Boost Your Immunity
Your Best Chance of
Not Catching Anything!
By Huw Griffiths
Hopefully, we have all been seeing the recent media activity over avian flu for what it really is: a skillful, if rather blunt, blockbuster promotion for the pharmaceutical companies who are being called upon by the global medical industry and several Western governments to develop vast, expensive and unnecessary reserves of vaccines that will be jabbed, poked and variously insinuated into human bodies at the first sign of avian flu being passed from human to human.
Had the general public not already been primed with the knowledge that the specific and correct virus strain must first be identified, I wouldn’t have been surprised if we had already been frog-marched through some kind of compulsory (yet ineffective) prophylactic immunisation program.
Sadly, we are taught to be highly dependant on drugs and the institutions that dispense them. In order that we beat a path to safety’s door, we are whipped up with buzz words of impending doom and are urged to prepare to rush out and get vaccinated against whatever is out to get us, lest ‘it’ turns into a pandemic and kill us in our millions. We even read now of the possibility of a compulsory vaccination programme being imposed here in Australia.
Well not if I have anything to do with it!
Yes, pandemics do happen and it’s true they may well happen again, but to be realistic about current prospects (as opposed to the central message that is being put across at the moment), there are no signs whatsoever the flu strain has found a way to transmit from human to human, and even had it done so, it almost certainly isn’t going to indiscriminately destroy vast swathes of the human race.
In the last couple of months I have seen, read and heard dozens of articles that talk of ‘worst possible scenarios’ as if they are not only probable but impending, yet the reality is that any large scale flu virus, just like any of the others that have gone before, will target the same human groups that it always has: the elderly, the young, the infirm, the ill, the undernourished and the stressed-out (which sounds rather like the population profile of Europe shortly after the World War One and probably goes a long way to explaining why the 1918 flu pandemic was so devastating).
Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely, I have read a mere handful of newsworthy articles that correctly identify the one crucial issue that should and could determine whether or not we will individually fall victim to flu this or any other year. I’m talking about our personal immunity and the many different things that we can do as individuals to raise our resistance to disease.
This isn’t an impossible dream, but we do have to make a significant commitment and sometimes disciplined personal effort instead of waiting for our GPs to provide us with a silver bullet cure.
Naturopathy is in a unique kind of position here, as it employs a general approach to disease prevention that just isn’t available from conventional medicine. The avian flu vaccine, if and when it happens, will most likely be based on one specific strain of the virus and can only be produced once that specific strain has been identified. It will be totally useless against anything else. Whereas boosting one’s immunity through naturopathic techniques lifts your resistance to infections and disease at a totally general level, thereby protecting yourself more effectively from just about everything going regardless.
So here is a means by which naturopathy can play not only a genuinely preventative role, but can offer an approach which enables us to apply much more direct control over our health and in a way that allows us to avoid the horrendously expensive and side-effect prone option that conventional medicine currently offers.
Herbs have the advantage of comprising highly complex organic constituents that are simply not as vulnerable to being overcome by these common infections in the way antibiotics are. In fact, the transformation of some simple infections into so-called super bugs such as golden staph due to the overuse and abuse of antibiotics has effectively deprived conventional medicine of its primary weapon against general infection. It currently has very little to offer the public except, apparently, hysteria and fear.
The pharmaceutical industry treats every newly evolved virus as a potential and serious threat to society which must be brought under control. The fly in the ointment is that it must do so not only at a profit, but with a product it can trademark (which totally rules out raw herbal preparations).Yet despite pouring billions of dollars into numerous research programmes, the medical industry has still not managed to find an effective cure for the common cold virus.
This doesn’t exactly put me in my comfort zone! How about you?
Fortunately, however, there are quite a lot of things you can do for yourself to boost your own immunity and the use of herbs can be particularly beneficial when it comes to doing so. It does take a bit of personal effort and as with most naturopathic approaches, works better when applied in combination with other lifestyle adjustments.
A well balanced, preferably organic, wholefood diet with a sensibly planned regular exercise routine and a good handle on stress reduction and emotional control, can vastly improve your chances of resisting disease.
Remember that the occasional infection is not necessarily a bad thing. A key benefit of an improved immune system is not that one doesn’t ever catch anything, but that when you do it is short lived, much milder in its impact and leaves your body in much better shape to deal with a similar infection another day.
So if you’re interested in doing something for yourself to improve your immune system, firstly bear in mind:
• When high risk groups are involved (the aged, the weak, the young etc.), they need extra-sensitive care. Make sure they are attended by a professional practitioner.
• There are no magic bullets in naturopathy. Natural remedies take time and usually effort, but in the long run they deliver the goods.
• If you feel you are under increased risk such as a virus doing the rounds or you feel run down, then that is the best time to enhance your immune system, not once you have caught something!
• If you are the type that catches anything going, be particularly disciplined about maintaining an ongoing immune system-boosting program. Do the exercises and take the supplements on a regular basis. Don’t get too engrossed in it, just remember this is lifestyle we’re talking about here not panic reaction.
• When we are talking about boosting immunity we’re not just thinking in terms of the flu or the next pandemic. A balanced and healthy immune system will help any condition, whether acute, chronic or degenerative. So whether it’s the sniffles, sinusitis, arthritis or even cancer, there are few conditions that will not respond positively to a healthier and stronger immune system.
• If you either live or work in what you know to be a polluted environment, but can’t change your circumstances, then don’t wait for signs or symptoms of illness. Get going with an immunity boosting program now!
So here is what you can do about it...
Detox:
Not everyone’s cup of tea, but there are gentle as well as more radical ways of doing this and even the former can show marked and effective resistance to infection very quickly. For example:
• Drink plenty of good clean filtered water. Apart from hydration, this helps to flush invading micro-organisms through the digestive tract.
• Take a liver stimulating herb. One of the liver’s main functions is to detoxify the rest of your body and most of us abuse it.
Supplements:
Don’t buy everything in sight or you will just end up with very expensive urine. Ask your naturopath what your specific needs are, but think in terms of:
• High potency vitamin C with flavonoids.
• Vitamins A and E, which are powerful anti-oxidants (but be cautious if you are pregnant or thinking of becoming so).
• High potency multi-vitamin and minerals (a professionally prepared one from your naturopath. More expensive, but worth it).
• Zinc, because it serves a vital role in immune system reactions.
• Selenium, which is now recognised as a great augmentor and restorer of immune functions.
Lifestyle and diet:
• Stop or reduce smoking.
• Lose weight, but sensibly.
• Reduce stress levels by either ejecting the sources of stress from your life, or via exercise, yoga, qi gong or meditation (and in case it is a serious source of concern for you, avian flu is not about to decimate the human race).
• Take rest when you need it.
• Watch alcohol consumption.
• Iron supplementation (if you know you are deficient).
• Increased fruit and vegetables in the diet.
• Prepare food with immune stimulating herbs such as onions, garlic, beetroot, carrots, yams and watercress (but there are loads more. For information email me).
Herbs:
• Echinacea: The most commonly recognised immune-stimulating herb across a wide range of conditions.
• Elderberries: Known to improve rates of recovery from flu symptoms.
• Marigold: A good all round immune system optimiser that is especially good for skin infections.
• Myrrh: A brilliant anti-microbial that also stimulates production of white blood cells (crucial to immune system function).
• St. John’s Wort: Very effective against so-called ‘enveloped’ viruses.
• Siberian Ginseng: Which stimulates both mental and physical faculties (but don’t take it once you are already ill).
There are of course many other appropriate herbs and your naturopath may well recommend them in your case. Importantly though, it is you the ‘individual’ who dictates your needs and not necessarily the disease, so trust your naturopath especially in this day and age of media misinformation.
Next time we’ll talk about maintaining and improving our circulatory system with naturopathy.
Huw Griffiths is a British-born naturopath who came to Australia in the early ‘90’s with his wife and two sons. His interest and passion for natural and traditional health therapies was developed and nurtured alongside an international career in marketing and communications. He currently lives in Melbourne. You can contact Huw by email at cnrstonehealth@optusnet.com.au.
The above article appears in
New Dawn No. 95 (March-April 2006) |
