Why do I Keep Getting Ill?

Every season seems to bring some particularly persistent bugs – flu and flu-like viruses that keep coming in waves, chest and throat infections, nasty sickness and tummy bugs. Even with a well-balanced diet, and seemingly doing all the right things to stay well, even the healthiest of individuals can be knocked off their feet!

Why do I keep getting sick?

Sure, you might get caught up in a bit of indulgence from time to time, including more alcohol consumption than normal. But it can be really frustrating to find yourself going down with yet another bug and getting sick every other week when you’ve barely recovered from the last one. What could be going on?

It helps to understand a bit about how the immune system works

You have numerous lines of defence all working in concert to protect you from getting ill. We produce a few different types of proteins called immunoglobulins and each type has a different job to do. Some of these, called Immunoglobulin A (IgA) are dispersed in bodily fluids such as your saliva and tears. IgA provides a first line of defence, potentially killing off anything unfamiliar that it comes into contact with, preventing it from going any further into the body.

IgE is better known for allergic reactions and potentially parasitic infections, while IgG is released in response to many of the foods you eat. However, IgG has a modulating effect, meaning that it’s presence doesn’t necessarily indicate an intolerance, IgG is there to help keep your immune system in check and to curb excessive immune reactions.

Then you have a whole host of different types of white blood cells. Some of these act quickly without having any specific knowledge of the material or organisms (living things such as viruses) that they are attacking.

Other white blood cells have a memory of a particular protein pattern (an antigen) found on the surface of a particular microbe or food molecule and will always start an immune reaction or an inflammatory cascade whenever they detect that same antigen in your system. This is the mechanism associated with auto-immunity, when your immune system sees protein patterns in something unfamiliar which are similar to protein patterns in some of your own body tissues and therefore your immune system will start to attack tissues such as joints, blood cells, or your digestive tract.

What to consider when your immunity is low

Certain foods or physical states will work to unbalance your immune system, triggering inflammation and keeping it busy so that when a bug comes along, you don’t have the reserves available to fight it. The following can overstimulate or suppress immunity:

Alcohol

You may notice that if you have a head cold, your runny nose stops for a while when you have consumed alcohol. This is because in the short term it turns part of your immune system off which may seem pretty convenient (please don’t drink alcohol to reduce your cold symptoms!) but whilst your immunity is suppressed, infective agents can actually take more of a foothold in your system, delaying how long it takes you to shake off illness.

Sugar

Spikes in blood sugar can in part trigger an inflammatory effect in your body. So if you are consuming lots of it or quite frequently, you will be in an inflammatory state more often. You need inflammation to repair injuries and to fight infections, but if inflammation is also happening excessively in response to what you eat, your defences will be depleted and ineffective when you need them.

Inflammatory foods

While some people seem to have stomachs of steel and can tolerate every food under the sun, many people may be sensitive to the inflammatory effects of some foods. There is a long list of qualities in foods that may trigger an immune response in susceptible individuals. Proteins can be a big trigger if they are picked up by the immune system, for example in milk, nuts, egg or gluten. Compounds such as lectins, oxalates, salicylates or histamine may also be involved. In conditions such as eczema, asthma, acne and polycystic ovarian syndrome, certain inflammatory fats can worsen symptoms, meanwhile distracting your immune system from protecting you from infections.

Inadequate nutrition

For example lacking or having an increased requirement for dietary nutrients needed to support immune function such as protein, vitamin C, zinc, magnesium and B vitamins. Often people on a restrictive diet or consuming more processed foods and less whole natural foods can fall short of many vitamins, minerals, good fats, protein or even simply adequate energy!

Dehydration

Water is needed to help release energy needed for all the hundreds of chemical reactions that are constantly occurring in your body. These include transporting vitamins and minerals to the organs and tissues that need them for repair, creating more immune cells and so on. You also need water to flush unwanted materials (including bacteria and viruses) out of your body.

Exercise

When you exercise, it is normal to have some inflammation to encourage repair of muscles. And rest after exercise is when the magic happens, we repair and build muscle tissue. But excessive exercise with inadequate rest can impair immunity and contribute to susceptibility to colds.

Cortisol

The stress hormone. You need cortisol to get you up and going in the morning, it also stimulates your thymus gland which helps regulate your immunity. If you don’t have a good cortisol spike in the morning, people with autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and Hashimotos (autoimmune hypothyroidism) can struggle with relapses or flare ups of their conditions. Chronic high cortisol caused by prolonged stress can have various effects on the body including:

• An imbalance in hormones such as male and female sex hormones

• Inability to produce the morning cortisol spike (as above) and dysregulation that may result in being tired but wired or lacking energy and poor cognitive function.

• Impaired immunity

On this subject, low stress tolerance, unaddressed grief, trauma, depression, anxiety and a lack of relaxation or rest can all take a toll on your cortisol regulation and your immunity.

What to do to improve your immunity

I covered lots of nutritional steps that you can incorporate to support your immune system in earlier blogs about surviving the festive excesses and bouncing back from a stomach bug. So now I will go a little deeper into some of the lifestyle factors that may be hindering your ability to fend off seasonal bugs.

My Top 5 lifestyle tips to support immunity

1. Consider your alcohol and added sugar intake – it’s especially important to avoid alcohol when you are fighting an active infection or illness. But because alcohol and refined sugar are inflammatory, you may benefit by limiting the regularity and the quantity of them and replacing them with whole nutritious foods, plenty of water and calming herbal teas. If this seems like a difficult transition, try making one change at a time, give yourself time to adjust but remind yourself regularly why your body will thank you for them later!

2. Prioritise sleep – there is always so much to do and it may feel as though you will miss out on things by using more hours in the day to sleep. But not only will you get more out of your waking hours if you feel more rested, but you will also be helping your immune system to do it’s job, giving your hormones a chance to rebalance and helping to stabilise your appetite. You may even find that without giving it much thought, you make healthier food choices too!

3. Support your mental health – being aware of your state of mind and taking steps to address issues such as perceived stress, anxiety, overwhelm or depression is important and can seem difficult. It may be hard to know where to even start. Considering your workload and whether you can delegate, ask for help or whether some of your tasks are worth your time at all may help to reduce some of the load. Talking to friends and family or reaching out to a support network, doctor, therapist or mental health charity such as Mind may be a big step for you. YOU matter and people will always want to know how they can help.

4. Mindfulness and meditation – following on from above, many people find that they benefit from either of these. Learning to quieten the mental chatter, while also acknowledging thoughts that occur without judgement can not only help to lower anxiety levels but can also enhance your concentration, focus and memory. There are apps such as Calm and Headspace that you can try, many useful books, plus mindfulness and meditation courses that you can attend locally.

5. When you are ill, rest! How many times have you powered through a cold, only to feel ten times worse when you get to the weekend or a holiday? It’s not always easy to take time off and if you have children to look after or a job with lots of responsibility, you may feel like you have no choice but to carry on. But consider whether you have any options available – could family or friends lend a hand with the children so that you can catch up on some sleep? Is there a parent at your children’s school who would be happy to help with the school runs? Could your partner take over with making dinner or getting groceries in so that you can snuggle up on the sofa when you get home from work? Perhaps you could work from home? But if you really are fending off a nasty bug, the best thing to do is to take some time off, with luck you’ll bounce back quicker!

If you are persistently ill and would like help with getting your immunity and gut health back up to par or your energy back, get in touch at info@victoriabellnutrition.co.uk or call 07873 121616.

How to Survive Festive Excesses

No doubt you’re familiar with the situation: you’ve promised yourself that you’ll drink less/eat less/have more self-control this time, whether it’s one meal, night out or even the whole month of December!

But then things don’t go quite to plan – you were distracted and the nibbles were so moreish that you have no idea how many you tucked into. Someone has been topping up your drink and as a result you drank way more than you planned to! Or maybe you had the best intentions, you got to the party, meal or went to the kitchen for an evening snack and as if some switch went off in your head you suddenly thought “I’m going to make the most of this!”.

We’ve all fallen into traps like these, it’s so easily done. But to then feel like we’ve failed in some way or be self-critical of ourselves for being human takes away from what otherwise might have been quite an enjoyable time. Having less of an all or nothing approach to food can be a way of changing our mindset so that we don’t feel the need to go all out when we’ve let ourselves “off” for any given duration. This is something that I will explore in future blogs.

In this blog, let’s look at some ways to mitigate against the festive overindulgence so that you don’t end up feeling so much worse for it in the New Year! Firstly, you can take some steps to curb your intake of food or alcohol.

5 Ways to Prevent Overindulgence

1. Have a snack an hour or so before you go out. A good quality snack with some protein and possibly fibre too, will take the edge off your hunger so that you are not ravenous when food comes within sniffing distance! Good choices include nuts, fruit such as an apple, berries or banana, vegetable sticks, houmous, a small green smoothie with some added protein powder, oat cakes, a boiled egg, or some fish such as smoked salmon.

2. If you’re at a meal and there are vegetables available, aim to fill at least half the plate with them.

3. Drink plenty of water before you go out because we often mistake dehydration for hunger. Drinking glasses of water alongside your alcoholic drinks and before you go to bed will also help you to keep hydrated.

4. If you’re drinking spirits, ask for singles rather than doubles. If you’re drinking wine, go with smaller glasses as overall you are likely to drink less.

5. Slow down your eating. Really try to taste and enjoy your food and as much as possible be present in the moment so that you are mindful of what you are eating. You may find that by doing this, less is more satisfying and you won’t look down at an empty plate with no recall of eating the food on it! The second way to mitigate against overindulgence is to support your body’s natural processes of detoxifying and eliminating toxins. Not being able to safely get rid of the waste products from our food, especially alcohol, can also put a stress on our immune system which is why we often get under the weather after a few heavy nights or too much sugar.

10 Ways to Support Detox and Immunity through the Festive Season

1. Leafy greens - full of nutrients and antioxidants to support digestion and detoxification. Great cooked or try a fresh green smoothie or juice. Cruciferous vegetables are especially useful to increase the level of detoxification enzymes and protect the liver from damage. Try rocket, pak choi, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, horseradish, kale, radishes, spring greens, swede, turnips, watercress and wasabi. Eat cooked rather than raw if you have thyroid issues. Broccoli sprouts and broccoli sprout extract are known to be especially potent.

2. Rehydrate – it’s probably no surprise that increasing your water intake will help you feel better. If you need some inspiration, check out my guest blog with Backstobasics Osteopathy about creative ways to increase your water intake.

3. Good fats – All of the following help to normalise liver enzyme levels and prevent fat storage: Omega 3 essential fats help to reduce inflammation, find in oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines and herring. If you aren’t keen on fish, you can try a good quality fish oil supplement or a vegan source such as algae-based Omega

4. Nuts provide other good fats and vitamin E. Olive oil – as little as 1 teaspoon per day has been found to have a beneficial effect. Antioxidants – found in many everyday foods, these help to neutralise harmful free radicals, protect cells, improve liver detoxification enzyme levels and lower inflammation. Great choices include grapes, grape juice, coffee, black tea, green tea, beetroot juice, blueberries, cranberries and dark chocolate.

5. Foods containing Zinc – because overindulgence can give your immune system more work to do, it is likely to power through more zinc. Animal foods sources tend to be higher, especially shellfish, oysters, pork beef and chicken. If you are vegetarian try firm tofu, lentils, pumpkin seeds, yogurt, shiitake mushrooms and oats.

6. Vitamin C Rich Foods – vitamin C is a natural antioxidant so it is vital for immunity and supporting liver detoxification. Stock up on these great sources: kiwi fruit, guava, red peppers, blackberries, strawberries, oranges, broccoli, papaya, kale and tomatoes.

7. Citrus – as well as being a great source of vitamin C, lemon and water has long been known to support your liver and is great as your first drink of the day. Grapefruit contains antioxidants naringenin and naringin, known to reduce inflammation and protect cells.

8. Eggs – the yolks contain lecithin and choline, which is essential for your liver to break down and remove fat from the body. Choline is also needed for an antioxidant called glutathione. If you’re vegan, get plenty of quinoa, soybeans, peanuts, tofu and broccoli to get your choline.

9. Dandelion – a bitter herb which supports healthy digestion and is rich in vit A, C, D and B complex, iron, potassium and zinc. Try drinking the tea, dandelion coffee or dandelion greens.

10. Fibre helps to support healthy digestion and removal of waste products. Avocados, fennel, artichoke and onions are especially good for aiding detoxification. Apples contain pectin which helps to remove food additives and metals.

If you would like to work with me to support your immunity in the New Year, contact me at info@victoriabellnutrition.co.uk.

What is Vitamin D Deficiency?

Do you struggle more and more with your immunity or your moods as the winter goes on? Do you feel your best when the sun is shining and you’re getting lots of natural daylight? Have you been told that Vitamin D might help?

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is actually a hormone, and like vitamins is vital for our health and survival. Also like some vitamins, the body cannot produce it without consuming in the diet and from natural sunlight. Our skin absorbs UV-B sunlight, creating a prohormone which is then converted to 25-hydroxyvitamin D, or Vitamin D3. The amount of Vitamin D you absorb and convert from daylight depends on tiny proteins called Vitamin D Receptors (VDRs).

What Does Vitamin D Do?

It may be best known for supporting immunity, but Vitamin D also:

• Ensures calcium is absorbed to be stored in the bones, preventing fracture risk and osteoporosis

• Is needed for muscle contraction and strength

• Supports healthy lungs

• Manages blood pressure and therefore protects the heart and arteries

• Is involved in regulating kidney function

• Contributes to stable moods

• Plays a part in appetite control and weight management

• Supports brain health and cognitive function

How do You Know if You are Vitamin D Deficient?

Symptoms can be vague, hard to pinpoint and overlap with symptoms of many other deficiencies and causes. Typical symptoms might include:

• Tiredness

• Muscle aches or weakness

• Reduced endurance

• Bone pain

• Frequent respiratory illnesses

• Frequent infections

• Low moods and depression

• Irritability

• Infertility

• Psoriasis

• High blood pressure

Testing for Vitamin D levels is a standard blood test that your GP can request for you. Many surgeries have a nurse who can take the blood test there for your convenience. While serum 25 Hydroxyvitamin D under 50 nmol/L may be considered to be deficient, the optimal level is over 75 nmol/L.

What Causes Vitamin D Deficiency?

Some groups are considered to be at increased risk of deficiency, including:

• People with darker skin

• The elderly living in residential care

• Those who are institutionalised

• People who cover up most of their skin or spend little time outdoors

There is another cause for chronic vitamin D deficiency which involves a group of individuals who have a genetic alteration to the VDR gene. For these people, their DNA isn’t as efficient in instructing the body to produce Vitamin D Receptors compared to someone who doesn’t have the alteration. With less VDRs, less Vitamin D can be absorbed and converted.

A genetic test can identify whether you have this genetic alteration (also knows as a mutation or polymorphism). Some DNA profiles available in the UK test for genetics that we can reliably associate with potential health outcomes or dietary requirements. For some people identifying this VDR polymorphism can equip them to start a discussion with their doctor about whether they have an increased requirement for Vitamin D compared to the average person.

Identifying the optimal dosage for that individual can involve a process of trial and error until the right dosage is reached. In this case a doctor may prescribe an especially high dosage for a few weeks or months if the serum Vitamin D level is really low. These individuals often need to take a higher dosage of Vitamin D than a person without an increased need and may benefit from supplementing all year round.

Getting Vitamin D Through Food

We can consume some Vitamin D produced by other animals in the form of oily fish, cod liver oil, beef liver, egg yolks and cheese. Some foods are fortified with Vitamin D such as some dairy alternative milks, but if you are dairy free it is worth checking the label to make sure that they are fortified. Some mushrooms also contain a little Vitamin D. But these foods only contain small amounts and even if you are including plenty of animal-based foods in your diet it is unlikely that this will meet your daily needs.

Sunlight and Vitamin D

Natural daylight is by far the best way to meet your needs for Vitamin D during the spring and summer. It is recommended to get at least 20 minutes of light exposure on your skin, so doing so before the peak hours of sun before applying sun cream is recommended. Exposing arms and legs also helps absorb more Vitamin D. During most of the autumn and winter, the sunlight isn’t strong enough to provide enough Vitamin D for the average person. The NHS recommends that everyone considers supplementing with Vitamin D between October and March. Here’s more information about what the NHS recommends for Vitamin D deficiency.

Types of Supplements

According to the NHS, 10 micrograms which is equivalent to 800 IU (International Units) is adequate for non-risk groups. Many supplements are likely to come in 1000 IU doses which is still well within the safe range for individuals without an increased requirement.

Vitamin D can be found in many multivitamin supplements. If using a multivitamin, it is worth checking whether the dose is at least 10 micrograms or 800 IU to make sure you meet your daily requirement. You can also buy Vitamin D as a supplement on its own, or in formulas designed to support bone health. Including Vitamin K2 with the Vitamin D can also be beneficial. Capsule form suits some individuals, while some may find spray or drop forms are more easily absorbed.

Ensuring that children have adequate Vitamin D intake is also very important, especially for infants. See the NHS’s guidance on what is best for young children. Children’s Vitamin D can also come in a variety of formulations, including jellies, drops and sprays.

Tracking Your Vitamin D

It can take a while to feel the benefit of improving your Vitamin D levels. Retesting after a few weeks if you have previously been deficient can help to ensure that your level is within the optimal range. You can also ask your doctor to test your Vitamin D levels if you know at certain times of year you might be at risk of deficiency or you recognise familiar symptoms arising. Being aware of your requirement and how to make sure you are getting enough will help you to feel better in yourself in the long-run.

If you would like advice on how nutritional therapy can support your immunity, contact me at info@victoriabellnutrition.co.uk