What Immunity Means and How To Boost It? By Dr.Soman

Maintaining a healthy immune system is especially important for all of us at this time. Everyone talks about it, but only a few of us really understand what immunity means and how we can truly improve and strengthen our immune system.

So we collaborated with Dr. Sangeeta Soman (M.D.) specialist in nutrition, and broke down immunity into three easy parts to help you understand all about it:

How Does Immunity Work?

• In certain situations of animal virus epidemics or pandemics, immunity is not a guarantee to prevent attack.
• The human body does not have those types of antibodies to fight animal borne viruses like COVID-19, hence the stress goes to the fighting elements of the body – white blood cells (WBCs)
• By boosting immunity, we strengthen the action of the WBCs. This helps the body respond to medication better and reduce the intensity of viral infections.

How Does One Build And Boost Immunity?

• Improved Diet, Exercise and Lifestyle Changes can certainly boost immunity.
• Vitamins A, C, D, E  and minerals such as zinc and phytonutrients like flavonoids are essential. We can attain these by consuming the following foods;
  • 1 citrus fruit such as oranges, sweet lemon, pineapple, strawberries, black grapes, kiwi, etc.
  • 1 other type of fruit such as banana, papaya, musk melon, water melon, apple, pear, guava, etc.
  • Wholegrains such as brown, black or red rice, jowar, ragi, wheat, amaranth, bajra, etc.
  • Eggs – preferably hard boiled and not more than 1 at a time and not more than 2-3 eggs per week.
  • Green leafy vegetables – cooked measure of 150 grams during lunch or dinner. These include spinach, methi, dil leaves, drumstick leaves, greens of spring onions, etc.
  • Milk products – 100 grams daily, of plain curd or 100 grams of buttermilk.
• Coming to Exercise, it is important in order to keep physical and mental health in place.
  • Yogasanas, pranayam, functional exercise and walking in the house are some ways of attaining this.
• Finally, coming to Wellness, it is important to do things to keep your mind distracted and active such as practising new or old hobbies, listening to music and meditating.
• It is also vital to sleep for a minimum of 8 hours a day in a timely manner, in order to maintain the body clock and keep up with its circadian rhythm. This helps all the organs to function at their highest efficiency.

What Can One Take Away From This In Order To Understand Immunity Better?

• Immunity is the body’s mechanism that works with WBCs and antibodies to fight microbes entered in the system.
• One cannot pop a pill or eat and diet excessively and instantly raise immunity. However, putting sustainable, healthy practices into place can boost immunity significantly in the long run.
• Immunity takes a minimum of 3 months to 1 year to come into action to fight microbes. One must follow a disciplined diet and exercise regime throughout life to always have a high immunity.
• Usually, senior citizens and children below the age of 12 have fluctuating immunity, even though they have a good regime, because of their constant increasing or decreasing growth patterns.

We hope after reading this, you gain a better perspective on immunity. We wish all our customers and followers great health always.