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Wow, where did this year go? (it has certainly flown by with everything going on). Now winter is upon us, supporting our immune system is more important than ever. Which is why we've asked our good friend from Next Step Nutrition, Jonny Landels for his tips to boost your immune system... Enter Jonny:
FOCUS ON FOOD:
Focus on food. First, let’s focus on what nature has given us. We want to be getting in plenty of fruits and vegetables, five to ten portions a day, depending on your calorie intake. Try and get in plenty of variety throughout the week
‘Eat the rainbow’ does not mean eating Skittles.
We’re talking about fruits and vegetables, the better the variety, the better the nutrient density is going to be. Within your whole body, including your gut microbes (another blog entirely) . Make sure to include plenty of different colours, types, fresh and frozen. All is good. Just go ahead and smash that in.
SUPPLEMENTS:
If you do feel like you need to cover some extra bases, you can get a great high quality multivitamin. If you’re in a calorie deficit and focusing on weight loss, having a multivitamin can definitely help cover bases that you may be missing from food because of eating fewer calories. Vegans and vegetarians should definitely consider a Vitamin B12 supplement too.
If you are not going outside at the moment through the height of the sun in some areas of the world (if only that were the case here in England) or you do not get enough sunshine due to short winter days and poor weather, I would definitely recommend stocking up on some of ICON's Vitamin K2 & D3 complex as it is absolutely key to overall health and wellbeing. Of course, there is no better way of getting those key sunshine vitamins than just getting outside. Remember, safe sun exposure is key also.
If you don’t eat at least three portions of oily fish, like salmon or mackerel, each week, then I would highly advise you get ICON Nutrition's Omega 3 Capsules in order to supplement your diet. These are different from cod liver oil tablets, so make sure you focus on omega three with a high amount of EPA and DHT.
SLEEP:
On top of this, I would strongly advise that you all focus on improving your sleep at this time, get into a rhythm of waking up at the same time and going to bed at the same time. This is going to help you establish a better sleep pattern and a better quality sleep pattern.
Make sure that you relax before bed without screens. Make sure you relax before bed, in order to improve the quality and quantity of the sleep that you’re getting every night.
STRESS:
My last tip on improving immunity right now, would be to manage your stress without food or alcohol. Make sure you read, journal, meditate, do things with your significant other or friends. All these activities are going to help not only improve your sleep but also improve your immune system, because your body is dealing with less overall stress on the system as well.
CONCLUSION
So what can we do to improve our immune system?
focus on a diverse and plentiful amount of fruit and vegetables, focus on supplements if you need to top up, but not before you focus on food, then focus on improving your sleep and managing your stress.
THANK YOU FOR READING:
We hope this helped give you a few take away tips on improving your immunity. If you have
any interest in reading further, please check out some of our blogs on our website or drop
us an e mail if there is anything you would like to know further.
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"Jonny is the owner and head coach of Next Step Nutrition, an online coaching company dedicated to keeping diet and exercise simple. As such, they offer seminars, coaching and programs to help people lead healthier, happier lives. Jonny is the resident fitness expert for BBC Radio Leeds, host of Next Step Espresso, a daily fitness podcast, and in his spare time likes walking his dogs, drinking great coffee, craft beer, and performing in amateur musical theatre."
Why work with Next Step Nutrition?
Knowing how to eat healthily today can be so confusing, most people don’t know where to begin. At Next Step Nutrition, they keep healthy eating simple so that you can reach your goals and live a balanced, sustainable life
Next Step Nutrition Ltd
Podcast: Next Step Espresso