Dr Simoné Laubscher PhD shares her top 10 immune-strengthening tips.

I am seeing many clients both online and in our clinics who are struggling with their immune systems. It’s normal to get a cough or a cold once a year but you should be able to kick this within three to five days, allowing you to bounce back quite quickly.

When there is a lack of bounce back and living with subpar, mediocre health, it's worth reseting and restoring your immune system so it functions optimally!

Food is medicine so we always start there and look at you holistically with our 7 Pillars of Wellness. The 7 Pillars include Nutrition, Sleep, Movement, Body Balance, Mindfulness, Environment and Supplementation. After specialising in functional medicine for twenty-five years I see that most clients are struggling not from their fuel/diet and what they are eating, but because their 11 systems are not functioning well.

Whole food plant based supplements, like The Super Elixir that I formulated for WelleCo, are bioavailable and work with your body to deliver at a cellular level (just like foods do). The main difference is that eating the volumes of immune boosting ingredients you need to be in optimum health is hard, due to our food simply not containing the nutrition that it once did.

So how do you know if a supplement has bioavailable ingredients? It’s easy, the ingredients will list herbs, plants, botanicals and real food and not just a list of synthetic vitamins and minerals. Aim for a supplement that is antiviral, antibacterial and packed full of key antioxidants and herbs to support immune and lung function, when looking to restore your immune system.

The gut contains a large portion of the body's immune cells, including various types of lymphocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. These immune cells constantly survey the gut environment, defending against pathogens and viruses.

Here are my favourite go-to’s, which I've been educating my clients about, which work like a bomb to keep your immune system strong!

1. Healing Soup

My Granny’s chicken soup is medicine for the mind, body and soul. When feeling under the weather, we take this soup daily till we feel better. Generally, I make up a batch once or twice a month to keep our immune systems supported as a lifestyle hack too.

2. Support sleep

Essential oils not only smell great but are linked to reducing stress, supporting sleep and reduce airborne viruses and bacteria. Essential oils are concentrated extractions from plants through a process called distillation which makes this a concentrate, so only a few drops are needed to have an immense impact.

My favourite immune-boosting oils are frankincense, lemon balm, eucalyptus, tea tree oil, lavender, clove, chamomile, lemon balm, bergamot, and geranium. In fact lavender, chamomile and lemon balm are so powerful we also included them in our WelleCo Sleep Welle Calming Tea which I drink most nights. I also love The Evening Elixir to ensure I get deep healing restorative, beauty sleep.

3. Hydrate with natural electrolytes

Drink 2L of Dr Simone’s Wellness Water per day to boost hydration with natural electrolytes including Celtic sea salt, lime and many more ingredients. Best to have this warm or room temperature, not ice cold.

4. Embrace food as medicine

Boosting your immune system involves maintaining a balanced and nutritious diet rich in essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Organic colourful living plants is the fastest way to boost your immune system, but some find this tricky due to IBS systems with the insoluble fibre. If this is you, eat more steamed veggies, soups and stews until your gut heals.

See my Gut and immune boosting Rainbow salad — not only it is packed full of nourishing ingredients, but it it teaches you how to prepare this to avoid any IBS reactions until your gut heals.

5. Use Whole food supplements

Opt for bioavailable ingredients so you’re body has what it needs to heal itself and stay strong. I take The Super Elixir each day as my foundational base as it uses whole food nutrition and is made up of wholefood, natural cold-pressed nutrition and it allows the nutrition to go into every cell of the body. When the body is nourished effectively at a cellular level it shows on the outside. When taken with water, the body identifies plants as food and efficiently consumes them at a cellular level for health and beauty benefits that start from the inside out.

6. Embrace mindfulness

Moving through your day from stress/emergency mode depletes your immune system as the body doesn't know the difference between a stressful life event and your life really being in danger. The physiological reactions are the same; heart rate goes up, adrenaline and cortisol is released, vasoconstriction occurs (in case you get injured) and your body goes into fight or flight mode. This shifts your nervous system out of parasympathetic mode where healing takes place.

When you feel a trigger instead of reacting, pause, exhale and then respond giving yourself a moment to process your thoughts and feelings instead of defaulting into emergency mode. See my blog on how to renew your mindand develop immune boosting thoughts and simple mindfulness routines to scale up your health. 

7. Reduce inflammation with green juice

Drink 500ml of cool or room temperature (not ice cold) veggie juice once per day with celery, cucumber, romaine lettuce, lemon, lime, and ginger, and add a super greens like our Welleco Super Elixir to give that extra immune boosting kick, with 40+ ingredients of super greens, herbs, seeds, pre and probiotics medicinal mushrooms and enzymes. You can also just add super greens powder to water if you're time poor as a great fast track, which I must admit I do a lot of the time.

8. Salt baths

Do a full bath, or at least a foot bath with 1 cup of sea salt, epsom salts or magnesium flakes once or twice a week and soak for at least 30 minutes to help support your detox pathways and to calm your nervous system, which has a lovely knock on effect on your immune system. This will help ground you and reset your electrical circuits, reducing stress and therefore boosting your immune system.

9. Heal your gut

Reduce inflammation and keep sugar, dairy, gluten, junk foods and alcohol as treats. Increase all warm foods, liquids, and soups. Add brown rice or quinoa or gluten-free bread if you feel like you need the comfort of carbohydrates but always choose organic butter or olive oil, never margarine. Since the gut is home to the largest portion of our body's immune system see my blog with my Top 10 Gut Healing Foods to heal your gut and therefore boost your immune system.

10. Reduce ESMOG and wifi

First of all, electrosmog (ESMOG) occurs everywhere where a current flows and where electromagnetic fields (EMF) are generated. The biggest part of electrosmog, however, comprises electromagnetic radiation (EMR). It is generated by cell towers, WLAN, bluetooth, wireless devices and digital technologies like mobile phones and smartphones, laptop computers and notebooks, tablet computers, e-readers, bluetooth headphones etc.

Most people don’t realise that excessive ESMOG, WiFi and electricity in general negatively impacts your immune system. Since we as humans are over 60% water we are greatly affected by WiFi and EMF. So turn your WiFi off at night and try to get your barefoot on the earth most days to boost your negative grounding ions and clear excessive EMF/WiFi positive ions, which work against the body.

Salt water baths listed above are also great especially in the winter months.

As you can see there are lots of practical ways that you can boost your immune system and many by just incorporating ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. The key is not to be fearful but simply be wise and be prepared so your body has what it needs to stay strong all year round.

The information in this article is not intended to be taken as medical advice. We recommend consulting your primary healthcare professional before making any changes to your supplementary routine.