Nourished Living

28 - Strengthen Your Immune System

• Courtney Podany

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In this episode of the Nourished Living Podcast, I’m diving deep into how we can strengthen and support our immune systems, especially as we move into cold and flu season. If you’re already feeling the back-to-school germs making their way through your home (like they are in mine!), this episode will give you practical, holistic tools to stay well.

We’ll cover:

  • How your gut and your immune system are closely connected
  • The role of carbs, proteins, fats, and antioxidants in immune health
  • The best immune-boosting foods and snacks to keep in rotation
  • How hydration, sleep, and movement keep your immune defenses strong
  • Simple homeopathic remedies for kids and adults when colds hit

By focusing on real foods, balanced meals, and supportive lifestyle habits, you’ll be better equipped to keep your immune system strong and recover faster when illness does strike.

Kids Homeopathic Medication: 

  • Zarbee's
  • Hyland's
  • Genexa
  • Boiron
  • Little Remedies

Adult Homeopathic Medication: 

  • Sambucol
  • Beekeeper's Naturals
  • Genexa
  • Boiron

Work With Courtney:

Welcome to the Nourished Living Podcast, where I'll be diving deep into nutrition, holistic wellness, and practical tips to help you live your healthiest, most vibrant life. I am Courtney Podany, a nutritional therapist, certified personal trainer, type one diabetic and mom. I'm here to help you take charge of your health with ease and competence. Together we'll explore how to nourish your body, mind, and soul in a way that feels good and sustainable. So grab your favorite beverage. Take a deep breath, and let's get into the episode. I. Welcome back to the Nourished Living Podcast. I am your host, Courtney Podany. Today we are going to start talking about how we can utilize nutrition and holistic habits to strengthen our immune system. Last week in the fall nourishment episode, we kind of talked about like some herbs and teas and whatnot. That would help as we approach the colder months to support us. But we're gonna go a lot deeper here. But it's funny because I say, oh, as we go into the colder months, we wanna strengthen our immune system. But here we are only about halfway through September and our household has already been hit at least twice with colds since school started. So if you have kids that are in school, I'm sure you've already been hit at least once, where you could have used some immune support. So here we are. I was really hoping, since my daughter had been in preschool the past two years, and whenever she would bring home a cold or germs or something, she would get sick and then the boys would get sick. I was really hoping that that would just, make them have the most incredible rockstar immune systems where they didn't get sick anymore. But that has not been the case, unfortunately. So anyway, I'm. Today we will talk about how we can strengthen and support our immune systems through nutrition. Why do we want to strengthen our immune system anyway? Well, the healthier our immune systems are, the more capable we are of warding off infections, diseases, and viruses and or fighting against them. This might be a reminder from one of our gut health episodes, but 80% of our immune system is located in our gut. So again, good gut health will equal good immune health. And our microbiome will mirror us whether it's good or bad. So the better we take care of our gut, the less physical manifestations and physical symptoms and sicknesses that we encounter, and our diet is the most influential way to improve our immune system and also our gut health. When we are looking at foods to support our immune system, carbs, carbohydrates are our preferred fuel to fight infections, which is again, just one of the many reasons why I hate low carb diets because carbs are so beneficial for us. We cannot eliminate them. If we don't eat any carbs, we have a terrible chance of fighting off illnesses. You know, you are going to find yourself sick quite often, and who wants that? No one wants that. Okay, anyway. When it comes to protein, protein supports our immune cells and cells that fight inflammation for healthy fats. These are vital for localized inflammation and anti-inflammation, and they also provide fuel for our immune cells. Also, why we should not have low fat diets and antioxidants are also crucial for our immune health because they stabilize unstable molecules decreasing their ability to harm cells and tissues. So the best sources of carbs for our immune systems will be,, in the form of vegetables, leafy greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, garlic, onions, mushrooms, peppers, squash, sweet potatoes, artichokes, and carrots for. You'll want to include berries, bananas, apples, citrus, cantaloupe, kiwi, mango, papaya, pineapple, cranberries, and pear. And for fibrous sources, you'll want to include legumes, oats, barley, berries, bananas, apples, pears, carrots and artichokes. And then. Herbs and spices also fall under carbs, so you'll want to incorporate cinnamon, echinacea, elderberry, ginger, nettles, oregano, rosemary, and turmeric. You'll also want to include lots of fermented foods. These are our best source of natural probiotics. Of course, you could always supplement with a probiotic if these foods are not something in your regular rotation. But if you do eat these pretty regularly, you will not need to supplement with a probiotic. But best sources of probiotics are yogurt. Cottage cheese, kombucha, miso, pickled vegetables, sauerkraut, and kimchi. When focusing on proteins to support our immune system for animal proteins, you'll want to include grass fed beef and bison, pasture raised chicken, Turkey, and eggs, and wild caught seafood. For plant proteins, Tempeh, tofu and edamame for bean proteins, beans, lentils, and chickpeas. And then also quinoa, chia seeds and flax seeds. For healthy fats, you'll want to include coconut oil, avocado oil, olives, and olive oil. Fatty fish, nuts and seeds. And then for antioxidants, include berries, citrus, dark chocolate, prunes, potatoes, green and black tea and cloves. Also, our hydration is going to be essential for immune system support as well. We have these mucus membranes that need to stay moist. These act as physical barriers to keep germs and bacteria out. Some of these include like the insides of our noses, and when we are dehydrated, we're not drinking enough water. Those mucus membranes can become dry and then they are not able to fully keep things out as they should. Hydration also keeps our lymph fluid moving to transport immune cells. The lymphatic system works very closely with the immune system in fighting foreign invaders, and dehydration can exacerbate histamine like symptoms, including asthma, allergies, inflammation, cravings, and constipation. So some ideas for some immune boosting snacks. Again, we still want to always think about pairing carbs, proteins, and fats together, not only to regulate our blood sugar, to keep us nice and energized, but also for strong immune function. So some immune boosting snacks would be chia seed pudding, where you mix chia seeds and coconut milk to make a pudding, like consistency oatmeal With some peanut butter and banana slices, you could make your own trail mix with dark chocolate pecans, cranberries, and pumpkin seeds, yogurt mixing in nuts and berries. Hummus with some carrots and bell peppers to dip, and tuna mixed with avocado and cucumbers. Also when you are sick, sometimes we tend to reach for comfort foods or sweet, you know, something just to try to make us happy in that time, comfort us, distract us, anything like that. But just as a reminder. Refined sugar will exacerbate any symptom that you are currently experiencing. So if you are sick and you have bad congestion or a headache or a sore throat, anything like that. Refined sugar will in fact make those worse. So just something to keep in mind. If you do have a sweet craving, maybe you can have some fruit instead fruit with like peanut butter So you don't totally tank your energy in the process, but maybe try to find an alternative for that. Another way to look at this is just how we look at nutrition in general over here, right? If you shop the perimeter of the grocery store, you'll get all the beautiful produce, the proteins, the yogurts, and fermented foods, which are all going to help support you. If you eat seasonally, you will. Be supporting yourself with the produce that is currently ripe and beneficial to us in that season, and if we include variety, we're able to eat the rainbow and not eat the same meal over and over again. We're able to provide our body with more and more nutrients to help support us through the sickness and get us out of their. Quicker. When we are looking at our immune system, there are some lifestyle influences that will not support us in these times. So things like stress. Could also lead to frequent illnesses. Unfortunately, alcohol and smoking further depletes our immune system. Lack of sleep, so we want to aim for seven to nine hours every single night. And being sedentary, does not help either. So if you are able to get up, go out for a walk, stretch your body, even, household chores, do add up in getting your body, moving, your circulation, strengthening muscles, all of that. So try to move when you can, okay, so a lot of this is stuff that we already know, right? Eat good foods, stay hydrated, move your body. But maybe this will help to bring some clarity. And then as far as, safe, clean, homeopathic options for when you are sick, just with like colds and things like that, I put together a list of my favorite brands. For kids who are experiencing cold or cough, we purchase zarbee's. Hyland's, which is H-Y-L-A-N-D, Genexa Boirin, I think it's Boirin. It's B-O-I-R-O-N. And Little Remedies. Those are all safe and help to ease symptoms. And then for adults, we like Sam Bucol, beekeepers Naturals. And Zarbee's and Boi ron also have adult products as well. I will include these in the show notes. So to recap, you know, none of this is ground breaking new information to you, right? We still want to focus on quality real foods, including variety, including color. Hydrating as much as possible, getting quality sleep, moving your body regulating stress, things like that. But maybe this will help out a little bit as we go into those colder months where the sun is not as abundant. We are not outside breathing in fresh air as much, and we are around others who might have something going on. All righty, I hope this was helpful and if you would like to work with me first, I would pick up those free affirmations. If you have not, they are there to help you feel incredible and empowered on a daily basis. But you can also sign up for my Real Food Reset self-paced course if you are looking for nutrition and lifestyle guidance on a deeper level, you can find both of those links in the show notes. All righty, thank you so much for joining me. I will see you in the next episode. Thanks for hanging out with me today and tuning into the Nourished Living Podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found something you can start implementing right away to kickstart your nourished transformation. If you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from these insights. You can also connect with me over on Instagram at Nourished Living for more resources and support. Until next time, stay nourished.