Read below for 3 ways to build your immune system, with or without Covid on the planet. Be sure to tell others about these tips, too! We need to help each other stay healthy!
The 3 best ways all of us can build up our immune system (which is the major function of the lymphatic system):
1. Exercise! Move your body, especially the largest muscles in the body, namely the quadriceps and the glutes. Any muscle movement helps push lymph up to the terminus, or ending point, at the throat. However, moving the quads and glutes will really speed things up! What exercises can you do that focus on the quads and glutes?
–Running
–Brisk walking
–Squats
–Stairs
–Marching in place
–Rebounder
Even big, slow arm circles, or reaching to the sky and then bringing your fists to shoulder level, or twisting at the waist will increase the flow of lymphatic fluid to the throat. Do several minutes of exercise every day, preferably at least 30 minutes, and preferably exercises that make you a little out of breath.
Exactly how does exercising move lymphatic fluid? The lymph system has no pump, so the only way the lymph moves is when neighboring muscle bundles stretch and contract and bump into the tiny lymphatic vessels, agitating them, waking them up so to speak, and causing them to start squeezing lymph up into the next chamber inside the vessels. This rhythmic pumping and squeezing happens continuously until the fluid reaches two veins at the throat. Then, the lymphatic fluid enters into the heart and lungs, where it mixes with the blood, travels through the body a second time mixed with the circulatory system, eventually making its way to the kidneys and the excess is urinated out!
2. Deep belly breathing. This is sometimes called diaphragmatic breathing, and you may be familiar with similar protocols from meditation, yoga, or Pilates classes. You can do this standing, sitting, or lying supine (on your back). Take long, slow inhalations and exhalations. As you inhale, imagine your entire body expanding and push your abdominal section in an exaggerated manner out as far as it will go. Don’t hold your breath at the top, but as you slowly exhale, also evenly squeeze your abdominal muscles tighter and tighter as if air is leaving that area. Make your abs as small and tight as possible at the end of the exhale. Repeat several times, and do the entire sequence whenever you think of it during the day. See this in action in my YT video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjlofwO4QjE
3. Have several Manual Lymphatic Drainage Therapy (MLD) sessions. See the link on the left column pertaining to Lymphatic Drainage. You can hire a mobile therapist to come to your home or apartment, or you can travel to your therapist’s studio. Make sure your therapist is either a Certified Manual Lymphatic Drainage Therapist (CMLDT) or Certified Lymphedema Therapist (CLT)! There are only about ten institutes in the US that certify therapists in this modality. These institutes are NOT massage schools, but only certify health professionals to perform lymphatic drainage and decongestive therapy for a variety of medical conditions. Do not hire or go to a massage therapist who has merely taken a weekend class at massage school and who has a certificate of completion. That is not the same as being certified. Do not go to a spa that advertises “Lymphatic Massage”. That is a clue that they are not certified, since there is no such thing as Lymphatic Massage. It does get confusing, but your health is very important and you want to see only someone qualified. Ask your therapist, if they say they have lymphatic drainage therapy training, what letters they have after their name and which institute certified them. See my YouTube video, “Does Your Lymphatic Drainage Therapist Have the Right Credentials?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqpR2kiCPYM&t=5s
Note: there are only three mobile certified lymphatic drainage therapists in the San Fernando Valley, and I am one of them. I am the only certified mobile therapist covering the Santa Clarita Valley. There is a small handful of certified therapists in the Valleys who have a studio you can travel to for your sessions. Please contact me and I’d be happy to let you know where they are. Also, if you’d like to tell relatives around the country about this important therapy but they don’t know how to find someone certified, you or they can contact me. I keep lists and directories and/or know where to look online. One directory is www.instagram.com/lymphaticprofessionals.
Here are some dietary tips from my naturopath:
Reduce your sugar intake.
Sugar feeds microbes like viruses so reducing your sugar will reduce the speed in which a bug can take hold. Watch the amount of carbohydrates that you put on your plate and always fill half your plate with vegetables before putting the grains/carbs on the plate.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C was shown to reduce virus replication by 82% in the SARS-CoV. The SARS-CoV virus is a close cousin to the current virus with 79% similarities so I am suggesting Vitamin C is a good choice for slowing this current virus. I am recommending food-based sources of vitamin C like brightly colored fruits and vegetables and dark leafy greens as well as supplementation with 500 mg a day for kids and 1000-2000 mg a day for adults.
Potassium:
Research shows that people with more severe forms of disease had low potassium levels. We do not know if the virus is depleting the potassium or these are patients who had lower potassium to begin with. To be safe I am recommending that you boost your food sources of potassium including bananas, winter squashes like pumpkin, butternut and acorn squash, sweet potato, broccoli, melons, meat, fish and legumes.
Zinc:
Zinc is important for your immune system to be able to fight any attack. Zinc is specifically shown with the coronavirus to inhibit the binding and elongation of the virus. Zinc can be used in two ways, daily capsules to boost your levels or lozenges to reduce the binding of the virus in your throat when you first have symptoms. Zinc capsules can be taken as 25 mg a day or zinc lozenges of 10-15 mg per lozenge.
Vitamin D:
I recommend 5000 IU a day for adults and 1-2000 IU daily for kids to support your immune system. Research shows that lower vitamin D levels result in worse symptoms for cold/flu as well as other viruses like Hepatitis B, EBV, and HIV so I can feel pretty confident that boosting your vitamin D will be helpful.
Vitamin A:
Vitamin A promotes healthy lung cells to create a strong barrier to airborne pathogens so increase your vitamin A rich foods like dark leafy greens like kale, collards, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts and orange-colored foods like winter squashes, sweet potatoes, carrots. Vitamin A supplements should only be used if you have spoken to me first as vitamin A can cause toxicity and is NOT recommended in pregnancy or if you might get pregnant.