Improve Your Immunity

It seems like everyone is concerned about staying healthy and flighting the flu this season.  A healthy diet, combined with a healthy lifestyle can greatly improve your body's ability to fight infection and disease. To ensure that your diet is high supports a healthy immune system, focus on these nutritional immunity boosters:

Vitamin C

500-100mg twice daily.  Vitamin C can be obtained from oranges, grapefruits, orange juice, tomatoes, and bell peppers.  I like to take EMERGEN C in my morning smoothie, or in a small amount of water each morning to ensure an adequate Vitamin C intake.  It is interesting to note that smoking, stress, and excessive sugar consumption can interfere with your body's ability to utilize Vitamin C.

Zinc

30 mg daily.  Zinc is a trace mineral that serves a vital role in immunity and has been shown in some studies to reduce the average length of the common cold.  Pumpkin seeds are a good source of zinc from the diet.  Also, oysters, red meat, and whole grains.

Yogurt /Acidophilus

Unpasturaized yogurt contains acidophilus, a healthy bacteria that fights fungus related infections.    Or you can take acidophilus in supplement form of 20 mg twice a day.  Another great anti fungal:  garlic

Flavonoids

31 g daily.  Flavonoids are part of plants that act like vitamins except that they are not essential for life.  These compounds have strong anti-viral properties.  They may also protect against certain types of cancer.  Good dietary sources of flavonoids are  citrus fruits, berries, red wine, tomatoes, tomato juice, grape juice, cranberry juice, onion, parsley and green tea.

All of the nutrients mentioned above can be taken in supplement form.   I recommend Optibiotic as a supplement for Immune support.

Each two tablets provide:

	Vitamin A (Palmitate)	10,000 I.U.	200% US RDA
	Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)	500 mg	435% US RDA
	Vitamin B-6 (Pyridoxine HCI)	15 mg	750% US RDA
	Mangnesium (Amino Acid Chelate)	15 mg	4% US RDA
	Zinc (Gluconate)	15 mg	100% US RDA
	Bioflavinoids (Citrus)	500 mg	Not Established
	Echinacea angustifolia and purpurea (root, seed, freeze dried root)	455 mg	Not Established
	Garlic bulb (Allium sativum)	195 mg	Not Established
	Myrrh resin (Commiphora myrrha)	190 mg	Not Established
	Ginger root (Zingiber spp.)	97 mg	Not Established
	Cayenne fruit (Capsicum annuum)	65 mg	Not Established

I found optibiotic on line at:

http://www.houstonnaturalbirth.com/vitamins.shtml

Or you can purchase it locally at Sopris Chiropractic in Basalt and Carbondale