This winter, the flu or something like it has really taken a toll on people. The latest is the Australian Norovirus that debilitates its victims with stomach upset, diarrhea and vomiting. This is nothing really new, every winter, it is called “flu season”. Doesn’t it make sense to ask why this occurs rather than what is the latest magic bullet to combat the symptoms?

Because we live in the Northwest, we have some special conditions that contribute to the problem. In my experience and opinion, the likely cause is just a few things. When handled, the flu virus has no place to attack if you are a host of a healthy immune system. When a body is primarily healthy, illness may show up briefly only to be fully handled by a functional immune system.

One of our resources for quality information, Nancy Appleton, created a list of the 141 reasons why sugar ruins your health.  There are two of these reasons that apply directly:

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system.
2. Sugar reduces the body’s ability to defend against bacterial infection.

The first line of defense against pathogens is to keep the immune system healthy and responsive. It should be common knowledge that we live in an ever-increasing level of toxicity in our complex society. The more industrialized we become the more toxins that impinge on our immune systems. Herein lies the challenge.  We must have healthier immune systems.

“How do we do insure a healthy immune system?”

The answer is not as difficult as it sounds. Here are nine simple things to work on to improve your immune health (including special tips for Northwesterners):

1. Immediately decrease consumption of fast food.
2. Stop eating sugar or anything that turns easily to sugar.
3. Stop consuming carbonated beverages of any type.
4. Decrease the consumption of processed foods (bagged, boxed, salted, etc.).
5. Increase your water intake (filtered spring water is best).
6. Increase your consumption of green vegetables (romaine, chard, kale, etc.)
7. Exercise 40 minutes every day.
8. Turn off the TV and the computer and get 8 hours of rest every day.
9. Get a full nutritional evaluation at Robust Life Center to determine what your body needs to supplement in order to maintain Sustainable Vibrant Health.

For those in the Northwest, we must increase our Vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin) levels because we experience, on average, only about 60 days of sunshine annually and make none between November and March.

Our mission is to improve the health of our community to ultimately sustain a human race on the planet. We must address the issues for this generation and especially the children who will inherit the habits and behaviors we create for them. It’s not too late to create healthy habits for yourself and your family!