Original Recording - Ep.66
===
Christa: [00:00:00] So the skin is, one of the largest organs on our body. So taking care of your skin is important because that really does protect us.
[00:00:08] Without your skin, yeah, but we would be exposed. Burn victims are so susceptible to infection for that reason, right? Like we have to [00:00:16] have that good, strong barrier. So taking care of your skin, those are some of the foundational things that I say, okay, this is the first line of our [00:00:24] immunity.
Welcome to the wild and well, a collective podcast where we believe empowered health is your [00:00:32] superpower. We have combined our expertise in medicine and nutrition to bring you the latest research, expert insights and success stories of people on a mission [00:00:40] to live a big life. So buckle up and get ready to learn how to live wildly [00:00:48] well.
Christa: So today I'd like to talk a little bit about immunity and immune support, not only because we're [00:00:56] entering the winter season that oftentimes comes with just health shifts in some people. But beyond that, I want to dive a [00:01:04] little bit into why it's important to support our immunity for. Decreasing cancer risk and autoimmunity risk among many [00:01:12] other things, but immunity and our immune system is pivotal foundational to life.
Right. So I [00:01:20] think this could be an interesting conversation.
Sheree: I think when we think about immune system, we go, Oh, I'm not someone that gets sick all the time, or I, I'm someone that's really, really prone to [00:01:28] sickness, right. Or you get to cold season, you get to flu season, you guys are heading into winter.
We're heading into summer. And Like over here in side of the world, but there's [00:01:36] also all the seasonal changes. There's also, the allergies that pop up. And like you mentioned, there's things like the cancers and the auto immunities that doesn't matter with what time [00:01:44] of year you're in.
Your body is constantly, your body is constantly trying to protect you and trying to support you. And so Krista, I'd love to know, [00:01:52] I know this is an area that you do specialize in a little bit more than I do. What are the key things? Like if you were to pick. 3 [00:02:00] top things that people come to you for when they're looking at trying to rebuild or re strengthen their immune system, where would they start?
Christa: Well, I think [00:02:08] 1st, it's important to recognize our body's 1st line defense and make sure that those are all intact. So our body's 1st line offense [00:02:16] of defense is our alkalinity of our blood, which our body. naturally does, keeps it very, very tightly [00:02:24] regulated. That's the pH balance of our blood.
That's optimal for normal cells, not optimal for cancer cells, even not optimal for bacteria. [00:02:32] So that's a safety mechanism that our body's pretty good at doing on its own. The next one would be stomach acid. And I think, a lot of people they're put on [00:02:40] PPI, something to disrupt stomach acid production, and that's actually doing a disservice on multiple layers.
So I always [00:02:48] encourage. People to work towards getting off of those, if possible, there's always some outliers that really need to be on it. But for the most part, there's work [00:02:56] that we can do to try to get off of these medications because stomach acid is really important to go off the bacteria. We're eating the environment, right?
[00:03:04] Like, we're eating things that are not in a sterile environment, which means we're eating bacteria, potential viruses, et cetera. And we need that good, strong stomach acid. [00:03:12] Yeah, I mean, not only to break down our food, but also to kill off the bacteria. Right? So dual action. Everyone have good, strong stomach acid.
Also [00:03:20] recognizing we have, cilia in our nose. We have cilia in our lungs. We have cilia in our intestines. So that's a really cool feature [00:03:28] that we have that kind of traps bacteria. And then the skin. So the skin is, one of the largest organs on our body. So [00:03:36] taking care of your skin is important because that really does protect us.
Without your skin, yeah, but we would be exposed. Burn victims [00:03:44] are so susceptible to infection for that reason, right? Like we have to have that good, strong barrier. So taking care of your [00:03:52] skin, those are some of the foundational things that I say, okay, this is the first line of our immunity.
Beyond that, then we want to look at [00:04:00] nutrition because are we giving our body the building blocks is a question that we should all be asking ourselves. [00:04:08] Greens, a colorful plate really is not only going to inoculate your body. But also gives our body the building blocks for, vitamin C, vitamin D, minerals like [00:04:16] zinc, selenium, all of those are really important for healthy immune cell and a [00:04:24] healthy immune response.
And if you can't get the nutrition in or you're like, there's probably some gaps that need to be filled then. Taking a [00:04:32] daily supplement that helps to support some of those aspects definitely vitamin D, vitamin C maybe, magnesium, those kinds of things that really support [00:04:40] the immune system.
So those are the foundational things that I like to start out with just a little bit of education around, like, take care of these pieces of your body. [00:04:48] That's the 1st line of defense. And then how are you supporting with lifestyle specifically nutrition 1st, right? And then supplementation [00:04:56] 2nd.
Sheree: Okay, so can we talk about the alkalinity of the blood?
Because I feel like there's a lot of hype around this. There's, you should be eating these sorts [00:05:04] of foods, you should be drinking the alkaline water, you should be, you should, there's a lot of shoulds, right? And it can create a lot of fear and a lot of fear around foods and not [00:05:12] doing the right things.
What are some of the ways that we can actually get our blood to the alkalinity, or is our body just amazing at regulating it as long as we're [00:05:20] putting the right nutrients in? Like, tell me more.
Christa: Yeah, so our blood is tightly regulated with acid and, acidic base. So we're not looking to [00:05:28] shift the blood necessarily, because that would be dangerous.
We have to stay at a specific pH constantly there. But what we can do is change a [00:05:36] little bit of the alkalinity around the tissues. And so that's where the fact of the matter is cancer cells thrive in an acidic environment, [00:05:44] whereas normal cells don't. And so we don't want to have an acidic environment.
And so you can do green leafy vegetables [00:05:52] are one, like you mentioned alkaline water. I mean, There are some things that you can do to maybe create a little bit more of the [00:06:00] surrounding tissues. But the truth is, you're not going to change the pH of your blood. That's tightly regulated, and unless there's a disease process going on that [00:06:08] is not going to shift.
But, you don't wanna be creating more of an acidic environment eating thing, processed foods, sugars, alcohols, that can [00:06:16] create a little bit more of that environment and inflammation in the cells surrounding the blood.
Sheree: Yeah. And so like, then there's the concept of, okay, [00:06:24] well, coffee's quite acidic or lemon's quite acidic.
Can we abolish some of the myths around that as well? That like Mm-Hmm. . Eating those things are gonna then [00:06:32] therefore make the blood acidic, right? That's not the, what's happening.
Christa: No, directly to the blood, very, very, like I said, tightly regulated. [00:06:40] Stomach acids, insanely acidic, right?
Our body neutralizes. things. There are some foods that can aggravate heartburn and things like that and [00:06:48] exacerbate that. But as far as like the actual pH of the blood, we're not going to shift that unless there's something else going on in the body that's not regulating that [00:06:56] appropriately.
But I will say when it comes to the gut microbiome, that's a really important process for our immune cells. And so we want to be careful about what we're eating, not [00:07:04] only for the, Alkaline types of foods around the tissues of our body, but are we eating good, healthy, nutritious food that is [00:07:12] inoculating our gut?
And healing our gut and keeping our gut healthy, that mucous layer in our intestinal lining is super important to keep that barrier [00:07:20] intact, right? And that mucous layer keeps commensal bacteria happy and healthy and replicating [00:07:28] and bacteria speak directly to our immune system, particularly when we're young good commensal bacteria will teach our immune system [00:07:36] as babies that this is safe and this is not safe, right?
So it's. The gut microbiome is actually really, really important in that communication. [00:07:44] And we want to have an intact gut microbiome, because as we've talked about before, and I know you talk a lot about with gut health, is that if that permeability is increased, if [00:07:52] there's a breakdown in that gut lining, and we've got it, Bacterial parts, or maybe opportunistic bacterial parts out in the system, it can [00:08:00] create outside of the intestines that can create an alarm for the immune system.
And the immune system starts to attack these little bacterial parts. [00:08:08] And that can create what's called cell mimicry, where then the body marks this bacteria that looks very similar to, let's say, a thyroid [00:08:16] cell. And now we've got some autoimmune problems going on. And so the more we can keep that gut microbiome healthy, the more we keep commensal bacteria in there that are speaking [00:08:24] good language to our immune system.
It's going to keep our immune system more stable because we want to have a balance there. We don't want to have an overactive immune system [00:08:32] because that equals autoimmunity. That equals allergies, food sensitivities. We don't want it to be suppressed because that's going [00:08:40] to lead to, getting sick longer, leave us vulnerable to cancers, et cetera, because we want a good balance.
We want our. Our immune system to be [00:08:48] strong, robust, and accurate. And for the most part it is, if we do the lifestyle factors that kind of keep us there.
Sheree: Yeah, and I love that you bring in the gut work [00:08:56] because, we've said this a number of times, people probably heard it time and time again, that like 70 percent of your immune system essentially lives in your gut.
And even if we, draw [00:09:04] it back from even the permeability, but actually that first line of defense, like you said, that mucosal barrier, if that's even weakened or that's even depleted, which is something, [00:09:12] both you and I will look at when we're doing GI map or, microbiome testing is actually seeing how intact that is.
Because if that's your first line of defense against things that are [00:09:20] coming in, then how are we supposed to support the body and actually keep those things out? Or like you say, get the commensal bacteria doing [00:09:28] what they're supposed to be doing. So There's that element and then there's also the element, like you said, with the stomach acid and making sure that we understand.
And [00:09:36] even if we take that a layer deeper or a layer earlier, I should say, even the fact that we can mouth breathe versus nasal breathe. Like you [00:09:44] said, there's cilia in the passages and the nasal cavities, they can actually filter out. Like, that is. Part of the job of what we're doing, and [00:09:52] we don't realize just through breath.
And so there's actually been a lot of studies to support. There's a lot of research around how mouth breathing, breathing actually lowers your [00:10:00] immune system because we're not actually able to have that filtration layer there. We're also communicating to the body that we're under chronic levels of stress [00:10:08] if we're mouth breathing as well.
And so that therefore increases that cortisol response, which can then create more inflammation and so on and so forth. So. [00:10:16] Looking at that nasal passage and then looking at the stomach acid and then looking at the gut microbiome. It's like the it's just like the digestive process. I always say to [00:10:24] people it starts in the mouth or it starts a lot earlier than you think it does.
And we always go and look three or four steps ahead and try and treat from [00:10:32] there. So if someone is coming to you saying, okay, I need to rebuild and we're putting in these little Beautiful leafy greens. We are building it ourselves up with [00:10:40] some supplements. Like what happens if someone's like, Oh, I've got a virus or we know that a lot of the times antibiotics are handed out for [00:10:48] those, even though they don't work, like, where would you start?
Are there some key nutrients you keep on hand and you're almost like first aid kit for some, if like one of your kids gets [00:10:56] sick, like what's your first go to?
Christa: Well, the body recognizes vitamin C really quickly. That's a powerful antioxidant vitamin D we [00:11:04] all should have optimal levels of vitamin D.
So that's another one that I would just say we need to be on point with constantly vitamin E [00:11:12] is another great one. You don't want to overdo vitamin E, but vitamin E is also really important there and then zinc. Is a powerful mineral that really does [00:11:20] help to boost that there's other elements that are a little bit, not as mainstream, but lysine.
I like to, there's lysine, there's cat's [00:11:28] claw. Those are some other supplements that can really help to boost the immune system. Monolaurin is another one that I'll use sometimes when we're trying to [00:11:36] help support the immune system. Beyond supplements though. Having a little bit of hormetic stress, which is really that sweet spot.
[00:11:44] It's like the Goldilocks stress is good for our body. So little smidge of a cold shower a little sauna [00:11:52] exercise. Remember our lymphatic system doesn't move on a pump, like our blood system does, right? So our lymphatic system has to [00:12:00] have muscles move muscle movement to get circulation. So exercise not only boosts, more of our immune cells, Circulating [00:12:08] through the blood because our circulation is going faster during that time.
We're oxygenating better. We're also moving more of the lymphatic system. We don't want to overdo [00:12:16] exercise. So listen to your body. There's a sweet spot with exercise for most people as well. If we over exercise, we tend to create more of a stressor [00:12:24] than we need. But regular exercise, right? So regular exercise is a good hormetic stressor.
And, beyond the stressors, let's [00:12:32] say, where's our sleep? Most of our body, we sleep is like, oh, we're just laying there and it looks like a still action, but actually the body's very [00:12:40] active during sleep and the immune system has to have good quality sleep. So, as you mentioned, like, mouth breathing, if you're doing that at night, you're [00:12:48] snoring, or you have some sleep apnea, you want to get that really checked in because.
We have to have that good quality sleep to have that repair [00:12:56] time in our, seven to nine hours every single night to really boost that up. And then stress itself, taking time to do some deep [00:13:04] breathing getting out of that fight or flight because fight or flight over time does suppress the immune system.
That high cortisol, as you mentioned before [00:13:12] over time is not beneficial. It can really suppress our immune system. So, we want to have a balance of. Push and [00:13:20] relax, push and relax, right? Like we have to have a balance of of that and taking time to do some deep breathing and getting that rest and digest will help [00:13:28] support your immune system indirectly as well.
Sheree: I love that you bring up the hermetic stress and for those of you listening that's like, what on earth does that term mean? It's like Krista [00:13:36] said, the good kind of stress. And so we're looking at how can we. Not only regulate our nervous system, but actually make sure that it is quite flexible. [00:13:44] Just like we want our metabolism to be very flexible.
You want your nervous system to be able to adapt and respond quite quickly to stress. And so it comes back to that being [00:13:52] comfortable in the uncomfortable so that if something comes in, whether that's a foreign invader, whether that is, an extra amount of stress, whether that's fear, Food that doesn't [00:14:00] really serve you, whatever is driving the inflammation or the stress in the body, whether it's extra workload, particularly as we go into this type of season of the year, we [00:14:08] are typically in a higher stress picture.
Our body is actually able to handle and cope with more stress. And that might be because you have been doing regular practices of cold [00:14:16] showers. They have shown that 2 32nd cold showers per day is enough to reduce the, workplace time off by like 30%. [00:14:24] So it's really about how can you pop in these little things and cold showers might not be your thing.
It may just be as simple as exercising. So you are boosting your immune system [00:14:32] like that, or getting those toxins moving and able to be eliminated. Looking at your gut microbiome, how diverse and rich are the bacteria that live in [00:14:40] there? Do we have enough of the good bugs? Because another reason we can end up so susceptible to.
To being sick all the time is because we've actually got such a low [00:14:48] diversity or a low richness of those good bacteria. And if you think you haven't got that sitting, if you haven't got an abundance of these beautiful bugs, [00:14:56] what can happen? Well, I always liken it to a penthouse, right? Like if you've rented a penthouse apartment for this big party, this big bash you're throwing and [00:15:04] no one, like.
And no one's there. No one turns up. You leave it like very open to gate crashes. You haven't got those guards at the door. You haven't got people able [00:15:12] to, fight off the bad bugs that are going to be letting in. And so all of a sudden you're alone in this giant apartment with a whole bunch of people you don't even realize.
And they've taken over [00:15:20] the system. They've taken over the party. And we don't want that. We don't want that in your body. You can eventually crowd them out. If you've got enough good guys, if you've got [00:15:28] enough of, your little friends at your party going on, the other ones won't want to come in or then they're actually not welcome there.
And so it's making sure you're building those up [00:15:36] and that's not just through, yes, you can take a really good probiotic, but it's making sure you do have your stress under control. You are eating those variety of nutrients. [00:15:44] You're feeding them. Feeding the good bugs as well. And, fiber is a, another whole conversation that we could have, but it's one of the key nutrients that we just don't [00:15:52] see people eating enough.
We hear leafy greens like, Oh yeah. I'm like, how is half of your plate vegetables at lunch and dinner? And people look at you like you're mental [00:16:00] or in New Zealand, we have the five plus a day. It's like five plus a day. We should be eating at least five fruits and vegetables across the course of the day.
And. It is one of the [00:16:08] biggest things we missed the mark on, but that's what's feeding our good blood bugs. That's what's going to support your immune system as well.
Christa: Yeah. It's not [00:16:16] just one thing. It's a variety. And I think hopefully we've laid the groundwork here of it's supporting the first line defenses.
And then it's [00:16:24] supporting nutrition and it's supporting lifestyle and, managing stress, getting enough sleep. There's so many diseases, cardiovascular [00:16:32] disease, cancers autoimmune disease that some are out of our control. But a lot of them are in our control [00:16:40] to really decrease our.
Chances of suffering from those things, but it requires you to take action on some of the things [00:16:48] that we've talked about and make them a consistent part of your life. So just start small, start to recognize areas that you can improve and then make a commitment to do [00:16:56] them. If you create a lifestyle things, you change some patterns, then your body constantly is supported, looking at your day to day, looking at your [00:17:04] habits and cross checking them with some of the things that we've talked about here to really help to support your immune system.
[00:17:12] If you love this episode, be sure to leave us a review, download and subscribe. If you know someone that could also benefit from this conversation, please share. [00:17:20] That's how we spread empowered health. We'll see you again for another episode of the Wild and Well [00:17:28] Collective.
