Winter Immunity Essentials with Dr Shilpa Sayana | Free Webinar

I am going to start whoever is here and then they could just join us if they come in later. So thanks you guys for coming here today. I know it's one more thing for you to do at an end of the day at 6pm and I'm going to talk about your immune system and things you can try and do over the holiday season to protect it. And all of this will be again from a functional medicine perspective. Hopefully you can do some of the things that you learned today to prevent potential infections and or really be ahead of it right away before letting the infection become something where you need antibiotics or need an antiviral. So is this you? You frequently get ill, getting ill four to five times a year or is your third antibiotic this year? Hopefully not because you all are program member patients and hopefully that's, that's not the case. But you may know people like this in your family or you may have been something like this a while ago or there's this you where you have been sick quite long and if it takes you a long time to recover from an illness, your cough lingers, takes months. So your sinuses and are never not congested, maybe because of chronic allergies, but all that stuff suppresses your immune system. Or is this you? Your allergies are getting worse every day or every year. You have skin allergies, sinuses or eye allergies. Or is this you? And some of my patients can relate to this. You're already gluten free, dairy free, soy free, corn free, but your stomach still hurts and it impacts your immune system. Or your skin is so sensitive and small things seem to irritate it, you kind of have these rashes with no explanations or you, especially in the wintertime, seem to have be more reactive to more things in your life. So if you said as to any of these things or you just want to learn about your immune system, you're in the right place. So this is who I am. I think I'm familiar to Everybody here. I'm Dr. Sayana, I am internal medicine functional medicine certified. And the immune system is a really big part of what a lot of people come and see us for, mainly because they're getting sick so often. So what actually impacts your immune system? A lot of times people don't realize that things you do in the holiday season especially can suppress your immune system, things such as substance abuse. So if you're drinking wine and just drinking more during the holidays, it can depress your immune system if you have an impaired gut and that's probably everybody who actually looks at their gut. But if your gut's particularly vulnerable because the gut is where there are these group of cells called GALT cells, G A L T And it's a group of immune cells that actually protect your whole body from getting sick. So if your gut is inflamed, you're more likely to have a depressed immune system and get sick easily. If you're nutrient deficient, if you have a ton of sugar, which is kind of common in this month, usually in the year or another common thing I see with our patients is not sleeping well. If you're not sleeping well, your immune system will definitely be suppressed. And if you have a high toxic burden, your immune system may not be doing the best and it may not be, you may be controlling your these factors in your life. But if somebody around you is sick and they have a very high viral load or bacterial load, you are, you could most likely get sick as well. So sugar and the immune system. Sugar is important. I know it's such a common thing in these holiday season from Halloween really to Christmas where a lot of us tend to eat more sugar than we usually would. And what sugar does it actually promotes chronic low grade inflammation. And this low grade inflammation increases something called your pro inflammatory cytokines in your system which I always describe it to patient as the canvas you're building on is inflamed. If you're eating a bunch of sugar and if it's inflamed, you're more likely to have more autoimmune diseases which in effect depress your immune system even more. And they have been some studies showing that even the consuming sugar and 30 minutes after consuming sugar, that effect of its immune depressing effect can last up to five hours. So imagine if you're traveling, you have a ton of exposure to different infections and you're eating a bunch of sugar and you haven't slept and you've gonna have a glass of wine that night. So all of that contributory factors that could depress your immune system. So it's really and I know it's difficult during the holidays, but I'm gonna give you some, some tips as to what you can do to protect your immune system as well as maybe reduce your intake of sugar. And if you already are overweight or struggling with weight, excessive fat tissue, adipose tissue by itself is another factor that depresses your immune system. So of course I all want, I want you all to enjoy the holidays. I want you to embrace the holiday spirit. But just be careful of indulgences. So avoid turning the entire two, three months into eating a ton of sugar or eating drinking more alcohol than you used to, especially if you're above 40. Because you're about 40, your brain and your immune system are more sensitive. So you really want to pace yourself and plan your indulgences. Maybe choose one special meal. Maybe it's going to be Christmas Eve Christmas where you can fully indulge but keep other days more balanced. And one thing you can do for sugar indulgences is increase your fiber intake during the during the daytime. So really things that have fiber. A lot of patients think I'm eating a huge salad and it has a ton of fiber. But a bowl of arugula spinach only has less than a gram of fiber. So I'm talking about fiber, I'm talking about things such as beans if your stomach can tolerate it. Avocados, a good hack is a bowl of raspberries, have 8 grams of fiber and compared to blueberries that only have two. So fiber rich fiber diet and your goal is around 30 grams can really help suck up that sugar or suck up those toxins or improve your gut health so that you can indulge a little bit during the holiday season and practice mindful eating. A lot of times my patients over the holidays gain around an average 5 to 10 pounds. But in a TR, try and slow down, taste what you're eating and really try and understand. Are you eating because you're hungry or you're eating because you're stressed and bored or dealing with family members that stress you out? Sleep. Sleep in the immune system is so important and it's very easy to not get appropriate sleep during this time. Either you're stressed for the holidays or you're just busy because of end of the year deadlines or you're traveling. So sleep is really critical. And I know for a lot of us above 40, getting enough sleep, which is considered to be between six and a half to eight and a half hours of continuous sleep a night is a challenge. And here's a good study where it really looked at. If you are sleeping well, how much does that or not sleeping, how much does that suppress your immune system against the common cold? So if you're getting an average of less than five hours of sleep, you are almost 50% likely to get a common cold. Five to six hours is 30% the best. Of course for people who are sleeping at least seven hours to not have a risk of suppressing the immune system for the common cold and for Those of us who are having trouble sleeping, things such as mindfulness. MAGNESIUM ASHWAGANDHA CORTISOL MANAGER or re switching off electronics can be completely critical in terms of getting enough sleep and really important with sleep. When we ask patients how much are you sleeping? They may be like I'm sleeping two to three hours, I'm sleeping eight hours a night. But when you ask them it's very interrupted. They're getting up to pee or, or they getting up because they can hear everything. So what's very key about sleep quality is consolidated sleep. And the study was done also looking at consolidated sleep. So if you think you're sleeping above seven hours, make sure it's at least, at least five hours is continuous because it looks like above five hours is where there's immunoprotectively immunoprotective effect. So tips for the holidays Stick to a consistent sleep schedule as best you can. I know some of us are traveling over the holidays and it's harder with time changes as best you can. Sleep really does impact your immune system. So prioritizing relaxation before bed. I talked about this things such as mindfulness techniques, deep breathing things really trying to move more to a book or if you're using a Kindle, use blue light blocking mechanisms where you're not impacted and to be stimulated at night and limiting late night, late night indulgences. Maybe if you're going to drink drinks at least four hours before going to bed. So if you're drinking right before you go to bed or having a caffeinated beverage, it impacts the quality of sleep. And that's where it's really important is the quality of sleep is important to protect your immune system, not only the quantity of sleep. And if you are having a lot of sugary foods, eat fiber and another hack is protein because if you do have protein, you're going to have less of those sugar spikes and your blood sugar and your insulin will stay stable. But which will really help your sleep quality. And then stress and the immune system For a lot of especially my female patients getting through the holidays, the holiday season brings upon a lot of stress. Maybe they're just juggling too many things in the air or it's the work deadlines and many roles in, in the household where they just seem like they, they, they are really burning themselves really thin. So it's really important to be mindful of your stress because prolonged stress really does suppress the immune to susceptibility in infections and illnesses. And I remember with stress it's not just your external stress, but your stress perception. So if you're going home for the holidays and you're exposed to family members who are triggering that stress itself can be something that does suppress your immune system. So again, be really mindful of stress. And what can you do? Is it maybe starting to do more walking in nature or more mindfulness practices now all in the vein of protecting your immune system? And again, a common thing I see with a lot of mainly my female patients is really having this perfect holiday season. And we really try moving away from the perfect holiday season to really be a meaningful season where you are prioritizing yourself and prioritizing yourself in terms of sleep and relationships so that you are not so impacted by your environment. And again, if you are impacted by environment either through stress, stress or foods, you are more sensitive to viruses and bacterial infections. This season though, in terms of viruses, the flu season hasn't been so bad. But we are having other viruses that are not flu and Covid that seem to be occurring much more. And my patients are just kind of spiraling because they are getting sick and they're not getting enough sleep or just kind of plowing through these last minute deadlines and they're just getting sicker and requiring antibiotics. So I'm going to give you some good practical tips. You can do either you could take as supplements and then these lifestyle hacks which is really sleep, stress and nutrition mainly in terms of sugar and alcohol that can protect your immune system. So common thing is make sure you give yourself permission to say no. Especially if your kids are home during the holidays, which they might be. You really have to prioritize how you're going to have boundaries not only with your kids, but with your partners. And again, just really make sure that you are prioritizing yourself. So re centering your attention. And I'm in the mall like see it, the traffic is tough, parking is tough. Nowadays everybody's kind of buying gifts, but it's really the time to again think about what this holiday season means for you. And a lot of patients I'm talking to are just really ready for January and getting rid of 2024. So you know, whatever you can do to recenter your attention so that you don't feel overwhelmed and it's not so much the stresses around you. Some patients are like I don't have that much stress in my environment, but what is your stress perception? And there's a lot of expectation in terms of buying enough things for people or making sure that gifts are received on time or you're inviting the appropriate guests. Just be mindful of where your intention is. So here are some of the practical tips I was going to give everybody. So we have our immunity sac, which is a bag that has some immune supplements. And a lot of you guys have this stuff at home. But under the prevention regimen, and this is if you know you want to be exposed to big crowds already. Things you want to make sure you're taking is enough vitamin D. So enough vitamin D3. And this is 5,000 units. So you want to be taking on average between one to two pills a day. So you want to get your vitamin D above 70 during this holiday season because it's going to protect you from ill bacterial infections and viruses, especially things such as Covid and the flu. So vitamin D, super critical. The moment I notice some sniffles, I just feel that somebody around me is getting sick. I definitely increase my vitamin D to at least 10,000 a day. The vitamin D is key. The second thing is buffered vitamin C. This is buffered because vitamin C can cause gastritis and irritate the stomach. So you want to take enough vitamin C to again protect the immune system. And you could take just one pill of this is a thousand milligrams. This is all for prevention. So this is for you preventing yourself from getting sick. And then the last thing you would want to take is our immune support supplement. This is just a blend of mushrooms and it's four pills a day if you are really trying to prevent any kind of sickness. But if you're in an environment that isn't full of bacterial infections or tons of people who are sick, then you could just take two pills a day. And it's all on this little cheat sheet that I can send out. And then that's just for. And the last thing for prevention is zinc. And zinc, again, is a good mineral that does help with boosting your immune system. And this is just for the holidays. Usually we get enough zinc from things such as nuts and green leafy vegetables, but just during the holiday time or during a time that's high stress or high sugar. It's a good thing to take things to protect your immune system. So those four things were for protecting your immune system during times of travel or high stress. Then I wanted to highlight things you can take for treatment. So this treatment, let's say your wife or your husband or your roommate have already gotten sick. They already sound like they're getting sick and there's no escape. You probably could. You all definitely are exposed. So things you want to take right away is Oracle's immune supplement pills. The vitamin C, the vitamin D10000 which is two a day. And things you want to add on are this turmeric which is a blend of vitamin C with super tiny doses. But it's mainly turmeric which is an anti inflammatory bromelain which is pineapple extract. And the pineapple extract can help your lung tissue. And quercetin, quercetin is high dose kale and red onion. The the combination of these supplements can just really help your bronchioles and your lungs from inflammation. So you would take two of these with food. Kind of like the vitamin C, this blend can cause gastritis. And this is my most favorite supplement, which is biocide and throat spray. And it's a combination of a few things, but it has bearberry in it. And what it does is it is a natural antiviral, natural antibiotic and also boosts your immune system locally in your throat. So the biocytin throat spray is pretty magical. It does have a little bit of alcohol in it and you can take three sprays up to three times a day. So that's an important supplement. And you can travel with it if you are traveling because it's only one ounce in this bottle. Let's say the biocide and throat spray and the vitamin D are two of the things you don't want to forget if you're traveling. There is a natural nasal spray I just want to bring everybody's attention to called co vixel and co vixel you could use before getting onto a plane, like half an hour before getting onto a plane and you'd spray it in each nostril. It does help change the the microbiome in the nostril to prevent getting an infection. So copixel spray, just get it online and it does burn a little bit, but it definitely does help. And then if you're going to be in the plane, consider wearing a mask. So for those of you who are in L. A, not traveling or are traveling, the one thing you could do which I have seen a lot of people get benefit from, is doing IV therapy. And you could do it locally with us or you can have somebody come to your home. And what you want in that IV therapy, the ingredient you want to make sure they're giving you is high dose vitamin C. And by vitamin C, high dose I would say between 5 to 10 grams of vitamin C. Sometimes they can give you zinc in there too. But having the vitamin C and plus minus the glutathione I probably say the vitamin C, B complex and magnesium are plenty to really boost your immune system and also stay hydrated. So whatever hydration they can give you in the IV would be really helpful. And the immune bundle, which is what I kind of talked about is we have a special for 25% off. But everybody on today's webinar will get this biocide and throat spray for free. So I will drop these names. If you could drop these names for Rayla so she can hold this for you guys. Super safe and super effective. I would say definitely travel with the bioset and throat spray. And you could do the immune bundle, which I think most of you have most of this at home. Again, the most important things would be the vitamin D, the throats wide, and then the immune support, which is the mushroom blend. And all of these are safe to to take for a long period of time. But I'd say the time to really think about taking stuff that supports your immune system is from Halloween through Valentine's, because that's when flu season is and that's when Covid or viral season is in general. So take these supplements. You know, some people on you who just can't swallow. You can't swallow the supplements. Then I would say do the throat spray, do the vitamin D comes in a liquid, and then the vitamin C comes in a powder. So you can kind of work around that. The immune mushroom blend, unfortunately, it also comes in a liquid, but it doesn't taste great. So you could just open the pills or you could do the liquid form and keep up with your immune support. But a big thing with your immune system is making sure you're protecting your gut. So your gut's inflamed, you are going to more likely get sick quicker. So if you've had a history of sibo, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or just have the wrong bacteria in your gut, it is very sensitive to sugar. So if you're going to have sugar and alcohol, gut inflammation is going to happen. And that's going to set you up to have a depressed immune system. And then throw in travel and just the holiday stress, you are more at risk. So whatever you can do to prevent needing antibiotics for the holiday should be your goal. And another big goal should be not trying to gain the usual five to ten pounds by just being conscious of your diet, lifestyle and stress and sugar intake during this time. Perfect. And questions for me. You can throw it into the chat or things. All of you guys have spruce access. You could message me directly as well. But if you have questions on your immune health in, in in general or, or things about these supplements that you wanted me to kind of highlight, please ask and I will do my best to answer them. Perfect. I kept it under 30 minutes and I wanted to give you time for questions or let you guys out so you can go back to enjoying the last couple of years of 2024. Perfect. Any questions, let me know, see if I can get rid of this. Awesome. Perfect. You guys. And you guys all have access to Spruce, so please feel comfortable sharing or asking questions and you're very, very welcome. Enjoy the holidays of 2020 24. I look forward to 25. I really think it's going to be a better year. But this year was was intense for all of us with the elections and life and just the craziness in politics. But hopefully 2025 will be better. And the goal for all of you is don't get sick. But if you do get sick, please message us. Make sure you test for Covid. Make sure you consider testing for the flu just so that we can help you get on the correct treatment right away. But hopefully with these supplements at home, you won't get sick. And then for all of you, the biosert and throats way, if you don't live local, let us know, as in you live a little bit out of LA and we can ship it to you. Perfect. Take care you guys have a good evening.