Tag Archives: immunity

Immune Health for the Winter Season

With colder months approaching, we will be thinking again of how to naturally make the most from our immune systems and what can we do, from a food and supplement perspective to give us the greatest fight to boost our immune health for the Winter Season against colds, flu, stress and indeed day-to-day living.

Here are a few top tips we as a team use to give that extra boost!

Protein intake:

Protein in the diet isn’t just responsible for maintenance and building of muscle tissue, but also for optimal immune health. Protein breaks down in our bodies to amino acids and these individual amino acids are used by our white blood cells to fight off and clean up the body and to keep you ready and able to stay healthy.

Protein recommendations vary, but a good rule of thumb is 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight, for example a 60kg person (male or female) would want to ingest at least 90grams of protein per day.

Vitamin D:

Vitamin D is a very active prohormone in the body, with 100’s of functions and not least as an immune protectant. Unfortunately, vitamin D from UVB rays diminish from September onwards to April in Ireland so we must either get it from our diet or from supplementation. Dietary vitamin D for most people is hard to achieve, due to the fact we don’t consume wild Atlantic salmon or liver on a regular basis, so a daily supplement of 2000iu of vitamin D takes care of the job nicely. Vitamin D takes a while to build up in our cells, so  we need to start early to reap the benefits.

Stress:

Stress comes in many forms, mental, physical, spiritual, chemical etc… This is something many of us cannot avoid. There are a multitude of ways people deal with all types of stress, but here are a few ways we can proactively deal with all types of stress.

B-complex: B vitamins are used in energy metabolism, breaking down foods into energy, but another function of certain  B vitamins is to repair our adrenal glands, which release our stress hormones. A daily B complex (which is a mix of many of the B vitamins), makes sure you have the building blocks to repair and restore your stress hormones aiding in fighting off fatigue and dips in your immune health.

Talk to any of our trainers about these protocols and get up to date with taking your immune health and well-being into your own hands this Winter season!