How to Naturally Increase Your Immune System
How to Boost Your Immune System with Supplements
Every cold and flu season it is important to practice good health habits and keep your immune system as strong as you can. There are lots of ways to naturally increase your immune system with some simple tricks and supplements!
Every year my family stocks up on natural supplements and remedies as soon as summer ends. Coughs, colds, and the flu can be prevented many times if you have a strong immunes system.
There are some amazing supplements that you can pick up or make yourself that won’t break the bank and ward off tons of colds and the flu by keeping your family’s and your immune system strong.
**This post probably contains affiliate links to items I own and love and feel will benefit you immensely. Please read full disclosure here.**
Can Increasing Your Immune System Naturally Help Fight Off Viruses?
There are many things that you can do to prevent viruses from attacking yourself and your family. There’s a good chance that you found this post right now attempting to ward off the dreaded Coronavirus!
Schools are closing, sports games are being canceled, and stores are out of toilet paper. (But why toilet paper? I honestly don’t get it. Shouldn’t you be stocking up on canned goods or something? But I digress.)
Colds and cases of flu are rampant every single year. This pandemic if nothing else will help us all to learn wonderful healthy habits to stop the spread of disease in our communities and how to keep ourselves without illness such as:
- Wash your hands for 30 seconds with soap and water! Teach your kids to sing the ABC’s as they wash, it’s about 30 seconds sung at a normal speed. All the time! (Every time you come home, use the bathroom, come inside from playing, etc)!
- Cough into your elbow. It’s the best place, your shoulder works too. For some really little kids that is actually awfully hard to do and if so, the backside of your arm may be easiest.
- If you are sick stay home! Keep your kids home from school if they are sick. If we all stopped trying to be superheroes and saving our sick days for vacation and such and actually stayed in when we or our kids were sick, our kids wouldn’t go from cold to cold all season long at school.
- Keep your immune system high! Use natural methods and supplements to help keep your body working optimally to fight off germs before they become a problem for you.
Why I Started Increasing My Immune System Naturally
About 5 years ago my family and myself moved to Washington state. The first wet season there we were absolutely attacked by cold after cold. I’m not sure if it was from the weather change from sunny California, the huge amount of mold we later discovered in the apartment, or a combination, but it doesn’t matter.
Then we had a newborn in October. Who had to be admitted back to the hospital (after leaving the hospital after less than 1 day) for catching a cold at only a day old. At that age they have no idea what any illness is and it’s all very serious.
She had a spinal tap (which took 3 excrutiating tries to get into a tiny writhing newborn), cathetar, and IV… all at only one day old. It was so scary.
I spent my postpartum recovery sleeping on the floor of the pediatric room for a few days. Because we had left the maternity ward when she was fine before the cold set in we could no longer return there, despite her age.
Needless to say, that wasn’t something that I wanted to repeat. I was determined to begin on a journey of strengthening our immune systems naturally!
Over the next couple of years I did a lot of research and trial and error finding the best methods for naturally increasing your immune system to best fight off colds and viruses so they can’t even take hold in your body.
The Best Natural Ways to Strengthen Your Immune System
1. Respiratory Illness Superblend
In order to best prevent, fight off, or heal an upper respiratory infection like COVID-19 let’s first go to a doctor’s orders. Dr. Kinghardt from the Optimal Health Institute in Washington State gave a wonderful natural suggestion to prevent and treat respiratory infections including Coronavirus.
His suggestion is a combination of 3 immune-boosting supplements:
These 3 powerful supplements can be taken both to ward off illness by strengthening the immune system, and while infected to speed recovery!
2. Elderberry Syrup
Elderberries are a tiny little berry packed full of antioxidants and vitamins that are known to help strengthen your immune system! In addition, they also lessen stress, decrease inflammation, and protect your heart. Experts agree that elderberries and their flowers can help stave off colds and the flu! (source)
Pick up some premade Elderberry syrup for adults and for kids!
Learn how to make you own elderberry syrup.
We’ve found both the homemade and store-bought forms to be highly effective. It’s definitely cheaper to make your own but more time-consuming. Remember that if you use honey in your elderberry syrup recipe, don’t give to babies under one.
Grab your own easy DIY elderberry syrup kit!
3. Elderberry Gummies
Now that you have elderberry syrup (whether you bought it premade or decided to make a ton yourself) you can take that syrup and turn it into gummies!
It is ridiculously easy to make your own elderberry gummies to boost your immune system and makes taking supplements way more fun for your kids!
Learn how to make Elderberry Gummies easily from Joy at Artful Homemaking!
4. Fire Cider to Increase the Immune System
Fire cider (aka the master tonic) is a strong ancient recipe using some of these that it’s users absolutely swear by for staying healthy through the entire cold and flu season. Its list of benefits are impressive and include:
- Improving Immune System
- Improving Heart Health
- Antibacterial/Natural Antibiotic
- Antiviral
- Antifungal
- Antioxidant
- Anti-inflammatory
- Digestive Aid
- Pain Reducer
This stuff is potenet! The flavor is strong but it is so unbelieveably good for you that you don’t need much at all!
Learn more about the benefits of fire cider from and exactly how to make it from My Sustainable Life!
5. Immune Booster Daily Tonic
This tonic is wonderful to boost your immune system because it is antiviral, antimicrobial, and antifungal! Perfect to ward off or fight away viral, bacterial, and yeast infections!
Get the recipe for this easy to stomach daily tonic at Healthy Taste of Life!!
6. Morning Immune Booster Shot
I love taking this ACV shot in the mornings all through the year to boost immunity, load up on probiotics, and aid digestion! Be sure you are using raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar with “the mother.” All that cloudiness at the bottom is the good stuff!
Get the recipe for this immune boosting shot from Organic Nutrition Book!
7. Zinc Increases Immunity
As soon as summer ends I stock up my family on zinc supplements. The adults take the capsules, and the children take the chewable form (which I find tough to stomach but they actually prefer!).
If you feel the slightest bit under the weather, try taking zinc after each meal for a huge immune boost!
Just be wary too much zinc causes pretty severe nausea, so always take with food!
Additionally, there are amazing foods rich in zinc that you can add to your diet to naturally increase your immune system as well.
Zinc rich foods from Nutrition Advance
8. Essential Oils to Boost Immunity
Essential oils are great for boosting your immune system as well as fighting off colds and the flu if you do happen to contract them!
They work to strengthen the immune system by increasing lymph and blood circulation. They support many body systems and can also be used to purify the air.
Many essential oils are antiviral, antimicrobial, and antifungal! Making them effective disinfectants that kill only the bad germs and leave behind the beneficial ones. Unlike typical hand sanitizer and Lysol products.
You can use essential oils to make household disinfectants, cleaning products, and more!
Some great essential oils for immunity are:
-
- Lemon essential oil
- tea tree (meleluca) essential oil
- eucalyptus essential oil
- rosemary essential oil
- theives essential oil blend
Simply add a few drops of each oil to 1 ounce of carrier oil in a roller or diffuse in an air diffuser (which are not expensive at all! usually under $20)!
My favorite essential oils are from Simply Eearth because they are 100% pure (which is vitally important. We’re trying to fight germs here, not just smell good), smell amazing, are highly effective AND less than half the price of the other companies!
You can pick up their oils here “Simply Earth Essential Oils” and enter code VIGORITOUTFREE at checkout for 20% off!
Read More of my Winter Diffuser Blends including those above!
9. Food Can Strengthen/Weaken Your Immune System
Some amazing foods are known for being packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and healing properties. The most well known immunity boosters are:
- lemon
- ginger
- turmeric
- garlic
- herbs like rosemary
When we think about how to increase our immune systems we all think about additional supplements to add in.
Did you think about getting down to the basics and analyzing your diet in order to increase your immune system?
What we eat has a huge effect on the functionality of our immune systems. Attempt to take out all artificial ingredients, artificial sweeteners, and food coloring. All of those are chemicals that can weaken your body.
Try to avoid most prepackaged foods and go for as much whole food as possible.
Fruits and vegetables and herbs are rich in
- vitamins
- minerals
- prebiotics
- probiotics
- antioxidants
that naturally strengthen your body and gut and help it to function optimally!
Let’s talk about sugar and your immune system.
If you are trying to strengthen your immune system, avoid colds, flu, and the Coronavirus sugar needs to be off the table. Sugar directly decreases your immune system almost immediately upon consuming it for at least 6 hours if not more.
Sugar is called “the white killer” for a reason. It needs to be out of your diet to keep that immune system strong!
You can definitely sweeten your foods with natural alternatives such as stevia, monk fruit, and fruits!
10. Probiotics are Natural Immune Boosters
Probiotics are the good bacteria found in many foods that aid in digestion and gut health. It is believed that your immune system begins in your gut! So what you eat and keeping it healthy is of the utmost importance!
You can take a Doctor formulated probiotic supplement or you can get probiotics from your foods! (Or both! You can’t take too many probiotics.) It is always ideal to get as much of your vitamins and minerals as possible from your diet as they are more easily digestible and usually more likely to be utilized in the body.
Some great natural sources of probiotics are:
- raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar with “the mother.”
- kefir
- kombucha
- sauerkraut
11. Increase Vitamin C Rich Foods
What’s wonderful about foods naturally rich in vitamin C is that they are fruits and vegetables that are all packed with other vitamins and nutrients that will increase your immune system as well!
Everyone thinks of oranges when they think about vitamin C but almost all fruits and most vegetables are rich in the powerful vitamin as well!
Did you know broccoli stalks have almost double the amount of vitamin C per gram as oranges?
So here’s a second reason to load up on as many fruits and veggies as you can!
Wrapping Up How to Naturally Increase Your Immune System
As you can see, there are lots of all-natural supplements and remedies that you can use every day to fight off cold, flu, and viruses! You can use some or all of these recommendations to build a healthy immune system and stay healthier year after year!
Do you already use any of these immune boosters? Have you seen better results with some over others?Let me know in the comments below!
Hi,
I’m a mom to 3 boys and am exhausted of the frequent colds. My middle has a very weak immune system and we are so exhausted and saddened by it. I have decided to take the natural way to boost immunity for him and all of us. Everything you mentioned is amazing! I’m excited, but would love if you would share what step i should take first.
Hi Jocelyn, thanks for reaching out! I’m so sorry that you are struggling with your son’s immune system, that must be so tough! It’s great that you are looking into a natural route to increase his immune system. While all my recommendations are effective, they aren’t all the most kid friendly flavors! I would start by immediately adding in probiotics (or probiotic rich food), zinc, and elderberry syrup. That’s what I give my kids daily. If you have a diffuser you could put some lemon and tea tree in it to cleanse the air as well. Or if you pick one up, those oils are very affordable and effective. Hope that helps mama!
excellent piece of information you shared
Thank you so much! Hope it helps to boost your immune system for you 🙂