is also essential for our immunity. It helps to support us by promoting the production of antibodies that skillfully remember the details of intruders previously defeated so we can fight them again.  Many zinc rich foods have the added bonus of being high in protein, which is also key for immunity. 

Eat: poultry, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, chickpeas, cashew nuts, seafood and fish.

Vitamin D is another crucial nutrient for our immunity, which maybe one of the reasons why we are more at the mercy of bugs when sunlight hours are lower.  Vitamin D helps to increase bacterial defenses as well as modulating our immune cells so that we react appropriately to invaders.  

Eat: Oily fish, avocado, mushrooms (leave them out in the light to boost levels before you eat) and oranges helps, supplementing is recommended by the NHS through winter.



 

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