Diabetes And Immune Health: Are You On Top Of Your Game? By David Andrews
In your quest to overcome your diabetes, chances are you are devoting a lot of attention to things like your nutrition plan, how many calories you are taking in, and how much you are exercising each week.
This is all great news as all of those will have a seriously impact on the overall condition that you are in. If you aren’t eating healthy or are not exercising, your diabetes is likely to get out of control and more serious side effects may start to occur.
But, one area of health that often goes overlooked by those with this condition is immune health. Your immune system is basically your first line of defense and proves to help keep you strong when invaders like bacteria and viruses are trying to enter the picture.
When your immune system is weak, you’ll be more prone to getting sick or ill, or simply just feeling run-down and miserable.
And, if you feel run-down all the time, how likely do you think it is that you’ll keep on exercising and eating right? Not very likely at all.
So as you can see, your immune system can have a direct influence on your ability to manage your condition.
In order to improve your immune health, there are three key things that you need to do.
1.Supplement with probiotics.
You may have heard of probiotics before. These are the good ‘friendly’ bacteria that reside in your gut and actually help to strengthen your immune system. What you may not realize is that about 80% of your immune system is in your gut, so if your gut environment is not up to par, neither will your immune system be.
Most people do not have enough of the good bacteria in their guts because they just aren’t eating probiotic rich foods. And, if you’ve ever done a course or two of probiotics before, this further decreases your chances of maintaining a favorable gut environment because those medications will wipe out all the bacteria in the body – good or bad. While if you are ill and suffering, that can be a good thing, but meanwhile, for long term health, it’s not so good.
So either take a probiotic or focus on eating probiotic rich foods more often such as live culture yogurt, miso soup, kombucha, or sauerkraut. Any fermented foods will have a good source of these live bacteria.
2.Focus on Vitamin C
In your quest to keep your sugar intake down, you may be putting fruit on hold. You don’t indulge in as much as you should because you know that even fruit sugar can raise your blood glucose levels.
This is a shame, however as fruit is one of the best sources of vitamin C that you can consume, and vitamin C is a serious immune system booster.
The solution? First, you can supplement with vitamin C. Second, don’t be led to believe that you need to cut out all fruit. Berries for instance are an excellent source of vitamin C and don’t contain all that much sugar either. Eat those often.
Likewise, the odd orange, provided you eat it with a main meal containing protein and fat will provide a hearty dose of vitamin C and won’t raise blood glucose all that much.
Don’t avoid all fruit – just eat it in moderation. That’s your best approach.
3.Get More Sleep.
Yes, sleep again. I mention sleep a lot in these newsletters but it really is so critical to overall good health. When you are sleeping enough at night, your body has time to recharge its engine and that means strengthening it’s first line of defense – your immune system.
Be sure that you are getting your 7-9 hours every night and you’ll be far better off because of it.
So there you have three things that you must start doing if you want to keep your immune system strong and feel your best. Don't overlook any of these.
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Image Sources:
https://www.luxxhealth.com/why-you-need-probiotics/
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/good-nights-sleep
http://totalgymdirect.com/total-gym-blog/8-ways-to-get-more-vitamin-c-in-your-diet