How to boost your immune system

One of the things I talk about with my patients a lot is building and boosting their immune system. People
are concerned about colds and flus. People are concerned about time away from work, themselves or their
children, having to leave, and so, with the immune system, there are a couple of things that are very
important.
 
One of the most important things to have a strong immune system is stress management. So you have to
make sure that your immune system gets suppressed whenever you feel stressed, whether it’s physical
stress because you are running from place to place to place to place, you are not giving yourself time to
relax, or it’s mental stress or emotional stress that’s being put on you, the job, or all of your responsibilities.
 
So, stress management is very important. Take time. Slow down. Take a break. It gives your immune
system time to recuperate, rebuild and protect you, because that’s the purpose of your immune system.
 
Eating a whole foods diet--very important to build and boost your immune system, and so you want to make
sure that you are eating foods that are good for you, that your snacks are fruits and vegetables and trail mix
as opposed to processed food, junk food, potato chips, etcetera. So you want to make sure that that’s really
important part of that as well because your immune system is what provides you the opportunity to do all the
things that you want to do in your daily life, in your vacation life, in your family life. So you really want to
make sure that that surveillance system is up and running.
 
People have had concerns about that, particularly cold, flu season, swine flu, those kinds of concerns. And if
you keep your immune system healthy, you don’t need to have your flu shot every month because your body
is able to stave off those problems that otherwise would make you sick.