BY STEVE BORN
PREFATORY COMMENTS: Taking the necessary steps to stay healthy is always important, but we definitely don’t want to be battling sickness as we head closer to the new year and the time when we start ramping the training for the upcoming season. Adopt these 11 tips to maintain strong immunity, and you’ll be ahead of the game come 2025.
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1) Wash your hands with soap and hot water frequently. This is the beginning of infection control. Thoroughly washing with soap and hot water greatly promotes the destruction of germs, which avoids transmitting them to yourself or others.
2) Eat a healthy diet containing a variety of whole plant foods. There are nearly countless health-benefiting compounds (phytonutrients) in whole fruits and vegetables—the sulforaphane in cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) is an excellent example—and the best way to obtain maximum amounts of these all-important nutrients is to “eat the rainbow,” meaning to consume fruits and vegetables in a range of different colors.
3) Supplement your diet with a variety of antioxidant nutrients. Supporting strong immunity requires the intake of a wide range of free-radical neutralizing antioxidants. Premium Insurance Caps, Race Caps Supreme, Mito Caps, Super Antioxidant, AO Booster and Endurance C should be daily "staples" in your supplement program. And don’t forget that eye-opening study we wrote about, the one where the participants who took a multivitamin/mineral supplement enjoyed 60% fewer sick days than the participants who did not supplement.
4) Make sure your vitamin D levels are in the optimal range and supplement if necessary. Although more commonly known as a bone-health nutrient, vitamin D plays a major role in immune system health. A 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test will reveal your vitamin D requirements. The Vitamin D Council advises maintaining serum levels of 50 ng/mL. Should you need supplemental vitamin D—as most everyone does—EnDuro D contains efficacious amounts of vitamin D3, as well as vitamin K2, another important immune system nutrient.
5) Use Whey Protein regularly. Whey protein is a rich source of glutamic acid, cysteine, and glycine, the three amino acids required for glutathione production; glutathione is considered by many experts to be the important antioxidant of all. The added glutamine in Whey Protein (6 grams per scoop!) is also an outstanding glutathione precursor. Additionally, whey protein contains unique proteins called immunoglobulins that help stimulate immune function.
6) Take a probiotic supplement (Life-Biotics Super 15 or Digest Caps) daily. The Greek physician Hippocrates once stated, “all disease begins in the gut,” and we believe that’s pretty accurate. When the healthy bacteria in the digestive system are destroyed—and this can be caused by infections, poor diet, stress, overuse of NSAID medications, antibiotics, and even chlorinated water—it allows undesirable bacteria to flourish and compromise digestive system function, nutrient absorption, intestinal health, and immunity. Taking a probiotic supplement daily helps tip the scales in favor of the “good guys.” If you are under exceptional stress, finishing a course of antibiotics, or are just run down and feel like a cold is coming on, start with a 2-week course of Life-Biotics Super 15 (2 capsules daily), followed by daily 2-capsules-a-day doses of Digest Caps.
7) Protect and support your liver with LSA Caps. The liver works hard enough as it is every single day to detoxify, filter, and help remove harmful toxins, chemicals, and bacteria in the blood, as well as toxins that we are exposed to daily. It must work even harder when our immune system is being taxed. Among the multi-beneficial nutrients found in LSA Caps is Porcini Mushroom Extract, the richest source of the antioxidant compounds ergothioneine and glutathione, which many nutritional scientists believe to be the two most potent antioxidants there are.
8) Take Clear Day every day, not just during allergy season. Though known primarily for helping protect you from allergy occurrences and for powerfully alleviating allergy symptoms—and it is outstanding for that—Clear Day contains four nutrients that many nutritional experts consider immune system “superstars.” See the article, “Protect Yourself Against Colds and Flu…with CLEAR DAY!” for more.
9) Making sure you’re drinking sufficient amounts of pure, clean water. Take your body weight in pounds and multiply by 0.5 to 0.6. This is the number of ounces of fluids you should drink—primarily from pure, clean water—every day. Remember that this is in addition to the fluids you consume during exercise.
10) Reduce stress as much as possible. Along with exercise, making time for massage, prayer, and meditation on a consistent basis are great ways to combat stress and help keep it at bay. Also, as we’ve read about in previous editions of Endurance News Weekly, uncontrolled stress leads to excess cortisol levels, which has a whole host of negative health consequences associated with it. Including healthy fats in your diet from foods such as salmon, avocados, chia seeds, extra virgin olive oil, and more—along with daily doses of EndurOmega—is one of the best ways to address excess cortisol and stress. Hammer CBD and Essential Mg are two other Hammer Nutrition supplements that should be in your daily supplement regimen for many reasons, including helping your body address excess cortisol and stress and counter its effects.
11) Get adequate amounts of sleep. Longtime triathlete, coach, and Hammer Nutrition client Nate Llerandi labeled the lack of quality sleep as “the ultimate performance killer” and stated, “Sleep deprivation can put you in one of the worst holes you'll ever experience. It goes hand in hand with overtraining, erratic training, and poor performances.” Given all the negative health issues associated with poor sleep, especially regarding heart health, poor athletic performance is the least of your problems if you’re not obtaining sufficient amounts of quality sleep. Hammer CBD and REM Caps are two outstanding products that will greatly assist you in improving sleep quality and duration. See the article “CBD—Ensuring Superior Sleep Quality” for more.
Additional health-related articles and tips!
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One last thing!
Check out our money-saving kits that contain products designed to support your immune system!
