Naturally Boosting Your Immunity // Nature > Chemicals
The issues of health and immunity are hot topics right now for obvious reasons. Navigating the decisions that we make for ourselves and our families at this time in history can be incredibly difficult and overwhelming. Over the course of the next few weeks, I will share my thoughts about naturally boosting your immunity, as opposed to using chemicals or vaccines to do so–or also in doing them in tandem with vaccines.
I have never before in my 37 years of life seen a medical recommendation rushed, pushed, forced and coerced as this COVID vaccine has been. I am not here to argue about it or to get deep into the politics of it. What I want to do is shed light on another–equally important and effective–method of boosting your immunity and protecting yourself from illness and viruses. That method is naturally boosting your immunity through nutrition and lifestyle choices.
A Preface on Vaccines
Before I go on, it is really important to pause here and share that I am not anti-vaccine. I am pro-vaccine when it comes to necessary, safe vaccination. Although there is no such thing as truly safe vaccination. Vaccine-reaction and vaccine-injury are always possibilities, but reactions and injuries are always a possibility anywhere in life. And surely vaccines have been integral to helping humanity when it comes to many of the diseases that were once crippling or fatal that we have now eliminated or drastically reduced through the use of vaccination. However, I believe there is a necessary balance. We must not rely strictly on vaccines to to keep our immunity strong.
I have always been what I call, “Middle of the Road” when it comes to vaccines. My children are fully vaccinated per the CDC’s recommended guidelines (with the exception of flu vaccines); however we did not follow the CDC’s recommended schedule for vaccination. Whereas, the CDC recommends that children begin to receive vaccines on the day they are born, I do not begin to vaccinate my children until 3-months-old. Whereas the CDC recommends giving children up to 6 separate vaccines at a time, I do not give my children more than 1 vaccine at a time; except when it comes to combined doses in which case they receive one combined dose and no additional vaccines at that time.
Further, it is my belief that here in the US, the bodies that make recommendations regarding our health have gone completely awry. Instead of making wellness the priority, making money is the priority. I believe we can see this with unquestionable clarity when we look closely at what is recommended and/or allowed (the over prescription of pharmaceuticals, toxic chemical food additives, carcinogenic pesticide treatment of produce, and so on) versus what is not allowed and/or recommended nearly enough (organic, whole foods, unobstructed fresh air, adequate hydration, exercise & movement, natural herbs & supplements, and so on). If these governing bodies truly card about our health, there would be a major focus on the second list and the items on the first list would simply be banned for the most part. Period.
I don’t want to focus anymore on vaccines in this post, but if you are looking for more information on vaccines, I recently shared a video on Instagram explaining my stance on the COVID vaccine which you can view here if you are interested. And I also have written at length about my vaccine position many years ago when I was still pregnant with Marina. You can read that post here: The Great Vaccine Debate: A Middle of the Road Stance.
Natural Living vs. Chemical Destruction
I could write a novel on this topic, but for the purposes of this post, I am going to keep it relatively simple and share ways that we can boost our immunity naturally. Then I will dive deeper into a few of these areas in upcoming posts. For the most part, the recommendations that I am going to share are completely simple, free, and accessible to everyone.
A brief history of how we got here. If you think about it, humans have been living on the earth for tens of thousands of years. We have been thriving, evolving and expanding. Whether you believe that we were divinely created by God and thus the keepers of God-given, divinely created immune systems; or whether you believe in the science that says we evolved from the earliest humans who lived between 6 and 2 million years ago in Africa–it is no matter. In either case, our species has surely been living and thriving on this planet for a very long time.
For all of that time, we were doing something right! We were strong, healthy and able. We populated and dominated the earth. Of course there was injury, illness and death. But for the most part, free from accidents, we lived healthy lives. It is not until the last century that we began to witness an epidemic of horrific illness cropping up–heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, and others–devastating the lives of countless people. And all of these being truly man-created illness. They simply did not exist (at least not en masse) before we started meddling with the natural order of things. Today things have spiraled so far out of control that sometimes it feels as though we are moving toward inevitable destruction, both to our species and to our planet.
Again, whether you believe in God or science, you will agree that there is a natural order to things. There are plants and animals on this earth and we are designed (whether by God or by science) to eat them in their natural forms. So many good things come from the earth–fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, and so on. When we ate these good things straight from the earth unpolluted; when we breathed fresh air (unobstructed by pollution); when we drank clean water (unobstructed by pollution); when we spent much time moving our bodies and soaking in the light of the sun–we were healthy. If we do these things today, we will be healthy.
Unfortunately, it is not that simple. We are living in a society that would prevent us from doing these things at every turn. But that doesn’t mean that we should not try. We have to try! If you make them a priority, these things are possible. Yes, you have to go against the grain often. You have to advocate for yourself. It can be a little more expensive than the garbage that this society would have you eat and drink. It can be a little more time-consuming, too. But I promise you that it is worth it. After all, if you don’t have your health and your family’s health–do you really have anything at all?
7 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Immunity
1. Whole, Organic Food: This is as simple as it gets in theory, quite difficult in practice. Whole foods are foods taken straight from the earth, unchanged, unaltered, unprocessed. An apple is a whole food. A squeeze pouch of applesauce that has been boiled down to remove its fiber and vitamins and then mixed in with processed sugars and chemical preservatives is not a whole food. Do you see the difference? Whole foods = straight from the earth. Processed foods = modified by man. I’ve written more about whole foods here if you want to dive a little deeper.
2. Adequate Hydration: 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. Do a little research and find out how much water your body needs to be adequately hydrated. The impact of chronic dehydration is severe and this is such an easy one to amend. Just drink enough water!
Short-term side effects include: dry mouth, decreased sweating or urination, dark-colored urine, dry skin, feeling tired, hair loss, and dizziness. It is also proven that dehydration drastically impacts our ability to concentrate and focus.
Long-term side effects include: decreased blood volume, increased blood viscosity, decreased urine output (thereby increasing the amount of waste products within body), decreased electrolytes, decreased kidney function.
3. Physical Movement
4. Sunshine & Fresh Air
5. Healing & Peace
6. 7 Hours of Sleep a Night
7. Cultivate a Healthy Microbiome (Good Gut Health)
I am going to do deep dives into those last 5 areas in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
. On the return flight, I finished it. It was my introduction to Seth Godin—no idea why I hadn’t found him sooner!—and what an introduction it was. The book blew me away. It is the best book on leadership and change management that I’ve ever read. While the content is sure to inspire change of the greatest sort within any organization—from business to church, non-profit to learning institution—it is also of incredible value to individuals.
generation. 
