Last night I started feeling sick. I first noticed it as I was taking my Saturday morning walk. My body felt unusually tired and I was breathing heavily from simply walking. Later in the day I noticed a feeling of dizzyness when I stood up, and that’s when I knew. I had caught something and these were the beginning symptoms of a cold or a flu. I put my entire life on hold and went into emergency action mode. 16 hours later I feel 100% recovered.

A Healthy Lifestyle Keeps Sickness at Bay

Yes, I realize that this is one of those “duh” comments. Of course living a healthy life helps you fight illness. But it’s worth stating again because how many of you actually live as healthy of a lifestyle as you should or want?

When your body is functioning at full capacity it does a wonderful job of fighting off bacteria and viral infections. That is why the flu is the most dangerous for the young and the elderly. Those two categories of people are most prone to suffering from compromised immune systems because their bodies are not functioning at 100% capacity and thus are most susceptible to viral infections from the flu.

Anything that puts stress on your body can weaken your immune system and therefore open your defenses to sickness. Sleep deprivation, under-eating, drinking alcohol, and even excessive exercise. Yes, even excessive exercise can lead to sickness. Mark Sisson in his book Primal Blueprint said he used to average four upper-respiratory infections per year while he was training as a world-class marathon runner, and he attributes that excessive sickness to the fact that he was putting his body under more stress than he gave it time to recover from, and thus was constantly compromising his immune system.

The best thing you can do to avoid illness and reduce the amount of time you spend sick is to get plenty of rest, eat a diet of unprocessed proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and supplement your diet with a multi-vitamin, vitamin D, and vitamin C.

Super Immune Boosting Shake

The first thing I did when I started feeling sick was to make a fruit smoothie meal replacement shake. When you get sick you almost always lose your appetite but eating is the BEST immediate action you can take. Your body needs energy and fuel to fight off the illness. By forcing down as many calories as possible in an easy to digest form(like a smoothie) you give your body the calories it needs to mount the most effective defense that it can.

Immune Boosting Shake recipe:

• Two small oranges – “Cuties” – high vitamin C content
• 25-50g of protein
• 4 tblsp of flax seed – for fiber and omega-3 content
• 2 tblsp coconut oil – Calorie dense and coconuts have great immune boosting properties
• 1 cup blueberries – packed with antioxidants
• 1 cup coconut milk

“Coconut oil is used for diabetes, heart disease, chronic fatigue, Crohn’s disease,irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Alzheimer’s disease, thyroid conditions, energy, and boosting the immune system.” -Web MD

Sweat It Out!

Do you have a fever? FANTASTIC!

“Fever is the body’s normal response to infection — it’s a natural defense mechanism,” says Janice Sullivan, a professor of pediatric clinical care and clinical pharmacology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and a co-author of the report. She says that a high temperature triggers the body’s production of infection-fighting white blood cells and inhibits the growth of viruses and bacteria. “If you lower the fever, you may be affecting the body’s ability to respond to that infection.” – Washington Post

The best thing to do while you have a fever is to drink lots of water, eat as many calories as you can(from healthy unprocessed foods, eating fast food/junk food would only put further strain on your body), and trying to sleep as best you can. Don’t watch TV. Don’t try to play games. Just REST fully. Turn off all distractions and try to sleep. Even if you are not able to completely fall asleep or stay asleep for more than an hour at a time your body is still much better able cope with the illness without extraneous stimulation revving up your adrenal glands.

One caveat- if your fever reaches 103 or lasts for more than 12 hours continuously then it’s time to see a doctor. 

I went to bed Saturday after I had eaten as much food as I could stomach(I made a potato, carrot, onion, garlic, and pork stew after I had my super immune boosting shake). I woke up every hour. Every time I woke up I would drink half a liter of water then go back to sleep. Your body uses your waste disposal systems to flush out toxins and this process is vital to helping you overcome the cold or flu. This is why you always hear the old adage to “drink lots of water.” Your body uses more water when you are sick both to fuel the work your ramped up immune system is performing and also to help the body flush out toxins. Therefore it is vital that you consciously drink more water when you are sick.

It is better to wake up every hour to pee than sleep through the night uninterrupted and be completely dehydrated in the morning.

Final Thoughts

Your body has fantastic defenses against every disease and virus known to man- IF you give it the support that it needs to function properly  Humans are not meant to live sickly and infirmed lives. We are designed to be vital beings. With sensible exercise, proper nutrition, plenty of rest, and a positive outlook on life you can almost eliminate disease and sickness.

Thinking back, in the past two years, I have been sick of a total of two days(counting my brief sickness Saturday). And both of those instances occurred because I was sleep deprived(I’ve been waking up at 5am every-day, regardless of when I go to bed, and last Wednesday through Saturday I had gotten an average of 4.5 hours of sleep each night).

Get rid of this idea that illness is a natural course of life. Illness is a sign that you are not giving your body the rest and support it requires to function fully. We can all live lives full of energy and vitality. The first step is to decide to change.