This is the time of year when everyone is rushing out to get the Flu shot. Doctor offices are filled with people who are scared of getting sick. Getting a needle is much easier then changing your diet and making healthier choices…right?

Your immune system works hard for your 24/7, 365 days per year. It doesn’t get a break or a chance to take a vacation. Are you doing what you can to support your hard working immune system?

Ever wondered how your immune system actually works and what specific foods or nutrients can strengthen it. I can tell you one thing for sure…all the Vitamin C and Echinacea in the world won’t do it alone!

Grab a cup of Green Tea and read the story of your good ol’ immune system.

The immune centers of your body are located in the tonsils, thymus, spleen, and bone marrow. These are like the army command stations housing the first line of defense soldiers ready to fight against enemy invaders (bacteria).

From these command centers the soldiers (immune cells) cruise around your body, looking for the enemy invaders. The evil enemies are foreign bodies or antigens commonly disguised as viruses, bacteria and even pollen. 

When the enemy (disease) is found by your army of immune cells, the method of attack depends both on the disease and on the particular immune cell.

Phagocytes, a type of white blood cell, are the front line killers and are sent to engulf, absorb, or eat the enemy invaders. Phagocytes make the enemy disappear by consuming the dead cells and play an important roll in allowing the war wounds to heal.

Lymphocytes, second in command, attack and destroy the disease enemy by creating antibodies and tag the cell with an antigen to be attacked later should there be another enemy invasion.

After defeating a particular disease, lymphocytes will keep a profile of the enemy and remember the disease throughout your life. Should it appear again, they will quickly eliminate it.

The memory effect of immune cells is the premise behind vaccines. A vaccine injects weakened antigens into the body so your immune system can practice remembering and attacking this weakened form of defense.

Vaccines are effective because whenever the same type of enemy disease enter your body; your immune system draws upon its memory to send out second in command lymphocyte soldiers to quickly defeat it. At some point though the soldiers are replaced and the profile isn’t passed down. It’s like your immune system gets a bit of dementia and forgets about the antigen. Vaccines are not life long!

In addition to quality sleep, reducing stress levels and exercising, there are certain micronutrients that can help your army of immune fighters. Unfortunately there is not one single vitamin or mineral that will strengthen your immune system, you need to get them all, so drowning yourself in only Vitamin C this winter won’t work.

Vitamin A plays a key role in production of white blood cells, vital for fighting off infection. Vitamin A foods include carrots, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes.

Vitamin C can help boost the immune system, particularly in endurance athletes and those undergoing physical stress. Vitamin C foods include chilies, guavas, bell peppers, broccoli, papayas, and strawberries.

Zinc, among other immune functions, is necessary for the creation and activation of lymphocytes. Zinc has also been shown to help alleviate symptoms of the common cold, and may even accelerate the time to recovery. High zinc foods include Oysters, wheat germ, sesame seeds, pumpkin and squash seeds, peanuts, and dark chocolate.

Vitamin D. Vitamin D, which is produced by the skin when exposed to sunlight, signals an antimicrobial response to bacteria. Foods high in vitamin D are white mushrooms, cod liver oil, fish, Oysters and eggs. Vitamin D is fat-soluble which means you need fat to absorb it.

Here is an immune boosting Salmon Recipe for you to try out. Click the link below.

Grilled Salmon with Tomatoes & Basil


Have a great week and stay healthy.

In good health,
Cheryl Wahl, RHN

MoVember – Prostate Cancer Awareness

In this day and age everyone knows someone affected by cancer. With our modern diets full of foods high in unhealthy fats, refined simple sugars, high levels of sodium and toxic additives resulting in higher then normal levels of body fat we put ourselves at greater risk for developing life threatening but preventable diseases including cancer.

During the month of November hundreds of thousands Mo bro’s grow mustaches to raise awareness for prostate cancer and men’s health. Movember has become a movement raising over 125 million dollars towards various prostate cancer charities and men’s health initiatives.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer among Canadian men. One in 7 men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime and one in 28 will die of it1. Research has proven that nutrition choices and exercise can reduce the development of inflammation, one of the most known causes of prostate cancer. Reducing your levels of inflammation will greatly decrease your risk of developing prostate cancer and other serious diseases. Inflammatory cells have been found in virtually all prostate cancer tissue that has been removed surgically.

Let’s try to understand the harmful effects of inflammation a bit better. Your body is like an army ready to wage war on anything that invades the system, specifically inflammation. Think of your immune system as the soldiers of the army, ready to fight on a moments notice. When there is an incoming threat from an enemy like bacteria or higher then normal levels of hormones, the soldiers mobilize and attack the harmful invader. The soldiers are actually your white blood cells and instead of bullets they release oxygen and nitrogen radicals to help kill the invaders.

The war zone occurs when you have a constant threat, excess body fat, poor nutrition choices, chronically high levels of stress, poor sleep and are taking in an overload of toxins from your environment. In order to protect the system, soldiers are left behind, and remain unchecked while the same beneficial oxygen radicals that are designed to kill the invaders can break down normal tissue and promote cancer cell growth.

Another war gone terribly wrong.

There is no ONE right way to reduce inflammation and oxidation in the body to bring down inflammation levels. Follow the do and don’t suggestions below to improve your nutrition choices and add in daily exercise so you can avoid your body having to wage an unnecessary war.

THE DO’S

Do have 7 - 8 Servings Per Day of Antioxidant Rich Foods

Antioxidants are mostly found in colourful fruits and vegetables. You get the best bang for your buck when you eat them raw (except tomato products). A standard serving size is about 1 cup raw or ½ cup cooked. Think of the size of a softball or your hand closed into a fist.

Organizing antioxidants by colour group is the easiest way to make sure you eat a variety of them. 

Red - Tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon
  **Cooked tomatoes have more concentrated levels of lycopene
Red/Purple - Pomegranates, grapes, cranberries, plums, berries
  **Inhibit inflammation and reduce bacteria in the urinary tract
Orange - Carrots, mangoes, apricots, cantaloupes, pumpkin, sweet potato
  **Beneficial for eye sight
Orange/Yellow - Oranges, peaches, papaya, nectarines
  **Avoid the juice (high in sugar), eat the fruit 
Yellow/Green - Spinach, collard, yellow corn, green peas, avocado, honeydew melon
  **Lowers risk of cataracts and macular degeneration
Green - Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, bok choy, kale

JERF

Just Eat Real Food. It’s a movement that has been started by a guy named Sean Croxton who runs the underground wellness radio show. There are t-shirts you can buy. There are articles you can read about the benefits of eating locally raised, seasonal real food BUT even with all of the hoopla it doesn’t seem to matter. 

This is the seasons of overindulgence, the season of excuses and the “I will start again on Monday”; the season of putting off your health and weight loss goals until January 1. This is also the season where the majority of people put on an extra 10 pounds in an 8-week period. 

That equals an excess of 35,000 calories. Read that again. Gaining 10 pounds means that you are eating on average an additional 625 calories per day throughout November and December. So if you normally eat 1300 calories then you consume 1925 calories per day over the holidays. 

Regardless of your goal be it weight loss, weight gain, improved energy, better sleep, balanced hormones or to strengthen your immune system we can all benefit from JERF. What exactly is real food? 

1. Something that had a mother, grew in the ground or was picked from a tree
2. A food with a one word ingredient…egg, apple, walnut, avocado, chicken, tuna

Throughout the next 2 months it is vital to your waistline and your health to continue to just eat real food regardless of the social gatherings or temptations at the office. Candy canes are not real food. Turtles and After Eights are not real food. Eggnog is not a real food nor is fruitcake.

This is the time of year when your everyday choices matter more because the opportunity to ‘cheat’ is everywhere. This is NOT the time of year to crash diet and reduce calories which leads to binging and overeating all of the wrong kinds of foods, usually later at night when they are most likely to get stored as fat. 

If you are someone who usually puts on weight over the holidays then do something different this year. Get an accountability coach. Research shows that when you are accountable to someone else you are more likely to follow through on your goals. 

So what do you eat? Good question and one that I get all time. Below I have outlined what a 1400-calorie day looks like for you. As you can see from the foods below, you will not starve and in fact it will probably be more food then you normally consume. When you eat this way, you balance your blood sugar, balance your hormones that regulate hunger and cravings, your energy levels increase and rev up your metabolism. 

If this is not how you are accustomed to eating then we have some work to do. Take a look below. Give me call so I can hold you accountable to your goals this holiday season and to help you avoid your 10 pound holiday weight gain this year.  

FYI if you wanted to add a glass of wine to your dinner…go ahead, just dump the hamburger bun.

Breakfast: 298 calories + 12.5g fiber

1 cup unsweetened almond milk – 40 calories 3g fat, 2g carb 1g fiber, 1g protein
1 cup frozen mixed berries – 70 calories, 0.5g fat, 17g carb, 5g fiber, 1g protein
1 scoop vanilla protein powder – 120 calories, 2g fat, 3g carb, 1g fiber, 23g protein
1 tbsp chia seeds – 68 calories, 4.5g fat, 6g carb, 5.5 fiber, 2g protein
 
Morning Snack: 105 calories + 9.5g fiber

½ cup plain yoghurt – 65 calories, 10g carb, 7.5g protein
1/3 cup fiber 1 cereal – 40 calories, 0g fat, 16.5g carb, 9.5g fiber, 1g protein

Lunch: 389 calories + 17g fiber

1 La Tortilla Factory Wrap – 100 calories, 1.5g fat, 24g carb, 8g fiber, 5g protein
2 tbsp of avocado (use as spread) – 60 calories, 5g fat, 3g carb, 2g fiber, 1g protein
3oz of chicken breast cooked, cut into slices – 90 calories, 0.5g fat, 0g carb, 20g protein
alfalfa sprouts – 7 calories 0g fat, 0g carb, 1g protein
tomato (3 slices) – 12 calories, 0g fat, 3g carb, 1g fiber, 0g protein
cucumber (1/2 cup sliced) – 8 calories, 0g fat, 2g carb, 0g protein
1 cup of low sodium pea soup – 112 calories, 3g fat, 12g carb, 4g fiber, 9g protein

Afternoon snack: 125 calories + 8g fiber

2 Ryvita crackers – 60 calories, 0g fat, 17g carb, 4g fiber, 2g protein
2 tbsp of low fat hummus – 35 calories, 0.5g fat, 5g carb, 1g fiber, 2g protein
1 cup raw vegetables – approx 30 calories and 3g fiber

Dinner: 385 calories + 8g fiber

4oz extra lean turkey burger – 130 calories, 1.5g fat, 0g carb, 27g protein
1 small whole grain bun (Weight Watchers) (topped with mustard and veggies) – 110 calories, 1g fat, 21g carb, 4g fiber, 5g protein
Small salad with 1 tbsp of low fat ranch dressing – 40 calories for the salad, 2g fiber +  45 calories, 3.5g fat, 4g carb, 0g protein
½ cup of baked sweet potato – 60 calories, 0g fat, 13g carb, 2g fiber, 1g protein

After dinner snack: 127 calories + 4g fiber

1 small apple – 77 calories, 0g fat, 20g carb, 4g fiber, 0.5g protein
1 ½ tsp of almond butter – 50 calories, 4.5g fat, 1.5g carb, 1.5g protein

Total calories for the day: 1438

Total fiber grams for the day: 67 grams


In good health,
Cheryl Wahl, RHN