Health
Eight Magic Bullets for Your Immune System
Apr
8 Magic Bullets for Bulletproof Immunity
Straight to the point here – what you need is bulletproof magic bullets in bulletpoint, to stop those pesky sore throats, head colds and out of season winter flu’s from catching you out YET AGAIN…sheesh it feels like it’s been a long winter, and with a looooonggg tail with a big sting in the form of latent winter ailments…and with allergy season on the way, it’s time to bolster your immune system so that it doesn’t let you down and leave you sneezing your way through to next winter…so here’s Finn’s top Eight Silver Bullet First Aid remedies to keep a scratchy throat from ever taking hold…
1. Elderberry Syrup
Oh so you want a protector do you? The strong silent type? Sits waiting patiently until the invaders arrive and dispatches them in such a way that you never even hear the kerfuffle? Enter the eponymous elderberry. Elder is one of the most lauded of our native trees in Irish folklore as a spirit guide and a symbol of regeneration and rebirth. Makes sense actually as elderberry, traditionally prepared as a syrup to support our immune system actually tags invading viral particles, offering our immune system a handy beacon to identify the baddies, whilst also inhibiting viral replication. Also, elderberry has powerful antioxidant properties, and help to regulate our immune response, making it the perfect protector as we exit the flu season and enter allergy season where an over active immune response is the source of all our troublesom allergy worries.
We think the best way to use elderberry in the short term is to take 3-5 teaspoons of syrup across the day whether you’re under the weather or just aware of the presence of sickness (or evil spirits) in your vicinity 😉
2. Manuka Honey
Now there are those of you out there that will say this one is just too too obvious…and expensive…to add to any modern day immune system arsenal. But we say – NO!! As research has continued into the many many various properties of manuka honey, researchers have discovered that not only does it envelope, absorb and neurtalise foreign bacteria and viruses as it moves through our airways and digestive tract, but manuka also has cunning abilities to improve our own immune system’s function, helping to down regulate the overactivity that occurs as part of an allergic response. As well as all this manuka serves as a mucolitic – that is to say it supports and protects our mucous membrane, our body’s defensive barrier that lines our internal surfaces, allowing us to repel viral and bacteral invasions. In the knowledge that many natural and synthetic antimicrobials (oregano, elderberry etc) actually break down this mucous membrane, it makes pairing such herbal remedies with manuka a super way to reinforce our immune system defences while we let the elderberry, oregano etc fight off the infections.
3. Oregano Oil
Not only is this a simple mediterranean shrub that yields an exquisitely pungent, bitter herb that brings any pizza base to life, but oregano has long been used for keeping bugs away that live in (and on) our bodies if they get the chance…with anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic AND anti-viral properties, oregano is always top of our list for dosing all members of the family and Hopsack crew if a tickle in the throat comes calling, or even if there’s other sick kids or adults in the playground, at work, school etc that you’re coming into contact with.
Why we love it, is that it’s so fast acting and brutal to the pesky invaders that giving a dose of 3-5 drops in short glass of water, and gargling before swallowing, wipes out the invaders before they have the chance to truck past our tonsils. The other sneaky secondary weapon that oregano uses, is by virtue of it’s incredible carvacrols, a potent group of terpine compounds that stimulate AND regulate our immune system, triggering the positive short term inflammatory response that ramps up our immune system to repel any attacks, but that AT THE SAME TIME (can you get that we’re excited) ramps DOWN the chronic inflammatory response that precedes and triggers long-term degenerative diseases like diabetes, heart disease etc. Dose 4-6 times per day at 3-5 drops per dose for best effect and ****ALWAYS use a food grade oregano oil****
4. Propolis
The beauty of the bee colony is something to really behold as it demonstrates so many of nature’s principles – from their pollen to their propolis, bees have an incredible system of natural hive harmonising compounds that they employ to repel sickness, and ensure optimal health for their whole brood. Propolis has epic anti-oxidant properties that fill our body with added capacity to deal with daily stressors that come in the form of dodgy dietary choices, cancer-causing environmental toxins, and all that living and breathing that we undertake in between.
Anti-oxidants all serve to take the strain off our immune systems and the oxidative stress that we cope with each day. When we can’t cope is when our immune systems start to break down and show signs of struggle, often in the form of mild head colds and sore throats, and if we don’t heed those early warning signs then we’re staring right down the barrel of repeat infections that can truly set us back, harming our long term health and weakening our immune systems ability to repel the invaders that try to storm the castle walls…whether we’re ready or not.
Propolis is also one of our faves because of its multi-tasking nature. As well as being traditionally used like nature’s chewing gum by us humans, the bees use it as a draft excluder in their hives that also, who’d have guessed it, kills and prevents infection in the hive where the precious nursery of bee babies and the colony’s most critical member, the queen, safely live out their lives with all the protective measures the hive employs.
Propolis tincture is pretty sticky stuff, so using a tincture is the best way to distribute the beneficial properties to your throat before digesting and swallowing it to pick up all the back-end antioxidant benefits.
5. Liquid Zinc
Traditionally we look at immune system nutriients in what is known as the antioxidant cycle – vitamins A, C and E along with Selenium and Zinc all do battle with oxidative stress, the ageing effect that we can’t escape but we can accelerate or arrest through our dietary and lifestyle disciplines. Of course all those nutrients have their own specific quirks and HUNDREDS of jobs they complete in our systems as independent agents. Of these we pick zinc as our most key mineral from the host of potentials that can help us stop infections in their tracks.
You see, zinc is a CONTACT anti-microbial, that is to say that just like the botanicals above, zinc can actually kill microbes on contact and hence when suspended in a liquid and gargled before swallowing, zinc can kill the bugs before we absorb it into our bloodstream to work on all the more systemic roles it has to play as part of sex hormone, bone synthesis and immune system functions that it plays crucial roles in also.
Getting around 60mg divided across the day in the short term is a smart play for healthy adults, with longer term doses of 15-30mg needing to be tempered by copper supplementation as those two undermine each other so extended supplementation with one leads to depletion of the other.
6. Vitamin C
Nothing and nobody takes the head of the table at the immune system staff party except this guy. From its protective, preventative properties that keep us safe from harm and help us heal from insult and injury, to it’s capacity to work as a weaponised anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory anti-histamine when unleashed in larger doses, vitamin C is the number guard dog at the gates of our biology.
Fortunately available in many foodstuffs that we commonly consume, vitamin C gets a bad rap in the world of “conventional” medicine, owing to the short half life of the synthetic form ascorbic acid vitamin C that is routinely employed in scientific studies. Within 1-2 hours of entering our bloodstream that vitamin C – unlike the natural stuff that serves us for anything up to 24 hours after ingestion – if not grabbed by our cells, is excreted promptly by our system, making for all the ‘expensive pee’ quips that detractors offer up to scoff at nutritional supplements. However, liposomal vitamin C hits a little different. Molecullarly bound inside phospholipids, liposomal vitamin C fools our body into thinking it belongs in the cell wall, and hence we have fast and near 100% absorption. So our body essentially hoovers it up, and the benefits when you start to affect plasma concentrations of vitamin C…well you just have to read the literature. And instead of dealing with difficult delivery methods such as the hypodermic needles used in the studies, oral dosing with liposomal vitamin C will do just or near enough the same job.
Now liposomal vitamin C is eye-wateringly pricey…upwards of €50-80 for 30 doses that you’ll consume in a few days if you’re following our guide to short term dosing. So our best pick to save a few shillings and have enough stock in to serve the family for the ENTIRE season is Biocare Vitamin C.
If you feel a tickle, a scratch or the start of a fever, then getting regular doses is the main aim – 1000mg every 2-3 hours for health adults is the way to cut off more seriuos sickness at the pass.
7. Chaga – Medicinial Mushroom
Finn’s single favourite immunity enhancing medicinal mushroom, chaga is a potent dark delicious and bitter brew, with a flavour similar to that of black coffee and a feeling that matches with its WHOPPING payload of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and betulinic acid amongst many many other heretofore undiscovered compounds that underpin its traditional and modern use as a potent immune system support. If you get yourself sick for any reason, with any cause and any constelation of symptoms, chaga is waiting in the wings to be your best friend and favourite bed fellow to get you through, past and away from those never ending duvet days.
Finn uses around 1000mg of a concentrated extract once per day when healthy and about 3 times per day if he starts to feel under the weather.
8. Colloidal Silver
It’s a potent mineral that everybody’s heard of, but few have sprayed on their skin or throat in colloidal form. Yet to see adoption in the EU, if you go to Japan or Australia, silver impregnated bandages are used to prevent antibiotic resistant bacteria from causing deep hospital acquired infections that can threaten entire health systems if left unchecked.
Finn always brings a spray bottle of colloidal silver when he goes on planes or into foreign countries where his immune system is going to be challenged. No living system can thrive in a medium dominated by silver and even weak concentrations such as 20ppm, which makes it safe for humans to interact with, have a potent effect on preventing bacteria, viruses etc from taking up residence in our throats.
Spray liberally when needed and keep one on your person if you’re in a workplace, school or other public place where folk around you are coughing and sneezing.
We hope this guide helps you build robust health with the hayfever and allergy season on the way in. Prevention with simple herbs and nutrients is soooo much easier than the back end cures that you end up in need of if you don’t have your trusty immune system supports in place. Wishing you the best in health 🙂
The information in this blog is not intended to treat or diagnose medical maladies. Our site is for research and entertainment purposes only. You are responsible for your health, so go be your best researcher and become an advocate for your health – cos nobody else will if you don’t. Consult a physician if you are suffering from any health conditions first.
