How You Can Support Your Body from Home

Amidst the novel pandemic, we may find ourselves overwhelmed, confused, and scared. We know how important it is to stay home, practice social distancing and proper hand washing, but what else can we do? I want to assure you, there is plenty you can do, right now, in the comfort of your own home to support your body and immune system. As a mom and a functional nutritional therapist, I've spent the past several weeks really beefing up our normal health regime. I am taking personal responsibility to do everything I can to make sure my body is healthy. It's no one else's job other than my own. Now more than ever is a great time to create a lifestyle that deeply supports your health. In this article, I am going to share some of my top priorities so you can be proactive in making the best decisions to support your health.

1 - Hydrate you body. Dehydration will make it so much harder for you to stay well. Your lungs are made up of a very high composition of water, and as we head into spring allergies, allergy symptoms can be helped with adequate hydration. If you don't have a filter for your drinking water, get one. Municipal and well water have plenty of toxins, heavy metals, and medications that you don't want in your body if you want to stay healthy. Even something like a simple counter top carbon filter will be useful, such as a Brita. It's a good option to start with until you can get a more optimal long term solution for your home, such as this one that I use from Aqua Zero Labs. Drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of filtered water daily. EVERY DAY. Religiously. Add a good quality sea salt, such as Redmond Real Sea Salt, to your water. Start with a pinch and work up. Most people need more minerals above and beyond what is in sea salt, but it's a great place to start. Without minerals, your body won't be able to spark all it's key reactions. Sea salt is the catalyst that pushes water into your cells. If you can't get water into your cells, you will be dehydrated, and eliminate all your water through urine instead of holding on to it where it's needed.

2 - Probiotics are your gut protection. About 80% of your immune system is located in your gut. Your digestive system is the main route of contact with the external environment. It is overloaded every day with external stimuli, such as food and sometimes toxic substances such as pathogens, bacteria or viruses. If you are not yet taking a probiotic, now is a great time to start. The probiotic I recommend in my practice for the majority of my clients is MegaSporeBiotic. It's a high quality probiotic that is backed by research to help heal leaky gut, which so many of us have. You can order it HERE. Follow the directions on the bottle for how to slowly introduce it.

3 - Vitamin C is VITAL to immune function. If you missed my last article, I took a deep dive into Vitamin C and you can see it HERE. We don't store much vitamin C in our body, and we use it up quickly, so it's a good idea to eat small amounts of vitamin C throughout the day. Stock up on lemons, limes and citrus because they have a longer shelf life than other fruits.

4 - Get out in the sun. Most lifeforms need sunshine to thrive and survive and the human body is no different. A dog will instinctively lay in the sun for 30 minutes a day - you should too! Often underestimated, natural sunlight is fuel to your body. It's the best source of natural vitamin D. The more skin you can expose to mid-day sun the better, without getting burned. It’s often stated that the human body can make 10,000 to 25,000 IU of vitamin D, maybe more, in a single session of full body sun exposure. As most of us aren't getting naked in the sun, it's important to make sure you get outside every day it's sunny. Stay out for as long as you can until you are just slightly pink. This is a lifestyle habit everyone should try to create before relying on vitamin D supplements, as natural means are best. I think this is a great article of how the sun was used to treat the 1918 Influenza Pandemic.

5- Whole-food nutrition. Now more than ever it is crucial to fuel your body with nutrient-dense, whole foods. Focusing on high-quality protein, healthy fats, and vegetables in every color of the rainbow will provide your body with all of the macronutrients and micronutrients it needs to support and balance your immune system. When grocery shopping, skip the processed foods filled with refined carbohydrates and sugars, as this will put even more pressure on your immune system. Instead, prioritize pasture-raised organic eggs and poultry, grass-fed beef, wild-caught seafood, nuts, seeds, and a variety of vegetables and fruits. Meal Plan. Being at home calls for more strategy and forethought to maintain stability, and sanity. Meal planning helps my kids know what's coming and allows them to contribute to the preparation. I have found that teaching them how to make some of the basic meals and snacks has helped relieve some of my stress around preparing food. Having them learn and use their cooking skills is giving them a sense of purpose and responsibility right now in light of all the uncertainty. Enjoy family meal time, it's one of the healthiest things you can do. Sit down, eat slowly, appreciate what you created and the family time together. It's a great way to foster a calm, relaxed environment.

6 - With all of the extra time being spent at home, it may become tempting to just relax all day on the couch. While this is a really important part of stress-reduction and self-care, this sedentary lifestyle must be balanced by exercise and movement. Studies show that moderate-intensity exercise reduces inflammation and improves the immune response to respiratory viral infections. The best thing you can do right now is to head outside, get some fresh air and go for a walk or jog. Take this extra time to smell the flowers and listen to the birds! If you can’t get outside, YouTube has thousands of free exercise classes from yoga to kickboxing and everywhere in between. There are also plenty of mommy/daddy and me classes to include your children if you have littles at home.

7 - Stress-reduction and self-care may seem inconsequential at a time like this, but actually, it’s vital for your health and well-being. Stress has been shown to suppress the immune system, making it more likely that you’ll fall ill during times of high stress. To counteract this, practicing deep breathing can have positive effects on immune function in health and disease because of its ability to reduce stress. Stress reduction is a personal process that can look very different for each of us. For some, it may look like relaxing in solitude, while for others it may look like gardening, running, surfing, painting, coloring, or sewing. Whatever it looks like for you, just make sure you prioritize the time and engage in the practice of self-care by committing to doing the things you love the most.

While this novel pandemic has never touched our lives before, the important immune-boosting practices listed above have always been foundational aspects of our health. Now more than ever, the focus should be on nourishing your mind, fueling your body, and boosting your spirits.

If you are interested in receiving my health and nutrition resources delivered directly to your inbox, I invite you to sign up HERE.

Healthy Blessings,

Karri