Episode 330: Ways to Support Your Immune System
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify
Let's talk about immune support as we head into "cold and flu season"! Here at Team FN, we believe it’s not about eliminating exposure to all viruses or illnesses, but rather about controlling our habits, the foods we consume, and our daily routines to keep our immune system firing on all cylinders. Learn about the nutritional and lifestyle foundations for building a strong immune system, as well as the supplements and nutraceuticals that can offer additional support.
Feel like you’re doing all the basics and are still catching every cold that goes around? It may be time to take a deeper dive. We’re accepting clients to work with us 1:1 within the Functional C.A.R.E. Method™ and would love to see your application!
In this episode:
Anti-inflammatory foods to include in your diet [9:09]
Foods with antiviral properties [15:47]
Microbiome and your immune system [24:21]
Number 1 thing to do to moderate your immune system [31:32]
Common contributing factors to stress and coping strategies [35:53]
Supplements and nutraceuticals to consider for immune support [41:18]
Resources mentioned:
Functional C.A.R.E. Method™ 1:1 Services
Immune-Boosting Zucchini Noodle Ramen Soup
Immune-Boosting Hot Chocolate (Includes video for DIY Brazil Nut & Pumpkin Seed Nut Mylk!)
Immune-Boosting (Lyme Prevention) Chocolate Shake
Qualia Senolytic (get up to 50% off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with link + code FUNKS)
Organifi supplement powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
Ned Natural Remedies (get 20% off your order with code FUNK)
LMNT Electrolyte Replenishing powder (Use code FUNK get a free sample pack with any purchase!)
Learn more about Immune Support & Functional Nutrition
Related episodes:
328: Inflammation Hunting- What Does It Mean?
86: How to Prevent the Flu & What to Do if You Get it
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Erin Holt [00:00:02]:
I'm Erin Holt, and this is the Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast, where we lean into intuitive functional medicine. We look at how diet, our environment, our emotions, and our beliefs all affect our physical health. This podcast is your full bodied, well rounded resource. I've got over a decade of clinical experience, and because of that, I've got a major bone to pick with diet culture and the conventional healthcare model. They're both failing so many of us. But functional medicine isn't the panacea that it's made out to be, either. We've got some work to do, and that's why creating a new model is my life's work. I believe in the ripple effect.
Erin Holt [00:00:39]:
So I founded the Funk'tional Nutrition Academy, a school and mentorship for practitioners who want to do the same. This show is for you if you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health and you're ready to be an active participant in your own healing. Please keep in mind this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. I would love for you to follow the show, rate, review, and share because you never know whose life you might change. And, of course, keep coming back for more. All right, friends, we're back with another episode. Today we're going to get into immune support. It's that back to school, like, we're about a month in.
Erin Holt [00:01:20]:
This is where the wheels typically come off the train. We're in that, like, seasonal shift, and then the kiddos are running around. We're exposed to a bunch of stuff, and this is where, like, everybody gets colds and starts to get run down. So we figured we would do an episode. And I'm here with our lead practitioner, Rachel.
Rachel Mistry [00:01:38]:
Hey, Erin. I'm excited to be here.
Erin Holt [00:01:41]:
All right, so I like to think about the immune system is not something that we work on when we're in crisis mode. Usually by the time people are coming to us to work one on one, they're in crisis mode. They know that their immune system isn't, like, up to snuff, isn't firing on all cylinders. But the way that we can prevent getting sick often is to really treat our immune system and our immune health like something that requires daily investment, because it kind of does. It's not just like a supplement or a pharmaceutical or an herb or even a probiotic that you take, although some of these things can be really helpful and beneficial, and we'll even get into some stuff today, but it's really more about daily practices. So I think that that's the best way to approach a show about immune health.
Rachel Mistry [00:02:30]:
Agreed.
Erin Holt [00:02:31]:
Okay. And I think, you know, to your, we were talking about this before, and we know that we can't completely just eliminate our exposure to everything, to all viruses that are going around, but what is in our control are those daily habits. It's the foods that we eat, our sleep, it's our nutrition, it's our lifestyle, it's all the foundations. And so would you agree that that's a great way to start when we're working on immune health?
Rachel Mistry [00:03:01]:
Definitely. And like you mentioned, a lot of times people do come to us when they're like, okay, I've done the basics. We always chat about the basics in our work with patients. But, you know, let's start with nutrition. Let's start with foundation, stress management and sleep before we move on to that deeper dive of running labs and, like, bringing in supplements as well. And I like to say that in our practice, we practice really holistically, right. We're chatting about nutrition and lifestyle. We do integrate functional medicine, lab tests and supplements, but this is, like, all part of that deep dive.
Rachel Mistry [00:03:36]:
So if you're not sure where to start, use this as your jumping off point. For sure.
Erin Holt [00:03:41]:
That's a good way to look at it, too. All right, well, let's start with nutrition foundation. Since we're both trained in the field of nutrition, what would be your first thing you would say in regards to supporting the immune system through nutrition?
Rachel Mistry [00:03:55]:
First and foremost, I would say adopt that abundance mindset. Like, let's give your immune system the raw materials and the raw nutrients that needs to survive. So, like, focus on a really low inflammatory, nutrient dense diet. And when I say low inflammatory diet, this does include avoiding or limiting your intake of processed foods, limiting your intake of added sugars and alcohol. A lot of times, I think when people think about, like, what's a really healthful way to eat, they focus more on what to avoid rather than what to focus on. And we want to really focus on those, like, those nutrient dense foods, those anti inflammatory compounds, which we'll definitely dive into also.
Erin Holt [00:04:35]:
Yeah, we'll get into some specifics of, like, actual foods to include, but I want to go, like, a little bit off piste. I like the, what you said about giving the immune system the raw materials that it needs to survive. It reminds me of the Gabor Maté quote. It was one of my favorite quotes, but I feel like I say that about every, every time I quote him. But he says, our immune system does not exist in isolation from daily experience, meaning the things that you do every single day is what is going to build your immune system and build your resiliency, really. And so we have to look at two of the things that we're doing every day, which is eating. And it's a little bit of a funny time to be talking about this, because just not last week, but the week before, Time Magazine released an article and the original title. Because they changed the title.
Erin Holt [00:05:23]:
The original title was, what was it? I have to find it here.
Rachel Mistry [00:05:28]:
Why?
Erin Holt [00:05:30]:
No, that's the title they changed it to. It's What If Ultra Processed Foods Aren't as Bad as You Think? And because this caused such an uproar, they actually changed the title. And part of the reason that it caused an uproar is because just a year ago, January 2023, they released an article saying Why Ultra Processed Foods Are So Bad For You. And they cited research about why it was so bad. And then they do this complete and utter about-face. And you know me, I'm all for holding multiple truths at once, but I'm just like, come on, man, your funding is showing. Like, it's just so gross. And then they changed it to the title.
Erin Holt [00:06:09]:
Why One Dietitian is Speaking Up for Ultra Processed Food, which I think is BS. It's like they couldn't take the heat. And so they, like, pinned it on this one individual, and they're like, you take the heat now. And I think that's just gross. We have to look to the media outlets and hold them accountable. Anyway, I want to lean into this in case consumers are like, okay, so, like, what is it? Are ultra processed food good, bad, indifferent? And I would say that not great, especially when it comes to the immune system. And part of this is because of this concept known as antigenicity, which is essentially. So an antigen is anything foreign to the body.
Erin Holt [00:06:45]:
So it's a pathogen, it's a bacteria, it's a virus, but it also is a food protein. So it doesn't mean it's bad. It's just something that is outside of the body. It's foreign to the body. It's not like your own cells, your own tissues. And when we change the antigenicity of something, that means our immune system is more likely to react aggressively to that thing. So high antigenicity means our immune system is not gonna really recognize it as a friend. It's gonna identify it as a foe and want to fight it off, want to attack it, want to create an inflammatory reaction to it.
Erin Holt [00:07:21]:
So if our modern food is highly antigenic, that's like saying that we have high immune reactivity to our modern food, which is not a good thing. We don't want our immune systems to be reacting to our food proteins that we're eating all of the time. So food processing actually does increase the antigenicity of food. That's because we're adding different chemical agents to the food. This just helps to make them easier to manufacture and process, like on, like the actual machines that they're processed on, so they don't stick to the machines. This extends their shelf life. It changes their texture, so it's a more favorable texture. So we are adding a lot of things to our food that we're eating, the ultra processed foods that arguably shouldn't really be there.
Erin Holt [00:08:04]:
It requires a lot of additional stuff, and our bodies just don't really know how to react or respond to it. It gets a little confused, which can create that inflammatory cascade and that immune reaction. And so this can be food coloring as well. Food coloring is so gnarly. So we would put food coloring in ultra processed foods, we would see food coloring there. It's so gnarly because it changes the protein structure of the food. And so our bodies, again, are not going to really know how to handle that, know how to react to that. There's going to be a higher likelihood that the immune system is going to negatively respond to that.
Erin Holt [00:08:42]:
So there's just a multitude of reasons that we do want to avoid ultra processed food. So if you saw that Time article and you're like, oh, maybe it's not so bad, I'm here to tell you, no, no, like it is, stay away from it. There are like highly, one can only assume that they're highly funded by the food industry to release an article, uh, saying that. And then I just don't like how they're pinning that one dietitian, they're like, uh, actually it's her fault. So anyway, that's my whole soapbox moment. So now let's talk about what anti inflammatory foods actually are. Like, what would be good foods to include.
Rachel Mistry [00:09:20]:
As close to existing, like basically whatever food you can get that's as close to its original form found in nature. Right? So a lot of whole foods, not specifically the grocery store necessarily, but like your fresh produce items, your fruits and veggies, your animal proteins, your eggs, things like that, are as close to their natural form as possible. And this might be up for debate, but I would even argue that, let's say you get jarred tomatoes. Those are technically processed if they've been diced and chopped, but if some salt and olive oil has been added to them, I would consider them minimally processed. And they would be part of a low inflammatory diet, really an anti inflammatory diet as well. I would say those brightly colored produce items, the more brightly colored your produce items are, the more nutrients they're going to have in them. And so a few of the foods that come to mind are things that when you cut into them, they have that really deep and vibrant color, not only on the outside, but on the inside as well.
Rachel Mistry [00:10:21]:
So things like your berries, your sweet potatoes, your citrus, your bell peppers as well.
Erin Holt [00:10:26]:
And a lot of those. Cause, you know, we might be talking to parents here because I did mention back to school. And so a lot of those things you just mentioned can make their way into lunch boxes. I know it's not always the most convenient to pack kiddos lunch, and I also would strongly advocate for doing it anyway. I know. Don't. This is. Here's how I do it.
Erin Holt [00:10:46]:
I have one child. Let me just say that. So I do have to post that disclaimer. It's not like I have 16 kids running around. That makes things more difficult when you've got multiples. But the way that I do it, we're cooking dinner anyway. I make a tremendous mess every time I cook dinner. So, like, all the stuff is out.
Erin Holt [00:11:02]:
So usually I am packing her lunch then. Last year she packed her lunch for the most part. This year she's asked me to start doing it again. She has a lot of sports and a lot of stuff going on, so I'm happy to do that. I just found a Mother's Day card from her and she's one of the reasons she loves me is because I make her lunch. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna just keep making this kid lunch. Like, I'm fine with it, but I will do.
Erin Holt [00:11:26]:
Berries are great. The bell peppers, she really loves those. And those mini peppers that you can get, they're so good for the lunch. Do try, when you're buying peppers, do try to buy organic because those are some of the, some of the veggies that tend to be higher in pesticides. So I do try to always get organic peppers anytime I'm buying peppers. Just like a little pro tip, but I just try to pack a lot of veggies there. We go to the farm store often. And so she loves green beans.
Erin Holt [00:11:56]:
I'm cutting those. Trying to think of things that she does really well with. Obviously, fruits tend to just go over well with kids. But try to get some of the veggie produce in there as well. Those are some of the big hits. And that's kind of how I manage packing a lunch without it feeling like one more chore to do. I just do it when I'm doing dinner.
Rachel Mistry [00:12:14]:
Or even the, like, the low prep veggies, like you mentioned, the mini bell peppers that you can get, or even, like, snap peas or jicama sticks if you buy them pre cut. That's an option. Baby carrots are another option. Or I like cuties. Or the little tangerines. Yeah, that's a fruit. But, like, you don't even have to prep it or cut it up. They just peel it when they get in to school.
Erin Holt [00:12:35]:
Good idea. Do you know, I just don't really like baby carrots. I'll eat them. But, like, when we were in California, you got the carrot sticks.
Rachel Mistry [00:12:43]:
Yeah.
Erin Holt [00:12:43]:
They were bagged, pre cut carrot sticks and I was like, wow, I love these. They were baby carrots.
Rachel Mistry [00:12:50]:
Not as slimy.
Erin Holt [00:12:51]:
They're not as slimy. And then mini cukes, like the persian cucumbers, the mini cucumbers. Hatti loves those. I actually like really into those too. So those are easy ones for lunchbox.
Erin Holt [00:15:47]:
Talk to me about foods that might have some antiviral properties that we could work in.
Rachel Mistry [00:15:53]:
I will. I love adding rosemary whenever I'm cooking steak or, like, roasted chicken. Like, if I do a whole roasted chicken, I'll stick some rosemary, like, under the skin on top of the breast. It makes it really flavorful. Also antiviral oregano. We have some oregano in our garden, and whenever I'm making, like, pasta or an italian dish, I'll just sprinkle some into the sauce or on top of it. Garlic is always amazing to cook with. I feel like you can never do too much garlic. Ginger.
Rachel Mistry [00:16:20]:
I'll add that sometimes to smoothies or sometimes I'll add it to, like, thai food or asian food. And then shiitake mushrooms are also amazing. So, like, in a stir fry, if you're ever sauteing anything. I made burgers the other day, and I like finely diced up some mushrooms, sauteed them, and mixed it into the ground beef mixture, which was really nice.
Erin Holt [00:16:41]:
I have a recipe on the website for it's, I think it called it, like, Immune Boosting Soup, but it has a lot of shiitake mushrooms in it. Actually. Cam, while you're editing this. Grab some immune boosting resources to add to the show notes. I'm gonna echo what you said about ginger throwing it into smoothies, because it's, like, I think people love the idea of buying ginger, but don't always know what to do with it. They get a little stalled out. So here's some of my favorite ways to use fresh ginger.
Erin Holt [00:17:09]:
So you buy, like, the gnarly root. You buy the ginger, and then I will slice it up thinly, and then I'll put it through a garlic press and put it right in. So, you know, like, it's, like, squeezing out the stuff. And then I'll put it into a mug with hot water, and I just make ginger tea that way, especially if I have, like, a tummy ache or, like, rumbly dumps. That's really nice. And ginger also is anti inflammatory, so it's just a nice thing to work into rotation. But then I will also just throw a chunk into a smoothie as well. And I love that.
Erin Holt [00:17:42]:
Oregano. So we haven't grown our herbs in, like, a couple of years, to be honest with you, which is kind of a bummer. But. So whenever I'm at the farmer's market, I'll always buy a bag of dried oregano, because I just love the taste of it. So you could do this. If you're growing your own oregano, you could just dry it, but. And you could, like, kind of be heavy handed with it. So I just love taking the dried oregano and, like, putting it into whatever I'm cooking, just kind of for crumbling it up.
Erin Holt [00:18:07]:
That always adds a lot of flavor. I do that with meat, like ground beef. I have a hard time eating beef that tastes like beef. It has to be, like, hyper seasoned. So that's one of the ways that I will do it. So just some ideas to work those antiviral foods into rotation. How about specific nutrients people should be aware of?
Rachel Mistry [00:18:30]:
I'm a sucker. If you've worked with me as a patient, I've probably encouraged you to have two Brazil nuts a day for selenium because it's big for hormonal health. It's an amazing antioxidant. But, yeah, selenium is awesome for immune system function. Just two Brazil nuts a day, you can provide you with a decent amount of your selenium needs. I think there's a recipe for. I think it's Brazil nut nut milk on the website as well.
Erin Holt [00:18:55]:
Oh, my gosh. Well, be careful. Be careful about that, because I did recently, like, in the past couple of months, I just was making Brazil nut milk and did a reel and people were so mad. They're like, do you know you can die from Brazil nut poisoning? I'm like, I am not telling people to drink twelve gallons of this a day. You can overdo it with Brazil nuts for sure, but, like, the recommendation of two a day or just occasionally drinking Brazil nut milk is not, is not going to do it. It's not going to be the thing that gets you in the end. It's not it. We're not telling people to eat, like a cup of Brazil nuts a day, so.
Erin Holt [00:19:37]:
But I do love, I love to make different nut milks and I'll rotate them out. One that I love to do is Brazil nuts and pumpkin seeds together. So you get, like the zinc hit, you got the selenium. That's like a nice one to do. So be careful out there if you're going to be adding Brazil nuts to make sure that you're not overdoing it.
Rachel Mistry [00:19:57]:
You're not doing a cup well in the zinc, too. Like, if you're doing pumpkin seeds and you're doing other nut and seed milks, pumpkin seeds are a great source of zinc. So zinc is an amazing nutrient that we have increased needs for during periods of illness and sicknesses. Oysters as well, are an amazing source of zinc. And so I don't do oysters at home, but whenever I go out to eat, if I see oysters on the menu, I'm like, okay, I want, I'll order a couple for myself or for the table, just to get a little bit of extra, extra zinc.
Erin Holt [00:20:29]:
Yeah. You know, I love oysters. I tried west coast oysters for the first time with you in May.
Rachel Mistry [00:20:34]:
You didn't like them?
Erin Holt [00:20:35]:
They didn't, they weren't the same. It's not like I didn't like them. They were just different. They're a little chewier, a little more texture than the east coast ones.
Rachel Mistry [00:20:43]:
I do the small oysters because the big ones scare me, so that's maybe a hack, too. Something else that's not always everyone's favorite thing to integrate are organ meats, specifically for vitamin A. So you can get vitamin a from eggs. You can get it from high quality dairy, if you tolerate dairy. And then organ meats like liver are a great source of vitamin A as well, and copper. But vitamin A is awesome for immune system function, too. We will get this ground beef mixture.
Rachel Mistry [00:21:16]:
It's a pre made one at the grocery store. It's ground beef with a little bit of organ meats ground up into it, so it kind of takes the work out of it for you. And we'll make an effort to do that a couple of times a month, too.
Erin Holt [00:21:29]:
What grocery store do you find that at?
Rachel Mistry [00:21:31]:
I've seen that Sprouts and Whole Foods. The brand that I get specifically is called Force of Nature, but I know that other brands are available, but it's not. It's not in the fresh meat section. It's frozen because it's not as popular. So it comes in those little bricks and. Yeah, Sprouts and Whole Foods, they have a store locator on their website, too, that I've sent people to.
Erin Holt [00:21:53]:
There's a local butcher that will do that. I just didn't realize you could actually get that at Whole Foods. So tell me. And I've recommended that to people. I'm definitely, like, fair weather when it comes to organ meats. Like, when I was really struggling with my health, I'm like, I'll eat liver. And now I'm like, I feel fine. I don't want it.
Erin Holt [00:22:09]:
But tell me about the taste of that. Of the. So it's like ground beef with some organs. Like, how do you cook that? And do you taste it?
Rachel Mistry [00:22:18]:
If you make it with salt, it will taste a little different. You'll probably be able to tell. I had friends over for a taco night, and I didn't tell them. And then after the meal, I was like, guess what? You guys just had some organ meats. And they were like, oh, great. So I feel like you do have to season it. I've used it for meatballs primarily, and I've used it for taco ish dishes because you're adding a lot more seasoning, I feel like, to the tacos, but you can't tell my husband, Taylor. I've made it for him a few times.
Rachel Mistry [00:22:48]:
The first, I was like, there's no point in telling him. And after I told him, after, he's like, oh, great. Like, he doesn't really care either way, but I really don't think you can tell a difference.
Erin Holt [00:22:57]:
Tacos is a good idea. And, like, maybe like a meat sauce, too.
Rachel Mistry [00:23:00]:
Yeah.
Erin Holt [00:23:01]:
Saucy. Okay. And then any other nutrients we should be aware of?
Rachel Mistry [00:23:06]:
Definitely vitamin C. You can definitely take the food first approach, like strawberries, bell peppers, citrus fruits are amazing. You can do. You can definitely do supplements. And some people are a big advocate for supplements. I recommend the whole food ones. So, like, we use Pure Synergy in practice or, like, Jigsaw has some good whole food based supplements as well.
Erin Holt [00:23:27]:
But, yeah, I love that Pure Synergy. It's such a great brand. Sometimes the vitamin C powder gives me a little bit of reflux, but I'm like a sensitive sally when it comes to my esophagus. So I think other people, normies are probably just fine. One thing that I love to do to get some vitamin C is a smoothie. So do you drink smoothies outside of the summer?
Rachel Mistry [00:23:51]:
Um, ish. Kind of like, I want to make a pumpkin pie one. Like a fall one. I like that. But we kind of have, like, warm October's here, too.
Erin Holt [00:24:01]:
Okay. I'm like a kind of a year round smoothie person. My body doesn't like it. I'll get Raynaud's because, like, my whole core temperature goes down. But I just love them. But what I'll do cauliflower rice, frozen cauliflower rice, and then frozen straw if I want to get, like, a nice little vitamin C hit. That's like my vitamin C smoothie. Oh, and then I'll throw an orange in, too, as well.
Erin Holt [00:24:21]:
Okay. We would be remiss if we did not at least give a head nod to the microbiome when we're talking about immune health.
Rachel Mistry [00:24:30]:
Absolutely and definitely, you've heard this before a ton of times, I'm sure. But over 80% of your immune system is located in your gut. So your microbiome is primarily, it is located in your large intestine, but the immune system component is located more so in your small intestine. And so the way that we like to think about it is the health of your microbiome and the health of your gut overall will really regulate your overall immune system function. The more diverse or the higher your levels of your good bacteria are, the more resilient your immune system will be. And there's a couple of articles have continued to be released about this topic, but even within the last couple of years, there's more and more articles coming out linking lack of diversity in your microbiome to an increased risk of just disease development. So how can we support this? We think about diversifying your diet, bringing in new foods each week. It doesn't have to be foods that you've never eaten before, but one or two new foods more is fine, too, that maybe you didn't eat last week that you can rotate in.
Rachel Mistry [00:25:40]:
And I feel like it's a great season to be chatting about this because we're at the tail end of summer. There's more stone fruits. I feel like fall produce is becoming more abundant, too. So it could be as simple as like, oh, hey, this week I'm going to pick up a purple potato instead of a white one for my nutrition. Right. I think it's really important to also distinguish between prebiotics and probiotics because I feel like there's still a lot of confusion out there between the two. And prebiotics are basically foods that feed your good bacteria, whereas probiotics are foods that contain live and active organisms, culture bacteria. So probiotics you can get from things like kimchi and sauerkraut yogurt, whereas prebiotics are things like garlic and onions, bananas, asparagus, and then, like, resistant starches, like leftover potatoes or leftover rice as well.
Erin Holt [00:26:33]:
And I know the variety thing can be a struggle point for some people. I was just listening to a podcast. It was a business podcast, and she was an entrepreneur, and she's looking to get healthier, and she's like, I just order a meal delivery service, and they just deliver the same five meals to me over and over and over again. And that's how I can get eat healthy, which is a great starting point. But, like, the microbiome lover in me is like, oh, we're missing so much variety in that. So if you're eating standard american diet, if consistency is the thing, like, or eating the same meals over and over and over again, is the thing that's going to make you be consistent with whole foods, do that, like, make that your favorite, and then from there, try to branch out and build in the variety. And with kiddos, too.
Erin Holt [00:27:19]:
Such a big, you know, such a big important part, which is why I was kind of talking up, like, the lunchbox thing, really trying to rotate out the different fruits, the different veggies. When we're talking about diversity, we're talking about plant diversity. So your fruits, your veggies, even your grains, different types of grains. I'll have Hatti do oatmeal, sprouted oats. She really likes that. Her and Scott love that there's, like, quinoa flakes for breakfast. So any type of plant material that you can include and rotate out is a really good idea.
Erin Holt [00:27:55]:
The nuts and the seeds, the nut and the seed milk that we were talking about, and even herbs and spices, that also counts as variety and diversity in diet. So just the more the merrier. And I will say, I know we talked about this a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about inflammation, but there was a client who came to me because she was getting every cold that went around, she had Covid back to back. She was getting sinus infections. Like, every cold turned to a sinus infection, seasonal allergies. And when we ran a stool test on her, I don't know if I've ever seen beneficial species be as low as hers. Some are below detectable limits, and just about every single one was flagged as low. So the beneficial bacteria in her gut were low, were suppressed.
Erin Holt [00:28:42]:
And so because of that, her immune system was suppressed. So she was catching everything that was coming around. And the real project there was to rebuild, rehabilitate the microbiome. It wasn't just giving her vitamin C. It was like, okay, we have to really look at this as a microbiome project too.
Rachel Mistry [00:29:02]:
Definitely. And it's such a feed forward cycle, because sometimes what I see in practice, too, is people get their beneficial bacteria are low, so then this weakens their digestive immune system. They're getting freak, freak. They're getting frequently sick.
Erin Holt [00:29:18]:
They're getting freaky? I didn't know that there was a link between that and microbiome.
Rachel Mistry [00:29:23]:
And then with these frequent infections and illnesses, they're getting put on antibiotics that just keep their beneficial bacteria low. So sometimes that's where intervention, nutrition, lifestyle supplements can be so, so therapeutic also.
Erin Holt [00:29:36]:
That's such, such a solid point. Really valid point.
Erin Holt [00:31:18]:
We have to talk about sleep. I feel like this is such an under discussed part of the immune conversation, immune health conversation. When you don't sleep well, your entire physiology changes. Part of what happens when we sleep is we are priming and developing immune cells, and these sleep rhythms that we have modulate our entire immune system. And we've talked about melatonin and cortisol like the sun and the moon. Doctor Carrie Jones. I learned it so long ago that I don't even remember where I learned it from, but I think she refers to cortisol and melatonin like the sun and the moon, which is kind of cool.
Erin Holt [00:32:06]:
But if there's dysregulation there. There's more likely to be dysregulation with the immune system. We really, really, really need to be sleeping well as a way to moderate our immune system and manage the inflammatory response. So if you're not feeling well, if you're run down, sleep is the number one thing to do. And as a way to prevent feeling rundown and sick, getting sick, get a lot of sleep. And so when we're thinking about this back to school phase, probably one of the reasons people get so get sick and catch whatever's going around is because we're in this, like, big transition, this big schedule transition. I can speak to this because we're back in school.
Erin Holt [00:32:52]:
I think this is week three. She started sports. There's homework. Like, she's waking up earlier than she did in the summer. There's like this big shift for kiddos, so there's a higher likelihood to get run down. And I just really, really advocate for getting those kids as much sleep as possible and not the point of this conversation, but it would be crazy not to say it. Kids and tech is a real, real strong recipe for poor sleep quality. In fact, my daughter, so for context, she's in fifth grade now, and there was one night where she just couldn't fall asleep, and she had.
Erin Holt [00:33:24]:
It had been a rainy day. We don't really do a lot of iPad stuff but I kind of let her use the iPad way more than I typically would. And she's like, I can't fall asleep. And so I helped her to realize, okay, there's a direct correlation between how much time you spend on a screen and your ability to sleep at night. And so having these discussions with our kids, connecting the dots for them, maybe having some parameters around screen time, particularly when it around bedtime. I think these are really, really important for the overall health and immune system of our kids.
Rachel Mistry [00:34:00]:
And us too.
Erin Holt [00:34:02]:
And us.
Rachel Mistry [00:34:03]:
I know I chat a lot with my patients about bedtime boundaries. What are you allowing yourself to get exposed to in the couple of hours before bed? And even if it a lot, sometimes people are like, oh, I just scroll social media to shut my brain off in a way to kind of unwind and decompress. If you're scrolling from like one Instagram to the next or one TikTok to the next, it's such a short video that you're just constantly being, like, stimulated. Even if it's fun, it probably isn't helping you wind down like you would hope for. So even reading a book can be a great way where you're just focused on one thing. You're not looking at a bright screen. Shutting off that melatonin, also.
Erin Holt [00:34:41]:
A big one for me is no work emails. Like, don't check work emails. And it's not even because it's necessarily stressful all of the time, but it just gets like, it turns my mind on, it gets the gears going. Like, sometimes I'll get, like, I'll get an idea and then I'm like, off to the races and I'm writing things in my, the note section of my phone and I'm like, then I'm not, I'm not going to fall asleep in that situation. So no work emails is a big, is a big boundary that I'll try to help my clients set to. And then we have to talk about stress.
Rachel Mistry [00:35:13]:
Yeah, I mean, this kind of ties into exactly what you said. You're checking work emails, your brain gets going. It's probably triggering a little bit of a stress response. When we get stressed, it's going to trigger the release of cortisol. And this is a really normal response because, like, stress and cortisol in acute situations, this is really protective. But the problem is when this is ongoing, when it becomes chronic, high, cortisol can actually be more inflammatory. It can be a sign that there's deeper issues with inflammation going on and it can create inflammation itself. You can get more, you can get sick more frequently, pick up viruses, illnesses.
Rachel Mistry [00:35:50]:
It can decrease your white blood cell count. It's no fun.
Erin Holt [00:35:53]:
So what are you, some of the bigger contributors you see to stress? And I, maybe I should say it this way because sometimes we're in stressful situations. I kind of put them in three categories. One is you're in a stressful situation that you can change. You're just kind of like choosing it. And so it's an opportunity for some, like, coaching, maybe some tough love, like, hey, do you really need to be doing this? Like, or can we make different decisions and create different structures in your life? Second situation is you can't really change the circumstance, but you can change your attitude about the circumstance or your perception of the circumstance. And then third, like, you just can't really change it and it's not appropriate to change your attitude. But so in terms of category one, where it's an opportunity for behavior change, what would you say are, like, the biggest ones you see with your clients?
Rachel Mistry [00:36:45]:
I think what I see in terms of sources of stress for people, when some of the biggest causes, on one hand, we have the mental and emotional side of things and we also have the physical sources of stress. So kind of like breaking them down. Obviously not getting enough sleep can lower your stress threshold. Work can be a big source of stress for people. Spending too much time indoors, spending too much time on screens, like we've mentioned, can be a big source of stress, obviously, like loneliness and depression, those can be big sources of stress as well. But then a lot of times we also want to think about those physical sources of stress, which we'll definitely continue to dive into. But those physical sources of stress can be eating foods that you're sensitive to, eating a diet that's high in added sugar, maybe having an imbalance in your microbiome, maybe a toxin exposure as well. So when we think about, like, what are some things that we can actively implement into our routine, you know, we think about how can we support your nervous system and shift your body into more of a relaxed state? This could be accomplished through, like, meditation, breath work, yoga, tapping, you name it.
Rachel Mistry [00:37:57]:
And then I also encourage my patients a lot of times to just address your coping strategies. Are you getting stressed and overwhelmed and just scrolling on your phone? Like, one of my patients called it doom scrolling. She's like, I'm so overwhelmed from work at the end of the day that I just want to sit on my phone. And I encouraged her to reframe. And like, why don't we work to transform that stress. Like, how can we work it out of your body? And so for her, instead, she started going for a little walk at the end of her workday, and that just, like, helped set her up for success later in the evenings.
Erin Holt [00:38:32]:
Yeah. I just sent this meme to my friend just this morning. Every night at bedtime, I do one small ritual, 6 hours on my cell phone. When you catch yourself in a moment of I feel stressed out right now. When I catch myself in those, I'm like, what just happened? What just happened before to start? Because I went from feeling okay to not okay. So what just happened? And then try to put parameters in place. I just caught myself last week, and I'm trying to figure out exactly what it was.
Erin Holt [00:39:08]:
I really, so I get really, really good, deep work in first thing in the morning. So I'm not somebody who's going to wake up and meditate first thing in the morning for the most part. I wake up and I grab my coffee and I go to my computer. And if I'm working on a podcast or I'm writing an email or I'm doing a creative project, I just love it. I get so much done. When I go into my email, when I go into my asana tasks, that actually stresses me out. And it starts my day in a stressed state. So that's what I mean.
Erin Holt [00:39:36]:
It's kind of like, observe your patterns, observe your own behaviors, and see if you can kind of reverse engineer out of those stressful triggers. And then also say, again with the kids and the tech, real recipe for stress. We know this. I was just at an event where I saw some people I haven't seen in a long time. And the idea, the conversation of social media came up, and this one woman was like, I'm not on social media. I'm like, never. You've never been on it? She's like, no. She's like, all I need to do is read one article and see the negative health benefits and all the things that it does to your mental health.
Erin Holt [00:40:14]:
And that was enough for me. And so I said, oh, so your kids aren't on it either? And I wasn't trying to be sassy or fresh. It was just like, just a, just a follow up queue. And she was like, just like, pause. And she's like, no, they're on it. And I was like, okay, so you know that it's, it's, has adverse effects on your children's mental health, and yet here we are. And I'm certainly not blaming or criticizing the mother, because again, as somebody with a fifth grade girl, I am starting to see. She doesn't have a phone.
Erin Holt [00:40:45]:
And we're going to hold off for a long time. But I can see how that positions her to sort of be isolated from her peers. And we know that isolation from peers is another contributor to stress and to mental health issues. So I understand, like, the world we're living in. It's not an easy answer, but it's a conversation that I think we, as parents should continuously be having. Okay, so the foundations, the basics, we want to start there. The food, the stress, the sleep. And then from there, are there certain supplements or nutraceuticals to consider if you do feel like you're coming down with something?
Rachel Mistry [00:41:24]:
Definitely. I am a sucker for NAC. N-acetyl cysteine. NAC depends who you're chatting with, but it's great for so many things. It's a great source of sulfur. It supports your liver, but especially if you're getting sick, it can help to reduce viral replication. And it's an expectorant, so it can kind of help to, like, break apart mucus, help your body clear it out a little bit more effectively. And basically, if I ever start to feel sick or if I'm traveling, I definitely like to take NAC for that reason.
Rachel Mistry [00:41:54]:
And then I also love the Biocidin throat spray. I think you use that, too.
Erin Holt [00:41:58]:
I do. I usually. I don't usually use it when I'm sick. I use it when I'm traveling on a plane preventively, like, prophylactically, you know. But do you use it when you're sick?
Rachel Mistry [00:42:10]:
Yes, I'll use that when I'm sick. I really like that. And kind of along the same lines, there's Beekeepers Naturals. It's a propolis company. Have you ever tried them before?
Erin Holt [00:42:21]:
Gosh, I don't know.
Rachel Mistry [00:42:22]:
I love them. They have a throat spray, so they're propolis products, which is basically. Propolis is like a resin made from bees. Is it propolis? Oh, I say propolis. I have no idea. I've never said it out loud before, so maybe, I think I've heard it pronounced propolis. Ooh, awkward. But it helps to modulate the immune system.
Rachel Mistry [00:42:45]:
Right. Because we don't necessarily want to, like, suppress the immune system. We don't want to, like, activate it if we don't need it to be. We're just, like, helping to support the immune system. They have a great throat spray, which I love, if I'm sick. And they have a great nighttime it's like a nighttime, a more natural version of, like, NyQuil. It has some melatonin in it and stuff. It's great.
Rachel Mistry [00:43:07]:
And it tastes really good because it has honey in it. So, like, a little bit better for you options. I love their products. There's another great product. Specifically, it's a probiotic. It's from Metagenics called Ultraflora Immune Booster. So it's specific strains that can help with preventing and clearing respiratory infections.
Rachel Mistry [00:43:28]:
So I love that one. And then I don't. I might say this wrong. I don't know if it's virusid or virasid. I think it's virasid from Ortho Molecular. It says a blend of, like, nice antiviral herbs, too. So I've used that. I'll take that when it gets sick.
Erin Holt [00:43:41]:
Um, and I will add to this the. I appreciate. So even Hattie's pediatrician now is saying that honey is more effective than cough syrup. So using honey for coughs and colds, it's very soothing for the throat, and then it also can help with the coughs. I will echo what Rachel said about NAC. Any type of mucusy stuff, it will thin and clear mucus, so it's really helpful for that. I have, like, a children's NAC for Hattie as well. And it can be.
Erin Holt [00:44:13]:
Yeah. Yeah. So that one's good for the kiddos, too. All right, so what happens if you're doing all the foundations that we talked about? You're like, I'm nailing all the foundations, everything they said I'm doing. But you're still getting sick and run down often. You catch every bug that goes around.
Rachel Mistry [00:44:30]:
Then that's definitely a sign that we want to do a deeper dive. And that's where I think functional medicine and functional nutrition can really shine. We want to identify whatever source of inflammation or, like, what's the source of this burden on your immune system. Why is your immune system not functioning as it should? And that's where we go inflammation hunting. We use that phrase a lot in practice.
Erin Holt [00:44:55]:
We do. And we did a whole episode on it just a couple of weeks ago, so you can journey back in time and listen to it then. And if you do want to work with us, we have a couple of spots opening up this month, I believe, so you can. We'll link it up in the show, in the show notes, but you can head to the funktionalnutritionist.com and apply to work with us one on one. We'll get you healthy. Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Funk'tional Nutrition podcast. If you got something from today's show, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and keep coming back for more. Take care of you.
