Kicking Your Immune System into High Gear

Before I start this weeks Blurb, I wanted to share this with you: I recently had CHATGPT take a look at the blurbs that I’ve been posting and analyze what it thinks of me as the writer. Here’s what it had to say: You’re a sharp-minded explorer of natural wellness with a lawyer’s precision and an environmentalist’s conscience. With a knack for cutting through the smog—literally and figuratively—you blend legal know how with a passion for clean air and clean living. You write with purpose, crafting newsletters that empower readers to seek out holistic, evidence-based alternatives. Basically: you’re part advocate, part alchemist, and all clarity.

So…my view is I think it’s pretty accurate (and that’s my lawyer mind talking!). It did leave out that I like to toss some humor in as well.

Now for this week’s information.

Kicking Your Immune System into High Gear

We don’t usually look at changing your diet as having an almost immediate impact on your health. Well, it turns out the foods you eat can do more than fuel you - it can also help your immune system become stronger and it can do it in two weeks!

New research conducted by the National Institute of Health (before all the cutbacks) shows that both the keto and vegan diets can quickly change how your body fights off illness. They just do it in different ways.

Let’s Look at How Keto Supports Immunity

In case you’re not aware of it, the keto diet is high in fats and very low in carbs. This puts your body into a state known as ketosis. This means your body makes ketones which help power your immune cells and especially T cells. T cells are the ones that remember when you’ve had a past infection which then then mobilizes your body fight off a virus faster.

The NIH study found that people on the keto diet showed a boost in key immune cells after just 2 weeks. Animal studies have also shown that the keto diet can help fight off viruses like the flu and reduce inflammation from autoimmune diseases.

The bottom line on the Keto diet is that it may help your body build stronger long-term immune defenses.

Let’s Look at How the Vegan Diet Helps in the Fight

The vegan diet operates on a different concept. This diet is full of fiber, plants, and antioxidants. What this does is it helps the good bacteria in your gut microbiome play a big role in your body’s immune health. The same NIH study also showed that after just 2 weeks on a vegan diet, people had stronger level of innate immunity. Innate immunity is actually the body’s first line of defense.

Vegan diets are also linked to lower inflammation due to all the phytonutrients it contains and because it has less saturated fat.

The bottom line is that a vegan diet supports your gut and reduces inflammation, helping your immune system stay balanced and more effective.

So…which Approach is Better?

It turns out that they both have strengths. Let me give you some examples

Diet                      Boosts…                                Best For…

Keto         T-cell immunity        Fighting viruses, building memory

Vegan    Gut and first response      Reducing inflammation, daily wellness

The interesting thing is both diets can shift your immune system in just a couple of weeks. 

So…you might even blend the best of both approaches by thinking of doing plant-heavy, low-carb meals while adding healthy fats like avocado and olive oil.

I’ve now been a Lacto-Vegetarian (Lacto means I eat dairy products) for 54 years. In the last several years, I’ve moved into doing Intermittent Fasting which is my having 2 meals a day. I’ve made the first meal my Keto Meal and my Second Meal is more my Vegetarian meal.

So…you now have two ways to defend yourself!
Reported WDDTY, April 2024