Most people are disconnected from the fact that lifestyle habits play a role in our immunity.

Irregular meals, high refined sugar intake, poor sleep patterns & large intakes of alcohol all supress and negatively effect the immune system.

So we wanted to outline from a food & supplement perspective what is proven to help you with strengthening your immunity.

Most supplement companies pedal vitamin C, Vitamin D and such like and its well-intentioned but it is like being in a sinking boat, taking on water and only having a small cup to bail out the excess water.

Important to understand is what’s going to unlock the strongest possible immune system, that is your cells.

A single cell is the first form of recognised life, when you get a collection of cells together you make tissue.

There are 4 types of tissue and when you combine various forms you can create an organ, multiple organs together create a system.

Then many systems together create us, the human organism.

Sadly conventional medicine and supplement companies treat you as a system all the time which doesn’t consider that all the systems of the body are constantly in communication via the cells.

Moreover, you have trillions of cells of which many are the same, they help you produce enzymes, hormones (think sex hormones), signal to other cells to warn them of issues etc.

Thus when we get a dysfunction of the cell, we have dysfunction of the human organism.

In essence if you want the strongest immune system you have to ensure the health of the cell, specifically the membrane which acts as a guard for the cell. Letting only very certain things in or out.

Essential for good cell health are things like B vitamins, manganese, selenium, magnesium, zinc, choline, glutathione, Vit A,D,E & K to name just a FEW.

That would be a LOT of supplements and a big bill each month.

What we always do within the A.R.A. Method is screen someone and optimise their diet based on their unique past and biochemistry.

But for now, here are the essentials for you to optimise your cells and total body function.

• Dark green leafy vegetables (think spinach, kale etc) are packed with micro nutrients, specially B vits that are important for literally hundreds of processes within the human body.

• Coloured veggies. If tolerated by eating a broad range of colourful veggies you will get access to all nutrient needed. Not to mention these veggies will provide a powerful punch of fibre which feeds the bacteria of the gut to keep the immune system healthy

• Nuts can be a great source of healthy fats and important cofactors like selenium (brazil nuts).

• Grass fed, organic (where possible) animal protein – If morally you are ok with eating meat, it provides many important amino acids (for build proteins in the body), things like B12 and other important cofactors.

• Wild Fish can be full of healthy fats that have been shown to combat inflammation in your body which would lower immunity.

• Organic Eggs. More than enough studies have debunked the egg-cholesterol connection, yet sadly conventional medicine hasn’t caught on. One essential nutrient in eggs is choline which is needed to help build phospholipids (part of the cell wall).

• Healthy oils. Think unrefined olive oil, coconut oil, ghee to name a few.

We could write a much longer list than this but the more of the above that I see people consume the better there markers are on the testing that we do with them.

What are your TOP healthy foods to consume on a day to day basis?

Maybe it’s because I have REVERSED my own auto-immune disease called Ulcerative Colitis and have been Symptom and Medication FREE for over 11 Years now….

Or maybe it’s because Marta and I have helped 100’s of people all over the world do the same..

Frankly it doesn’t really matter to YOU right now, but what I guess DOES matter to you is how you LOOK, FEEL AND PERFORM?

Am I right? (If I am READ ON >>>)

So my intention for this post is to tie in what the GUT has to do with how you FEEL, LOOK and PERFORM on a daily basis.

Lets Start: (This will NOT be a biochemistry lesson)

We have worked with professional athletes, general populations and all the labels in-between.

The Gut is over 22 feet long and runs from your mouth to your anus.

It houses 75% of your total IMMUNE system in or around it.

It has its OWN nervous system (Enteric Nervous System) that actually has MORE nerve cells than your spinal column.

Over 400 different species (that we know of) of bacteria are in the gut and balance is CRITICAL.

It actually is home to more Neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine than the brain….

Why do I bother to even mention this? Glad you asked!

The Truth is this…

The digestive system is the entry point of the body.

It is where we break down our foods to the smallest possible parts and absorb what we require and hopefully excrete what isn’t needed.

Based on the health of the gut (If you suffer with bloating, pain, constipation, diarrhoea etc listen up!) you will affect EVERY system of the human body.

If you have issues breaking down food (Low enzymes/ Bile issues) you will ‘stress’ the gut which will start to affect the immune system.

This in turn affects your stress response in the body….

(So if you are interested in HIGH energy AND your health, this is already keeping you under achieving)

If you have unidentified Inflammation or infections then these again will be affecting your immune system AND nervous system in the GUT.

This is where I see people with ‘head issues’ like depression and anxiety.

There is a nerve in the gut that runs straight back to the brain called the Vagus Nerve.

When your gut is ‘out of whack’ it will be firing ‘hypersensitive’ signals that through of a variety of things in the brain.

(EVERY CLIENT we have every worked with that has depression or anxiety HAD issues going on in the gut.)

I could go on and on but that would be EVEN more boring.

So, here’s something important.

We get people come to us with Thyroid, hormone, diseases of various levels of severity etc and we NEVER work with the ‘THING’ they come to us with.

We DEEPLY understand that the human body is a bunch of COMMUNICATING systems that affect each other.

(Sorry conventional medicine but this is really where you drop the ball….)

We always build from the ground up.

So what steps can YOU take to improve performance, energy and body composition TODAY.

1. Work out what is going on in your gut. Do you get bloated after meals? Do you get pain, discomfort, do you suffer with constipation, gas bloating etc?

(Raising awareness is the MOST important step.)

Ensure FULL digestion of FOOD.

From there we can start to look for triggers like types of food, chemicals, stress, hydration etc.

2. Get Tested: I only have this step as a go to when someone ticks the following boxes:

– Been to a less developed country (Egypt, SE Asia, India, South America etc) AND got SICK.

– Constant symptoms of bloating, diarrhoea, reflux etc

(Testing quality is imperative: Example I had a 12 year old boy come to us and he had pain EVERY DAY for 2 years.

All tests from hospital and “the best IBS specialist in the UK” came back negative.

I test him and find 3 infections. Quality matters.)

3. Understand the digestive system works in the PARAsympathetic nervous system. Simply this is a REST based system.

So if you have high stressed jobs, lives and little time for rest you will be STARVING your gut of blood flow as you will be spending MORE time in your Sympathetic nervous system.

(That’s WHY people who have gut issues often have skin issues too)

Note: WORD on REFLUX: Reflux in 99% of ALL cases we work with is NOT high stomach acid.

It is a NERVOUS SYSTEM issue that is preventing the flap of skin (esophageal stricture) working correctly)

If YOU just concentrated on the ABOVE, I GUARANTEE you will get leaner, stronger, perform BETTER AND have more energy.

As I’m sure you can appreciate I can literally write a WHOLE book on this but I’ll stop here for now.

If you have ANY questions regarding the above or something you feel you would like me to explain in MORE detail then get in touch and let me know.

My number 1 value in life is GIVING VALUE.

This isn’t the most ‘sexy’ subject so it doesn’t get that much attention.

But it should.