Why is your Gut Health the Key to your Immune System?

When it comes to communicable illness, most believe that they WILL get sick, inevitably because they were exposed to someone who was sick. It’s as if it is nearly guaranteed.

But what if we told you that isn’t necessarily the case and that the health of your gut drives much of your immune health and helps determine if you get sick?

Think about it!

You may be like many others, eating a diet high in processed foods and refined carbs and don’t even realize it. We find when working with clients that this line is often blurred. What many think they are eating and what they are actually eating are quite different. Yup - it happens to so many people. What do you think the salad dressing they gave you at the take out place is made of? We can tell you - highly manipulated seed oils, and some form of wheat, corn and/or soy plus a whole lotta other thickeners and additives and preservatives. Kinda null and voids the salad - and that’s just one example. Nutrition requires planning and preparation. End of story.

What you eat is one of the biggest downloads of information that your body receives. If the quality of that information is poor, everything stemming from it will likely be poor. Let us unpack that a bit so you can understand the why.

Over ⅔ of your immune system is located in your gut. There is a whole other world in there. It’s teeming with bacteria. The role of most of these bacteria is to support us every step of the way but some not so nice ones are there as well.  As long as they are outnumbered, all is usually ok. They are living things that need to be fed and cared for in order to do their jobs. We need them just as much as they need us. 

When we eat subpar food, we do not meet the good bacteria’s needs which can cause them to decrease and instead feed the bad bacteria that are waiting to create chaos. They do this by creating problems with digestion and motility but they also create inflammation which is your immune system reacting to a threat.

They wear away at the gut lining which is 1 cell layer thick. Once that is breached, the immune system, located just beneath, is working overtime. It winds up letting threats slide through and not absorbing nutrients as it should. We all know how we feel when this goes on…burned out.  

The role of our immune system is to tolerate. Yes - it’s there to act like the big, bad bouncer - looming in the background, observing and only coming onto the scene if there’s an issue and taking care of it quickly and efficiently without leaving much damage in its wake. Well, every time you eat subpar food, there’s an issue.

Like most “issues,” there is a spectrum. If you eat these things infrequently or on occasion it may not provoke much of a response but the more you poke or stoke that fire, the more dysregulated our immune system becomes. And that can lead to a whole host of issues such as metabolic illnesses, diabetes, obesity, food sensitivities, autoimmunity, hormone imbalances, infections and poor immune resilience.

Here are 5 tips to optimize your gut and your immune system.

1. Eat a balanced and nutrient-dense diet.

Boost your immune system with food! A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods can help provide the vitamins and minerals your body needs to fight off infections. An example of this is the powerful antioxidants found in phytonutrient rich foods. Think all manner and color of fruits and vegetables. Eating a plant forward diet is key plus adding protein, the size of your palm and healthy fats such as avocado, olive oil or grass fed butter.

Our society seems to put grains on a pedestal but the truth of the matter is that most of the conventional grains you are eating such as wheat, corn or rice are burdening your immune system way more than they are nourishing you. This is because of how they are grown and processed. They are highly manipulated and genetically modified and void of any nutrients in addition to containing some serious chemicals.

It's the same case for soy, which is a legume. Wheat, corn and soy are added to just about every single processed food you eat. These foods are known to cause chaos and disease in your system. Even when you choose to eat these foods as they present themselves, such as a bowl of rice or some corn as a side dish, you continue to burden your system. Ditching processed foods and deciding to get your carbs from fruits and vegetables - roots and tubers are a great source of carbs such as sweet potatoes - is the best way to nourish and begin to unburden your system leading to a stronger, healthier immune system. This will give you a leg up when it comes to warding off respiratory infection this winter. It's actually the best way.

Because we live in this modern world, food only often doesn’t meet our nutrient needs. This can be due to how our food is raised and grown, our particular needs at a given state of our gut health also plays a role and is why we say it’s not a bad idea to consider some supplements that may positively impact your immune and gut health. Here are some to consider:

• Vitamin C - this powerful antioxidant can help quell inflammation and prevent infection. We do not produce it on our own so we must get it from foods or supplements. There are plenty of foods that provide it such as bell peppers, citrus fruits and kiwi.  
• Vitamin B6 - this energy supporting vitamin plays a major role in many biochemical reactions some key immune players such as white blood cells and T cells which help us to fight infection. Some medications are known to deplete this vitamin such as the birth control pill. Our genetics also play a role in how we metabolize it. Ensuring that you are eating a whole foods diet will help keep your levels just right. Animal products are the most abundant sources of B vitamins which work in concert with one another. Chickpeas are also a great source. Just be sure to eat organic chick peas as they are a crop that is heavily sprayed with glyphosate in the US.
• Zinc - this is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant nutrient. It is a potentiator of vitamins acting synergistically to strengthen your immune system. Oysters, beef, crab and pumpkin seeds are great food sources but zinc comes as a supplement as well.

       2. Stay hydrated.

Drinking plenty of clean, filtered water helps keep your body functioning at its best and optimizes the function of many organs including your gut. 

       3. Exercise regularly.

Exercise helps reduce stress as it appropriately challenges our system to bolster its ability to function optimally. They don't call it a workout for nothing!

Exercising helps to improve immune function and is a great way to utilize our energy which signals our bodies to renew our powerhouse cells called mitochondria and regulate our hormones and metabolism.

Working out also plays a significant role in fueling energy. It's important to work out at the appropriate level of intensity as well. If you are already depleted or under a lot of stress or have been under the weather, you should consider modifying the intensity because these dynamics are already challenging enough.

Movement is always important but a hard workout should come from a place of strength not one of depletion. This will not yield the desired effect and you may very well lower your immune system strength. Stop, sit and listen to what your body is telling you.

         4. Get enough deep sleep.

 Not getting enough sleep can weaken your immune system. This is because it is during sleep that many detoxification reactions happen. One of these that is very important is that during this time, our digestion is quiet. Our gut is not encumbered with this process.  Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night or up to 9-10 if you are actively healing an entrenched dis-ease dynamic. Each one of us needs a different amount of sleep at different times in our life. Your best bet is to stop, sit and listen to your body. Sleep is by far one of the most undervalued preventative health measures. There are likely many reasons for it, but it takes some honest observations to really assess if this is an issue for you. It's an issue for most. When we get the appropriate sleep cycles we need, we tell our body that everything is safe. It's also a time when lots of detoxification happens and our systems reset. This leaves us renewed and balanced which will allow our immune systems to function optimally.

       5. Manage stress. 

Stress can increase the risk of illness. This happens because stress causes our cortisol and other hormones to increase which signal to our immune system that help is needed. The need may not be specific but inflammation is the end result. Your precious resources are going to fight the stress and may not be so sharp to counter those respiratory viruses that try to cozy up to you.

There will always be stress but the key is to take an honest assessment of how you react to perceived stressors and find ways to manage it effectively.  Developing practices such as yoga, mindfulness, and  intentional breathing are game changers. So is understanding that self care is not a luxury but a necessity.

We hope you take some time to integrate these tips and shore up your gut and immune health. You will be better off for it.