Boosting Your Immunity For Dummies
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The immune system works hard all the time to keep an eye out for “dangerous strangers” to the body, which gets harder to do when the body is also busy dealing with toxic chemicals, hormone overload, and a sluggish system. Here are some strategies for assisting your body’s detoxification systems; the reward is a healthier immune system.

  • Drink more water! Your kidneys flush out toxins, but they need water to do their job. Most people are chronically dehydrated, and coffee, tea, soda, and sweetened drinks just make it worse. Shoot for drinking half of your weight in ounces of water each day; for example, if you weigh 100 pounds, drink 50 ounces of water.

  • Support your liver. The liver does most of the detoxification. Support it with green tea, loads of cruciferous veggies, like broccoli and cauliflower, and enough protein.

  • Get moving to stimulate your lymphatic system. The lymphatic system doesn’t have a pump the way the blood’s circulatory system does. It requires the work of the muscles around it to move lymph, so exercise and movement are key to good detoxification. Lymphatic massage is also helpful, as is dry skin brushing — a technique that uses a soft brush to stroke the skin from the extremities toward the heart, moving lymph gently along the lymphatic pathways.

  • Clean up your world! The less environmental pollution you have to contend with, the happier your liver will be. You can detoxify your environment by simply not using plastic, eating organic whenever possible, and cleaning out the duct work in your home. Using air purifiers and water filters and avoiding most dry cleaners also can have a huge impact on the amount of damaging toxins in your day-to-day life.

About This Article

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About the book authors:

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci is the coauthor of the health and lifestyle books Living Paleo For Dummies and Boosting Your Immunity For Dummies. She also created the successful kids' health and wellness program Superkids Wellness and the Paleo door-to-door home delivery food service Living Paleo Foods.

Melissa Joulwan is the author of the paleo recipe and lifestyle blog www.theclothesmakethegirl.com.

Dr. Wendy Warner, a board certified holistic physician, is a nationally known lecturer and teacher of integrative holistic medicine.

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci, who is a go-to expert in the nutritional field, helps patients build the strongest, healthiest bodies through her family-based workshops and consulting practice (http://www.drkellyann.com Twitter @drkellyann).

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