- Welcome to the Natural Health for People in Pets podcast, a show that aims to empower you with the knowledge and tools needed to take control of your own health and wellbeing, as well as providing health promoting strategies for the dogs in your life. The world of health and nutrition can be overwhelming. So what better way to understand what works and what doesn't, what's evidence-based and what's not, then to hear it from someone in the know.
So, please welcome your host of the show, accredited naturopath and nutritionist Narelle Cook. - Welcome back to Natural Health for People in Pets. I believe this is episode three. I'm your co-host, Glen Cook, and joined in the studio with me is the one in the Know Noelle Cook. - Hello everyone. - How are you? - I'm good. - Good episode. Last one. - Yeah, very popular. Pulling on the heartstrings. Mm-Hmm.
- Yeah. Yeah. It was one of the things I appreciated about it was, uh, very kind people reaching out both to send condolences and also people suggesting other alternatives. - Yeah, that's right. I had a few people contact me to say if I wanted to try this or that, you know, they've got some options that I can consider. Yeah, - Well it was very nice of them to A, listen to the show and also B, try and be helpful as well. So appreciate it guys. Thank you very much. It's very kind.
- Absolutely. So today I was gonna do a dog topic, but then I thought given the current climate and the pandemic that we're all facing around the world, I decided to focus on immune health today. But in a roundabout way, this is a dog topic because unless we're our best cells, our dogs aren't gonna have the quality of life that you might want for them. So if you are sick in bed all the time Yep. Or you're feeling run down or just not your best, you know, you can't give your dog what it needs.
- Exactly. So this is an episode for people. - This is a people podcast. - Okay. - So talking about immune health is a huge topic. So we are just skimming the absolute surface today with what we're gonna touch on. And because our immune systems, like they're incredibly sophisticated, and in order for our immune system to function optimally, you know, we need to nourish it with the nutrients it needs.
Yep. And we need to avoid those things, which will disable it or compromise its ability to do its job. So one of the biggest things impacting our bodies and that we can control is what we are putting into our mouths multiple times a day. Mm-Hmm. So, diet is huge when it comes to immune health, but we know poor diet is now the leading risk factor for death across middle and high income countries. We know that across the world, being overweight now kills more people than being underweight.
We know that 60% of average energy intake, so that's calories for people in the US and it's about 40% for people in Australia, comes from ultra processed foods. So these are foods that have very little nutritional value. They're high in sugar, salt, saturated fats and alcohol. So more than 50% of our diets already, you know, are depleted of what our immune systems need to function. Well, we know that the majority of the population aren't even hitting the minimum government
recommended daily intakes for key nutrients. Mm-Hmm. - That's scary. - That's really scary. So if you think about that, those recommended daily intakes are set for the most part at a level to prevent disease. Right? So for example, back in the day, vitamin C was set to prevent scurvy. Mm-Hmm. vitamin D to prevent rickets, choline to prevent liver disease, things like that. So you don't want to be sitting just on those minimum values, like we need to do a lot better than that.
- Isn't it amazing, right. That you've got things like tobacco for argument's sake smoking that has warning labels all over the cigarette packets and everything about how ha hazard it is to your health, and that it can cause primary and secondary issues with populations, et cetera, et cetera. Yet diet can be so deadly as you've pretty much listed out, and there's no warnings about it whatsoever. I mean, there's encouragement to eat better and exercise and so forth.
Yet there's no criminalization for selling rubbish foods. I mean, if anything, it's more encouraged. - I know. It is. It's really hard as a practitioner because people come to me with like a whole range of different health problems. You know, they want that magic pill, they want the quick fix, they want the extreme fad diet to get them, you know, where they wanna be quicker.
But, you know, I keep telling people, look at your diet, start at the fundamentals because until you change your diet, there's no magic pill. Mm. That can get them to the health results that they're looking for. - There was an episode of Men in Black, the movie with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Yeah. I think it was Men in Black Three. And he was saying just at the start of the movie, he said, do you want to know what the most dangerous thing on earth is? And Will Smith goes Sugar.
- That is the perfect segue. Mm-Hmm. Into my first point. Yep. So if there's just one thing that our listeners take away from the show today, I really want you to understand how damaging sugar is for our bodies. Mm-Hmm. , but particularly our immune systems. Right? So - This is one that you are on. This is one that you are constantly telling me about all the time when I start eating sugary treats and things that process into sugar. So - It is, it's one of my things. Mm-Hmm. Yeah.
- So yeah, let's talk about that. So - Most foods that are high in sugar are also very low in nutrients. And we know that nutrient deficiencies can increase the risk of infection because our bodies simply don't have what they need to work properly. Right. So sugar is very pro-inflammatory in the body. And the main thing in terms of what we're talking about today is that sugar negatively impacts our white blood cells. Mm-Hmm. . So our white blood cells are our immune cells.
Mm-Hmm. . So we need to think of them as our army. So we want our soldiers or our white blood cells to be, you know, super fit and healthy and resilient and powerful and fast. So as soon as a pathogen enters the body, you know, they're on it. They're, you know, seek and destroy. Yep. But what sugar does, and there was a study done many years ago now, it showed that just a hundred grams of sugar can impair the immune system by 75%. Mm-Hmm. for up to five hours. Right. So just think about that.
So people might go, oh, a hundred grams of sugar. That's a lot of sugar. There's no way I would eat that much sugar in a day. But let me put it into perspective for you people. Okay. So one cup of fruit juice might have about 25 grams of sugar. Yep. One standard can of Coke or any soft drink for that matter might have around 40 grams of sugar. - So that's 65 already. - If someone loves their large cola Slurpees from the service station Mm-Hmm. , that's about 85 grams.
- So that's already put you over if you have that in a day, - If you drink a whole bottle of soft drink Mm-Hmm. that adds up to about 140 grams of sugar. But if you think about, you know, the standard American, or the standard Australian diet, which ironically the acronym is sad. - Really? - Yeah. So in natural health circles, , we talk about the sad diet. So the standard American diet or the standard Australian diet. Right. So I love that. Mm-Hmm. .
But if you think about the standard diet that people are eating, they might have a bowl of cereal for breakfast, which most cereals contain a lot of sugar. Yep. Then morning tea time comes, they might have a muffin and a coffee with some sugars. Mm-Hmm. They get to lunchtime, they might have their soft drink, they get to afternoon, they might have some chocolate. Yep. Then, you know, dinner time and dessert.
So throughout the day we're suppressing our immune system just constantly breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So the World Health Organization actually recommends that we limit our daily sugar intake to less than 25 grams. - So one glass of fruit juice, that's it. And you're done. And you're done. - Doesn't that just put it into perspective for people? - It's terrifying. It really is.
There's been times like I ate a block of chocolate the other day and you said to me, just so you know, you're gonna feel terrible tomorrow. That's right. can't even enjoy my block of chocolate. - Yeah. You don't wanna live with me people, - But you're right. Like when you, when you point those things out and when you're given me this information before you are Right. Like I do wake up and I perform less the next day, I usually notice that I've got a degree of brain fog going on.
My vision is slightly, well, it's worse than what it would normally be on a, on a normal day. So yeah, there are some depreciating factors that when you consider those sort of things - Yeah. And a lot of those hangover feelings and when people binge on sugar isn't so much about the immune system, it's about other impacts in the body. Mm-Hmm. , um, including dopamine receptors and things like that.
But when we think about the current climate, the last thing we wanna do is limit our immune response to 25% of its capacity. Yep. - So, well that's a really good point. - Yeah. We can't go into war with only 25% of, you know, your soldiers and expect to come out on top. Mm. So keeping sugar to an absolute minimum as best you can is a key part of the puzzle of keeping yourself healthy. Yep. - I don't think people realize too, is how hard it is to get off sugar and how how addictive it is.
- It is. It really plays with our neurotransmitters. Mm-Hmm. . And it's not the topic of today, but Yes. It's highly addictive. Yeah. So if you are going to cut back, I, I don't recommend cold Turkey unless you're someone who just have that willpower to all or nothing. Yep. So just do it gradually if you have two or three teaspoons of sugar in your coffee Mm-Hmm. for this week, cut out one of them. - Yep. So we should talk about those neurotransmitter issues in a future episode.
- We should, because you are very, uh, knowledgeable on the brain and well and neurotransmitters as it relates to dog behavior and training - As it relates to dog behavior. I've read more about dog behavior than I have human health and human behavior. Yeah. - A lot of the principles, a lot of the underlying physiology is the same. So for sure we'll talk about that. Yep.
Another factor with, again, the, the pandemic that we're all facing is there's a huge increase in alcohol consumption at the moment. So that impacts our immune system. Alcohol is actually one of the worst substances for leaching nutrients from the body. So it compromises our ability to take up nutrients, it affects our digestive enzymes, it damages our gut lining, it destroys our gut microbiota.
And that's where, you know, 70 to 80% of our immune systems in our gut and alcohol, you know, is decimating that environment. - Is it all alcohol? Like is there a bad to worse list? Like if people were gonna say, now you've taken, you know, one of my daily pleasures away, like glass of wine away or a beer or something like that. Yeah. What would you recommend if they were going to, if they were going to have a glass of wine or anything like that?
Like is that better than having a glass of gin or - Look the sweeter alcohol's like the Laurs and the Bailey's and the sweet wines. Mm-Hmm. , you know, they're hiring sugar so they're gonna have a more detrimental effect from that aspect. Yep. If you are drinking high potency, alcohol's neat, you know, that can potentially have a more damaging, it doesn't have the sugar. Right. But it might have a more damaging effect on the gut lining just because of its potency.
Okay. So it's about minimizing, I'm not telling people to go cold Turkey on their alcohol, - But so there goes your chocolate, there goes your glass of wine, there goes all - The joy in life. , - You get cereal in the morning. I've probably just - Lost all our listeners . Um, but it is, it's about being sensible and minimizing it. Yeah. So people are stressed at the moment. So stress often - Has a compounding effect. Yeah. - So stress tends to drive people to poor choices. Mm-Hmm.
. So whether that's overeating and making poor food choices, drinking more, smoking more things like that. Yeah. But stress definitely negatively impacts our immune system by cortisol dampens our immune response. Mm-Hmm. we produce fewer, um, natural killer cells. So when I talk about the, our white blood cells being our, our soldiers and our army and our body, a particular type of white blood cell and natural killer cells, we can consider them like the special forces.
Yep. So a lot of our white blood cells are like just beat cops that go around and just, you know, arrest anyone that looks suspicious. Mm-Hmm. . Whereas our natural killer cells or our special forces, you know, they're into surveillance. They're looking for, you know, the really top end criminals to sort of take out and destroy. Right. So - That's interesting. - It's fascinating. Mm. But stress can deplete our special forces. Yep. Soldiers stress impacts digestion.
So you're not even gonna absorb, even if you're eating a good diet and you're stressed, stress shuts down digestion because it comes back to that fight or flight response. Mm-Hmm. . So if you're running from the lion, digestion is not a priority for survival. Right. So all the blood goes, not all of the blood, but blood goes from the internal organs. Mm-Hmm. out to the extremities. Yep. So we've got the ability to run. Yep. And we don't produce as much gastric acid or digestive enzymes.
So even if you've just had an argument with your partner, you know you're best not eating until you're feeling a bit better because you're not gonna get what you need out of that food. - Okay. That's interesting as well. Yeah. I'm just gonna out myself here and I'm gonna say I'm not a product of your good advice. Like when I am a product of your good advice, when I listen to you and I take in your control measures in diet and so forth, I feel amazing.
But when I don't do it, and I am that typical stress eater person, I mean, you and I both know that we're at odds on that topic quite a lot. Mm-Hmm. , when I get overburdened with work or just stressed or anxious about something, that's my comfort to go and raid the fridge. And Norell tries to limit as much as she possibly can. The amount of sugary and uh, rubbishly foods.
Like she tries to encourage me to eat healthier things that aren't going to create an impact on me, but she can't stop me from going to the shop . That's right. And rating the shop every now and then. But I guess what I'm trying to say, getting to the point is when I do follow your guidelines, I feel amazing when I don't do it, I suffer the consequences. And I guess that's what we're trying to tell people is it's really up to you like you are the captain of your own ship.
If someone gives you good advice on these type of things and then you choose to ignore it, I don't wanna make it sound like that. It's so easy. And that's just what you do is you just give up on the foods you're eating. 'cause it's not that easy to go away from things that make you feel comfortable and give you a sense of relief at that point in time. It's a very hard thing to do. Mm, - That's right. So we've touched on some of the diet and lifestyle aspects of immune health.
So moving on, uh, I wanna touch on some of the key nutrients that we can take to support our bodies. Yep. So vitamin C mm-Hmm. , you know, everyone knows vitamin C. It's been around forever. It's very safe. It's a water soluble vitamin so it doesn't build up in the body, but it plays, you know, a lot of important roles in our immune system and the functioning of our immune system.
Yep. So it is one of those nutrients that stimulates the production of white blood cells, you know, more white blood cells, bigger army. Mm-hmm. Better outcome. It helps with, um, the production of those natural killer cells. It, and it also stops a lot of our white blood cells from killing themselves during battle. So again, you know, you're maintaining your, your soldiers.
Right. The other great thing about vitamin C and why you need adequate levels in the body is because it supports the epithelial barrier function. So our epithelial tissues are those tissues that line both the inside and the outside surfaces of the body. So we're talking about skin, the lungs, the nose, the throat, the gut. So all of these surfaces are our first line of defense. Mm-Hmm. . So if they're compromised in any way and you inhale for example a virus or a bacteria Mm-Hmm.
, if you don't have that integrity, then it's more likely to enter the body and make you sick. Yep. That's important. What's interesting is studies have found that excessive amounts of sugar, so coming back to the sugar situation, Mm-Hmm. specifically glucose actually inhibits the absorption of vitamin C. And the reason that this happens is that vitamin C and glucose have a very similar chemical structure and they actually enter the body through the same gateway.
It's called a glut one receptor, but just think of it as a doorway into our bodies. Yep. And this makes sense because most animals use glucose to make vitamin C in their bodies, but as humans we no longer have the enzyme that we need to create our own vitamin C. So we need to get it from food or supplements. Mm-Hmm. . But the problem with vitamin C and glucose using the same doorway to get into the body is that that receptor or that sort of, what do you call like a bodyguarded club? Like a
- Bouncer. Oh, a bouncer. Yeah, sorry. - The bouncer at the doorway into our body, it prefers sugar. So when given a choice Mm-Hmm. , it will preferentially take up glucose instead of vitamin C. Right. So that's straightaway compromising our white blood cell production. Mm-Hmm. and our immune system. Right. Okay. So that's another reason to stay off the sugar. Okay. It's interesting too, China's probably leading the world in terms of research into the therapeutic use of vitamin C,
particularly now with COVID-19. Yep. - And what sources of vitamin C would you recommend for people? - So you want a, a buffet source. So vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid. Mm-Hmm. . And that can be a little bit harsh on a lot of people's guts. Mm-Hmm. . But you can have it buffered. Like you might have potassium ascorbate or sodium ascorbate or just bound to something and there might be some bioflavonoids added to the formula.
It doesn't really matter if it's powder or - So you're recommending like a supplement over like a natural food item or something like that. Look, - I do because if we are healthy and we're not fighting anything or we are not at risk or at a greater risk of catching things, you know, you don't actually need a lot of vitamin C and what you get from your diet may be completely adequate.
But if we are at risk and if we are fighting something, we need a lot more vitamin C. So to get a therapeutic dose and to support our white blood cells, Mm-Hmm. for the most part. And because most people's diets aren't where they need to be. Yep. I do recommend supplementation. Right. But as I've mentioned, vitamin C is very safe. So - Yep. Good brands.
- Look, I won't mention brands because it's probably not as important, but just, you know, a thousand to 2000 milligrams a day, it would be a good place to start. Yep. For most people. Mm-Hmm. the only risk of too much vitamin C. So if you started to get up to 5,000 or 10,000 milligrams in a day Mm-Hmm. would be diarrhea. Right. So it's called bowel tolerance. And a lot of people when they're sick, particularly those with chronic immune issues, Mm-Hmm. , they will actually test themself.
And so over a day every they 15, 30 minutes, they might take another thousand milligrams. Mm-Hmm. and just keep stepping that up until they hit bowel tolerance. Yeah. So diarrhea. Mm-Hmm. . And then they know to sort of take it back one step and that's their therapeutic dose, right. For recovery. Mm-Hmm. . But you know, not a fun way.
- No. That's nothing to look forward to. No. - Mm-Hmm. - , - Another really important nutrient is vitamin D. So most people might be familiar with vitamin D for bone health, for joint health, for muscle function, but it's also really important for cellular health. And most cells in the body, including our immune cells, actually have vitamin D receptors on them. So they need to take vitamin D up to work properly.
- I'm sure you're gonna mention it, but one of the things that I'm always fascinated when you talk to me about this is how lacking so much of the population are in vitamin D. - It's absolutely shocking if we just look at the US but Australia is sort of, you know, whenever I talk about US or Australian data when it comes to health and nutrition, we are pretty much on par with each other. But every few years they do a massive survey in the states.
Mm-Hmm. , you know, tens of thousands of people get surveyed. And the last time they did that a few years ago, 95% of adults in the US had daily intakes of vitamin D below that government recommended daily intake level. Yeah. Which is, you know, so you don't get rickets. Mm-Hmm. 95%, which is huge. - It's massive. - And you know, vitamin D, we can get it in food, but it's not in many foods that people eat a lot of.
Mm-Hmm. So, you know your oily fish, how many people are eating sardines and mackerel and you know, salmon on a regular basis. Yep. It's in dairy products and eggs. But a lot of people are going dairy free. Mm-Hmm. these days. And eggs is one of the most allergenic foods, so often that's compromised Yep. As well. And then, you know, people say, but oh, we make it when we're out in the sun.
That's true. But when the sun hits our skin and it creates what's called a previtt D but for that to become active and do all its good work in the body, it needs to go through two activation steps. Right. So the first activation occurs in the liver. Mm-Hmm. . And the second step is in the kidney. So if there's anything going on that's compromising liver or kidney function Mm-Hmm. , you know, straight away you are going to have reduced conversion into the active form of vitamin D.
Right. And in Australia, I think it's around 30% of Australian adults have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, you know, and so not to mention all the other pathologies that affect our liver and kidneys. Mm-Hmm. That's massive. And even, you know, if you've got a darker skin tone, you get a, a poorer conversion into the active form. I have a lot of dog trainers and you know, people who work outdoors all day.
Yep. And they come to me and they're like, oh, I'm not gonna be deficient in vitamin D I'm out inside in the sun all day. But the majority of them are Mm-Hmm. Even in Australia we're, you know, we're the sunny country, except - If you're in Melbourne. - Yeah. But in summer, you know, 25% of Australians are vitamin D deficient. Yep. In winter, that can jump up to 75%. Mm-Hmm.
And the, the reference ranges on the blood tests are actually, I won't say negligent, but you know, they, they're not conducive to good health. So if you are, I'll try and convert to US units, but in Australia, if, if you're sitting just over 50 olle per liter on your vitamin D blood test results, your doctor will say you're fine.
But you know, even the World Health Organization recognized that you need to be at least over 75 nano mole per liter, which I could be wrong, but it converts to about 30 nanograms per milliliter in the US So you can do the conversions yourself, but there are researchers that say, you know, we need to sit at like 125 to 150 nano per liter of vitamin D mm-Hmm. in summer. So we've got enough stores to carry us through winter.
So vitamin D is really important and there's a lot of research around vitamin D in relation to covid. So vitamin D deficiency has been shown to be independently associated with increased risk of acute respiratory infections, particularly viral. Mm-Hmm. , they've correlated low vitamin D levels with an increased incidence and mortality. So deaths in European countries and a lot of European countries naturally have lower mm-Hmm.
levels of sunlight, you know, a lower natural conversion of vitamin D. There was one study that showed that around 90% of people who end up on ventilators with covid to 19 are critically low on vitamin D. So supplementing vitamin D, you know, may be something we're in winter now in Australia. Mm. So again, vitamin D, unlike vitamin C, vitamin D can build up to toxic levels in the body. So you do need to be careful. Yep.
But taking a thousand international units of vitamin D once a day, even if you didn't know your blood test levels. Mm-Hmm. for the majority of people be very safe. Right. And if you're not sure about what dose you should be taking, you know, that's where you'd speak to a, a healthcare professional. Yep. Like me. Yeah. - Well you're always encouraging me every time I get a blood test to get my vitamin D checked. - Yeah. And doctors are reluctant to test it too often, but it's really important.
And the thing, you know, when we've got sufficient vitamin D in our body, our immune system, like at in the lungs where a virus is most likely to show up has the ability to produce antiviral compounds. Mm-Hmm. if you've got enough vitamin D in your body. The other thing too is with covid, you know, we're all in lockdown, well we're not in lockdown lockdown in Sydney, but Mm-Hmm.
, you know, we're encouraged to not be going out as often, - Often socially distant and responsibility and hand sanitizing, et cetera, et - Cetera. Yeah. But that's automatically keeping people indoors more too. It is. So another factor compromising our potential to get the vitamin D that we need. Mm-Hmm. . Okay. So that's vitamin C, that's vitamin D. The next one on the, the top, top, you know, fundamentals for immune health is zinc.
Yep. So I am zinc's another one that I talk about a lot with Glen. And like you need to take your zinc, especially - Being a man, - Especially being a man. Mm-Hmm. . So zinc's involved in just, you know, hundreds of biochemical processes throughout the body, but it is fundamental for the optimal functioning of our immune system. So edict supports white blood cell production, it's part of good membrane integrity. And remember I said that's our first line of defense.
Mm-Hmm. studies have shown that zinc deficiency significantly decreases our ability to mount an adequate immune response, particularly against viruses. Mm-Hmm. . And the way zinc works is it blocks what's called RNA polymerase. So that's an enzyme that allows viruses to replicate and spread throughout the body. So if you don't have enough zinc viruses have that greater ability to multiply.
Mm-Hmm. Coming back to the importance of diet, you know, we don't have a specialized storage system for zinc in our bodies. So vitamin D for example, has gets stored a lot of nutrients can get stored in, um, tissues in the liver. Mm-Hmm. zinc doesn't. So we need to consume it on a regular basis to avoid deficiency. And it actually, deficiency is quite common in the elderly. Mm-Hmm. . So not just because, I mean, older people tend to have poorer diets generally.
Yep. But as we age, we produce less gastric acid. Mm-Hmm. . And we need good gastric acid to extract minerals in particular from the food that we're eating. Vegetarians and vegans are often deficient because zinc in plant matter is often inhibited by phytates in the foods that they're eating. Yep. Anyone with gastrointestinal issues. So whether it's inflammatory bowel disease or you know, chronic diarrhea, people who've had surgery, their requirements for zinc go up significantly.
You know, we've mentioned alcohol can deplete the body of zinc in particular as well. Mm-Hmm. . So, you know, as a general guide, anywhere up to 50 milligrams of zinc a day is safe. Mm-Hmm. usually around 20 to 30 milligrams for most people would be great. So you wanna avoid zinc oxide. That's a poorer form of zinc. - How would they know? Does it say it? - Yeah, it, it will always say on your container. Yeah. So just have a look at the form of zinc that you're taking.
Zinc citrates, zinc gluconate, zinc chelates are all good forms and well absorbed. - Okay, cool. I wouldn't have known that now I do. No, - You do. Vitamin D doesn't matter so much. Like vitamin D supplements are mostly vitamin D three and you know, any product you pick ups generally gonna do the same job. One of the final key nutrients when we're talking about the immune system is vitamin A. So it's probably the best studied nutrient with regard to viral infections and critical for immunity.
Critical for maintaining, again, the integrity of our epithelial and mucus membranes. Mm-Hmm. . And the good thing is like vitamin A in zinc work really closely together. So you need, you do need both. So we need zinc to be able to convert vitamin A into its more active form. And zinc also helps make a protein that transports vitamin A around the body so it can do its good work. So even if you're taking mega doses of vitamin A, which I wouldn't recommend, 'cause that's not safe, right.
If you don't have enough zinc, you're still not gonna get the full benefit of the vitamin A. So this - Is, so one compliments the other. - It is, and this is where the body is just fascinating and complex in how it works. So nothing is sort of black and white and simple.
Like, which is why getting your nutrition from whole food diet is always the best bet because you're getting these complex mixtures of vitamins and minerals and phytonutrients with all the other bits around them to do what they need to do in the body. So you're not just isolating, you know, a single nutrient Mm-Hmm. and having it out of proportion in the body.
So supplements have an important place when our bodies are under threat or fighting something or you know, with Covid and we're at greater risk. But again, coming back to diet will always be the foundation of where you should start. - So if somebody, let's say for example, somebody has a really poor diet, like a history of poor diet and they wanna make a change, like they're waking up feeling crap every day. Where would you recommend they start?
- If that's something that's happening ongoing every day, you know, you need to think about stress. Yep. So a lot of people that are just, you know, waking up feeling depleted and just, you know, struggling to get through their day, you know, they need to look at their stress levels. Stress, like I said, affects digestion. Mm-Hmm. , it affects your ability to take up nutrients and, and give your body what it needs to feel good. Yep. Stress will affect your sleep. Mm-Hmm.
automatically, as soon as your sleep is compromised, it's gonna affect hormones. Yep. It's going to affect blood glucose regulation. It's going to affect energy. Mm-Hmm. mood. I often say to clients until sleep is right, nothing else tends to fall into place. Right. - That makes sense. - So stress and sleep are really important. And then, you know, you do need to look at your diet.
So today we've just touched on the top key nutrients and lifestyle factors that could potentially be impacting your immune system. Mm. Other things that you might wanna consider is getting enough Omega-3 fatty acids for their anti-inflammatory role in the body. Yep. Looking at prebiotics and probiotics to support gut health because as I mentioned, you know, 70 to 80% of our immune system is in our guts. Mm-Hmm. . And if our guts are compromised, we're not gonna get the nutrition.
Yep. We need, there's lots of herbs that are out there for immune health, but we just, you know, there's no time today. That could be another whole podcast to talk about immune herbs. - Yeah. And you're gonna have a lot more information about this on your Patreon channel. - That's right. So Patreon is where I'll be going into a lot more detail about everything that we are talking about in these podcasts.
Mm-Hmm. . So go over to Patreon if you do want more detail or if you want those more personalized q and a sessions where you can have your own questions answered. Yep. - And also it helps support your show as well. - It does. - Yeah. All the research that you're putting in and all the expenses that go into it. - It does. So I actually have to sort of cut back on my client load to fit in - Your podcast. my - Podcast.
So, but everyone just maybe when you listen to this podcast, just take a step back and have a look at what your diet currently is. Mm-Hmm. and just where you can make, you know, even just small changes. So even if it's just one sugary snack in a day that you replace with a better option Yep. That's a step forward to supporting your body. And - If people are really struggling on their own, what would you suggest they do?
- It is important because dietary change is when they're ingrained over our lifetime, and usually they're habits that we've taken on from our parents. Yep. Change can be really hard and there's the addictive qualities of certain foods that we've mentioned as well. Mm-Hmm. . So if you are really struggling, I do recommend that you reach out to a healthcare professional who can better guide you in how to make the changes gradually, what choices or what changes might be most indicated.
Yep. And you know, they're there to support you and motivate you and, you know, be your cheerleader to keep you on track and accountable. Mm-Hmm. - Good advice as always. So if people need to reach out to you and find you, how do they do that? - The best place if you've got questions that come up from the podcast is Patreon. Yep. But my Facebook page, natural health for people and Pets. Mm-Hmm. is a great discussion. Point to Yep.
My website, natural health and nutrition.com au for more information about, you know, who I am, what I do, and if you're interested in consults, how you can go about that. Mm-Hmm. - and email. - And if you'd like to email me hello at natural health and nutrition.com - Au. Wonderful. Okay, that's episode three. Thank you. Bye everyone. Bye.