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Light Up Your Immune System 🔥

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ” – Alvin Toffler

The current situation (COVID-19) has us all hyper focused on death rate numbers, listening to the latest update from the CDC, the Covid Task Force and the MSM.  I’m all for staying up to date on a situation but I feel like all this *noise* has us looking outside of ourselves rather than inside.  In  my opinion, most people would be better served hearing about how to better strengthen their IMMUNE SYSTEMS. At the end of the day we cannot control this mess the outside world, we can only control the inside world, specifically, our insides. The latest research is saying those with diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity are getting hit much harder by this virus. Sadly, we are all aware these diseases affect a large percentage of our population.  The good news is they are lifestyle diseases that can be improved with some corrective health promoting choices. 

I’m not a doctor, or a scientist,  but I am a cancer survivor. One who was lucky enough to have the time to do (A LOT) of research on cancer, how it forms in the body, how it metastasizes and how to help slow down it’s growth.  The first thing I researched/focused on was my immune system.  In case you didn’t know, we are all exposed to rogue (aka cancer) cells in our bodies every. single. day.  The difference between someone for whom those cells turn into something (a cancer) and someone whose body identifies and then kills those cells is….you guessed it, a healthy, robust immune system.  Bottom line, one of the best ways to keep  cancer from taking up residence in our bodies is to keep our immune system running in tip top shape.  Our best defense against a virus, like COVID-19 (in addition to physical distancing, proper hand washing, etc.) is the same…Our Immune System. Since that’s basically what I’ve focused on for the last two years I’d like to share a little bit of what I learned with you.

I’m going to run through some things you can do to boost your immune system. We will start with those things that don’t require you to purchase anything….with the current Amazon shipping delays, stores having limited inventory and people not out shopping, I think this is a good place to focus.  I want to touch on some things you can add in to your current lifestyle to help your immune system thrive and finally we will talk about supplements.  Side note: There are LOTS more ways to boost your immune system and I will talk more in depth about these soon, but right now I want to just get these easily attainable things into your thinking cap. These things are simple, but not necessarily easy.  (You’ve been warned).  But the good news is, when you implement these lifestyle changes you’ll also be decreasing your chances of developing a future cancer. Yay!! I call that winning!  Here goes…

Things to limit:

  • Sugar (refined)
  • Alcohol (remember, I’m just the messenger)
  • Processed foods
  • Stress (turning OFF the news is a good place to start)

Things to add more of:

  • Get outside (free Vit D) bonus for bare feet (grounding)
  • Daily movement (a walk, an online workout, yoga) but don’t overdo it
  • Filtered Water (work up to half your body weight daily)
  • Veggies and (some) fruit
  • Quality sleep

Supplements that can provide benefits (make sure to chose quality brands):

  • Vitamin D3 (add K2 so the calcium knows where to go)
  • Vitamin C
  • Zinc
  • Probiotics (the gut is where 60% of our immune system lives, wow)

Like I said, there are lots more ways to boost your immune system, but I feel like these are a good stepping stone.  Please don’t let the limit list overwhelm you, that will increase stress…start with one thing and focus on cutting back on that, then move on to the next.

Let’s not just survive this, let’s thrive because of it.

Light and Love

💚Kendra

 

 

 

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Anatomy of a Habit

“We are what we repeatedly do.” – Aristotle

We are creatures of habit.  Our daily habits are directed by our beliefs: we are what we think and what we do. Daily. A large part of what we do every day isn’t as a result of a conscious decision. It’s a habit. 40 percent, in fact. (Our brains likes this because it makes the job of being the brain sooo much easier).  Where you are in life today is largely a result of actions you don’t even think about anymore.  Let that sink in a minute…

Now, the good news is we CAN take control of our life by changing our habits.  Depending on who you ask, a habit can take anywhere from 21-66 days to take root in the brain. So we’ve got three weeks to three months to make it a no-brainer (pun intended, of course).

A group of researchers at MIT discovered the process which is the basis for every habit’s formation. If we are going to change our habits, we have to understand how they get created.  Every habit is formed by a three step process:

1. Cue.  The trigger that tells your brain which habit to use.

2. Routine. The behavior (or emotion) that gets triggered.

3. Reward.  How the brain decides if the process is worth it.

An example:  You get finally get the kids to bed *sigh* and want to release the day’s stress (cue).  You grab bottle of wine (routine).  You feel calm and relaxed (reward).

The cue and the reward are the big pushers in this process.  So if we want to change the routine we are going to make sure the new habit gives our brain the same reward feeling. Otherwise, the brain will see it as too hard and instead reinforce the old habit we are wanting to change.  NOT what we want. If the reward is to feel calm and relaxed, we’ve got to think of something else that can give us that feeling when we are stressed at the end of our day.  Maybe we can exchange the bottle of wine for reading a book (something fiction, please) or watching something on Netflix.  Over time, our brains will start to replace the routine of grabbing that bottle of wine with grabbing the latest must-have novel.  This is what I like to call an UPGRADE to an existing habit.

The same concept works when we are trying to ADD a habit “from scratch”. We’ve got to figure out the cue, routine and reward for the habit in order to make sure it cements in our brains.  Willpower is needed to DELETE a habit. It might be the hardest of all in the Add-Delete-Upgrade scenario, but it is possible  Willpower is a muscle, not a skill.  The more we exercise our willpower the easier it becomes to use it (just like our actual muscles, willpower gets stronger).

Like I said at the beginning of this (looooong) post, our beliefs direct our habits.  We first need to believe we can make the changes we want, then we will create action, which results in making the changes a reality!

If you want to know more about habits, check out the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

I’m so looking forward to starting the 31 day Healthy Habit Overhaul tomorrow!! I’ll be posting over on Instagram every day with the daily habit as well as how I’m making it happen in my own life  See ya there!

Light and Love,

♥k