With our day-to-day lives impacted by recent events, lots of our ongoing activities have been on hold.
We have been practicing distance consultations for a while, but are back open face to face. Gyms are just beginning to reopen after being closed for months, and due to this lots of us have had to change our health management routines. It’s not been uncommon for our clients to say they have put on weight, haven’t been eating as well, have had limited activity and feel very worried or stressed.
This is not the time to put your health on hold.
So let’s talk naturopathic support for immunity and well-being.
You would have heard about Echinacea as an amazing immune herb right?? It’s a gorgeous cone shaped flower that we use the root, stems and flowers of in herbal medicine to support immune function. It is a herb to take everyday in low doses as part of your wellbeing plan to support immune function, and then increase dosing if you need extra firepower to fight an infection.
There are lots of other herbs that are super effective for immune function.
Take the African herb Cryptolepis. It’s traditionally used as a herb against malaria, respiratory tract illness, and fungal infections. It is also effective against most other infections, including drug resistant mycobacterium, gram negative and gram-positive bacteria, and viruses. It’s been used successfully in the treatment of Lyme disease and babesia, and is a great addition to your customised herbal tonic if you have any systemic infections.
Astragalus is another herb that gets a lot of attention for immunity. It’s great for people with weakened immune systems or recovering from illness. It’s an immune tonic that helps increase leukocytes to fight infections and reduces interleukin 6.
Andrographis is another super immune herb that inhibits the COX-2 pathway, is antiviral and enhances the immune system.
Siberian ginseng helps support chronically ill people by helping the body adapt to any stress. It can help when people are convalescing or fatigued and increases the body’s natural killer cells.
Cats Claw is anti-inflammatory herb that really helps in autoimmune conditions, chronic infections, cancer support, and inflammatory conditions. It supports the destruction of bacteria and viruses by enhancing phagocytosis.
Lastly, let’s talk about the amazing medicinal mushrooms. There are quite a few mushrooms that enhance immunity, turkey tail, Chaga and shiitake, however Reishi mushroom is a star for immune enhancing properties. We like to add these super mushrooms to our coffee or smoothies!
Nutritionally making sure we have a super nutritious balanced diet is vital for immunity.
Vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, vitamin D and the B vitamins all play really important roles to support our immune system, as do the minerals, particularly iron, magnesium and zinc.
We can help you make sure your diet is optimised for you, help you super charge your diet with nutritional medicine, and boost it with supplements if you need more support.
And let’s not forget what we can do in other areas of our lives. Moving on a regular basis, whether it is at the gym, an at home work out, doing a you tube yoga, or going for a bushwalk, every little bit counts!
Limit your stress. Can you make changes anywhere in your work-life balance? Delegate more tasks to the kids or colleagues? Commit to more “me-time” or family time.
Reduce the toxic load on your body. Use chemical free natural options for skin and body care, cleaning products, perfumes, nail polish and even lubricant!
Self-care also means taking care of your mind. Support your mental health by practicing gratitude, doing a daily meditation (we love the CALM app), actively seeking joy and spending more time on things you love to do (like singing, painting, gardening or surfing!)
This recent pandemic has been a real wake up call for humanity on how we spend our time, our money and our resources. On how we treat each other, and how we treat ourselves. Your health should be your number one priority. Your health is what will get you to live a long and happy life. Your health is what will guide you through challenging times. Your health is what will enable you to support those you love. This is not the time to put your health on hold.
Our team at CK Health is here to support your health with our naturopaths doing face to face or distance consultations, and a huge focus on getting you better and staying well!
Our Infrared sauna and salt room remain open with strict hygiene practices in place, and we are so happy to welcome our new psychologist Jen to the clinic, who can support your mental health during this challenging time as well.
Call us to book in for a session with one of our practitioners today or make a booking below.
