10 Immune Hacks To Keep You Healthy Year-Round

There's never a convenient time to get sick. 

To help you mitigate the chances of that happening the Green Team got together to give you our top ten immune system boosters that keep us healthy and vital year-round.

1. Dial In Your Sleep

This is always easier said than done, but 9 out of 10 times we get sick because our body is hitting it's breaking point and our immune system can't keep up. Getting the proper amount of quality rest is instrumental in keeping us healthy and vibrant. Start creating a solid evening routine. You can try things like restricting screen time after 8pm, lighting candles and reducing artificial light, gentle stretching and meditation, reading an entertaining non-fiction book, or listening to a guided meditation or Yoga Nidra. If you have trouble falling asleep (like I do) there's a good chance your sleep hormones are out of whack and you may want to consider a natural sleep aid like Melatonin or Roasted Zizyphus. The trick is to not become dependent on these aids and work on finding a rhythm that makes you naturally fall asleep each night. Proper diet and the right amount of physical movement each day is usually enough to get sleep back on track. Pro tip: Switch to organic bedding for improved sleep and overall health. 

2. Eat A Local, Seasonal, and Organic Diet 

The Greek Physician Hippocrates said it best, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food". 

What we put on our plate determines our fate, plain and simple, right? So why is it that eating healthy can seem like one of the most difficult tasks at times? As humans we have a tendency to overthink things and then fall back into old patterns that we know do not serve us. Keeping it simple can seem paradoxically complex, but there's hope if you can just follow the seasons. There's an intimate connection between all life on earth and the cycles of our solar system. Certain fruits, vegetables, herbs, and animals thrive in specific geographic locations and during specific seasons. Eating foods native to your region and in season will give you the nutrients you need for your current climate (wherever that may be), think of it as eating to adapt. Plants and animals build a resilience to certain aspects of mother nature in order to survive and thrive. When we consume these organisms as food they have a tendency to pass that same resilience on to us within their nutrients and alkaloids. This creates the hierarchy of quality food sources as follows: Wild, Local, Organic, Non GMO, Conventional. Strive to eat as much as you can on the wild side of the spectrum and as little as possible on the conventional side. Just remember that there can be too much of a good thing and as much as we love Hippocrates, Swiss Physician Paracelsus brought this philosophy full circle when he said, "Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy". To simplify, eat for quality not for quantity and keep it local.  

3. Take Care Of Your Gut

I'm sure you see the connection between this and number two, butt... 

A lot of us may be suffering from what is known as leaky gut. Functional Medicine Doctors are suggesting that imbalances in the digestive system are the root cause of many autoimmune diseases. Eating fermented foods and having the right bacteria in your intestines is one of the most crucial steps towards optimal health and longevity. Equally as important is eliminating foods that cause unhealthy bacterial growth and the proliferation of yeast and candida like refined sugars, grains, and genetically modified organisms. The main culprit that causes our gastrointestinal (GI) tract harm is a group of carbohydrate binding proteins called lectins. Lectins in plants serve as a defense mechanism against insects and microorganisms, but are also resistant to human digestion. Because lectins are not digested, your body often creates antibodies against them and this can trigger an unhealthy immune response. If enough of this damage occurs in our GI tract then our intestinal wall (responsible for the absorption of essential vitamins and minerals) becomes compromised and can let toxins that would normally be evacuated through our bowels into our bloodstream. This is the start of what is known as leaky gut and what some physicians now believe to be the root cause of many autoimmune diseases. Soaking and sprouting nuts, seeds, and grains greatly reduces lectins and makes these foods easier to digest. One food that is very beneficial to our gut is bone broth because it is high in collagen and the amino acids proline and glycine. These substances aid in cell repair and can rebuild your intestinal wall. Many people have seen a lot of benefit from doing a three day bone broth fast, or simply adding bone broth into their diet while cutting out gluten, dairy, GMO's, and refined sugars. 

If you avoid eating foods high in lectins, reduce sugar consumption, and eat a lot of high quality cultured foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, and kefir then you are definitely on the right track, but you may want to consider taking Quality Digestive Enzymes, Prebiotics, & Probiotics to rebuild your gut health. Our friends at Arthur Andrew Medical have done a ton of this research and offer the best selection of digestive and systemic enzymes that we've ever found. If you would like to go deeper into gut health and how intimately connected it is to our immune system then we suggest checking out the Betrayal Series hosted by Dr. Tom O'Bryan. 

4. Stay Hydrated

During the months that our thermometers are hitting triple digits I hear a lot of Arizonians advising each other to stay hydrated. As easy as this should be to remember during summer in the desert people still don't drink enough water. When the weather is cooler it's even harder to remember how much H2O we need to stay healthy. Make it a habit to drink a tall glass of water first thing in the morning, twenty minutes before meals, and before bed at night. The Green Team recommends harvesting fresh spring water if you have access to a spring. Findaspring.com can help you find the spring nearest you.

If you don't have access to wild water then make sure you use a good filter like the AquaLiv Home System. I personally always travel with Dr. Patrick Flanagan's Megahydrate and Crystal Energy. These products are potent antioxidants and enhance water quality even when I am on the road and unable to find a spring. Staying hydrated, especially at the first sign of illness is incredibly important and often overlooked. Get yourself a good water bottle and toast to your health!        

5. Take Cold Showers (Polar Plunge)

I Know this might seem counter intuitive, but cold showers might be one of the best things you can do for your health.

Not only does the cold water stimulate your immune system, but it's been shown to improve circulation, drain the lymphatic system, boost fertility, speed up muscle recovery, and jump start weight loss. Just from taking a cold shower every day! 

This was the smallest lifestyle change I'd ever made and so far it has yielded the most results. If you are still a novice to cold showers then we suggest that you begin ending your shower with cold water and increase the time that you stay underneath it every day until you can last at least three minutes. I've found that if you let the water hit you directly on the back of the neck first then keeping the rest of your body underneath is more bearable. Experiment with cold water and see how you do with it, I've seen people who swear they could never take a cold shower every day become the biggest advocates for it because of the way they look and feel afterwards.

Check out The Iceman Wim Hof for more on cold therapy and his famous breathing method to boost immunity and resilience to extreme temperature.       

6. Add Immune Boosting Medicinal Mushrooms To Your Diet

"Mushrooms are miniature pharmaceutical factories, and of the thousands of mushroom species in nature, our ancestors and modern scientists have identified several dozen that have a unique combination of talents that improve our health" ~ Paul Stamets

The secret's out and before long beneficial fungi will be a common household item. In our household finding various mushrooms from different parts of the world is a pretty common thing, but for the sake of convenience we consume and travel with the Twelve Rivers MycoMedic Formula by Raw Forest Foods. This potent powder extract has a healthy dose of the top 8 medicinal mushrooms per serving and they are all sustainably sourced from the wild, or grown on a small organic farm. The powder blends great into coffee and smoothies and can also be brewed as a tea. However you decide to consume them, medicinal mushrooms are an excellent way to stay thriving through every season. 

7. Take Time To Breathe, Stretch, Breathe Again, and Exercise

You don't have to make it to the gym everyday, (in fact your body may be better off if you didn't) but any chance you get to move around and connect with your breath should be taken in stride. Breathing is an essential part of our health and so many of us are not breathing correctly. Picking up a yoga class, hitting the gym a few times a week, or just simply walking each day can really positively impact your health and make you stronger and happier as well. Just be careful not to over train, as it can take a major toll on the immune system.     

8. Eat Plenty Of Adaptogenic Herbs 

This goes hand in hand with number six, but Tonic Herbs like astragalus, ginseng, he shou wu, and schizandra are a big part of our immune defense protocol. All of these herbs are incredibly nutrient dense and can be consumed daily with a safe and effective outcome. When deciding on herbs I always look for an authentic source that I can trust. For Chinese Herbs I rely heavily on Ron Teeguarden's Dragon Herbs. His products are always from the authentic source and harvested in the most sustainable ways possible. For a daily health booster everyone on the Green Team enjoys a lot of Tonic Alchemy & Spring Dragon Tea. Both of these products make getting plenty of Tonic Herbs both easy and enjoyable. 

9. Take Oregano Oil At The First Sign Of An Imbalance

If you don't already have one get a High Quality Oregano Oil and keep it in your travel bag. The great thing about oregano oil is that it's super potent and effective because it's a remedial herb and not meant to be taken every day. You'll feel the value after just one use, if you're using it at the right times. 

Oregano oil is a highly effective antibacterial and antimicrobial so while it is great at neutralizing the things that can compromise our immune system, it can also destroy the good bacteria in our gut. After taking oregano oil make sure you refer to #3 in this article and rebuild your gut health.         

10. Remember To Laugh, Play, & Make Love

Stress is the number one factor that determines our health. The more we laugh, the more we love, and the more that we play, the better we feel and the healthier we are. So, why are we all taking life so seriously? Have fun, give yourself a break, and spend time with people you love.