How to Maintain a Strong Immune System with JJ Virgin

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Welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show with celebrity nutrition expert, fitness hall of famer and four time New York Times best selling author, JJ Virgin. JJ is a warrior mom whose knowledge and expertise have helped change hundreds of thousands of lives. With over 3.5 million podcast downloads and appearances on Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, the Today Show, Rachael Ray, Larry King, Love Whoa, whoa, whoa.

This show is about you, not about me. I want to help you find practical, real world ways to dial in your health and mindset so you can finally lose that weight and feel strong and energized. Stop settling for less than your personal best. It's time to find out how to look and feel better than ever. And I'll be right here with you the whole way. Hey, hey, hey, it's JJ and today is me. You got me today. Just me. I am going to be talking about immune health today and what you should do and what you should not do. Especially if you're listening to this right now during the winter. And I'll tell you why, during the winter we tend to get more issues with getting sick because there's a reason for it. All right, before we do that, before we dive into the show, I wanted to do a little spotlight. You know, every single time I like to do a spotlight of a listener's endorsement, testimonial, etc of the show. And this one's like a three star review. So it says good information and it's by Jilly Bean, me from the usa. Now here's what she says and I want to bring this up for a couple reasons. She says, I find a lot of good information in these podcasts and I do like the show. The sound quality is not of the other podcasts and the links posted up the show rarely seem to work. The latest one being the metabolic reset by Dr. Alan Christensen, which I'm very interested in. This could definitely be a five star podcast with some better sound and working links. Okay, here's the thing. We've been working on this. Apparently my mic. We'll see. I have professional mics and I'm in my own studio. So we keep working on this. So hopefully the sound is good and I always want to know about that. Now I will tell you something about the links. We can't do anything about it. So what happens is we always test the links when we post the show notes and we always try to give you awesome, awesome show notes, but then if the guests change their links, then we got a problem. And we only know when you guys tell us. So if you ever have a challenge with a link, please reach out out to supportjburgeon.com so we can fix it right away and get you the right links. We always want to do that. And we also, we review each podcast for the sound just in case there's an issue and we don't publish them. So not sure what the sound issues are at this point because we've really worked on those. But the links, again, whenever we find out about them, we always test them to start with, and then sometimes people will change their pages and not tell us, and that creates the problem. So let us know so we can make that right. Alrighty. Now, I super appreciate you sharing that with us, and if you've got something to say, I'd love to hear it. So love those reviews. Keep them coming. And as you can see, they don't have to be five stars. We love five stars, though, I will admit. But, you know, whatever they are, let us have it, because that's how we can make the best show for you. And that's what I'm all about, is getting information out there that is actionable, that can actually make a difference in your health and your life. And that that's something you want to listen to all the time and share with your friends. And if you're here and you haven't subscribed yet, please, please, please make sure you do so you never miss a bit. Alrighty, this is jj. We're going to dive in now. We're going to be talking about how to boost your immune system and then what things you want to make sure that you don't do because they can trash your immune system. And one of the things that probably my single biggest one in terms of supplements is to make sure that you optimize your vitamin T D. You ever notice that we tend to have more issues with our immune system during the winter? Well, think about it. In the summer, we're outside more, we're getting in. That recommended 15 to 20 minutes of sunshine helps us make our vitamin D. Right? And then all of a sudden gets to be the winter. We're inside, it's cold, we're Covered up. We're not getting the sun on our skins. We're not making the vitamin D that we need. I actually supplement with vitamin D all year long. And if you aren't out in the sun or if you're one of those people genetically who doesn't make as much vitamin D or you use sunscreen, this is something that you're going to want to be doing. But here's the important thing. With vitamin D, you want to make sure you always take vitamin D and you're taking vitamin D3 by the way, with vitamin K, because vitamin D is going to help your body absorb calcium and vitamin K directs it to the right places. And that is super important. So how do you know how much vitamin D to take? And again, if you are in any seasonal place, you are going to want to make sure that you're watching this because probably in the winter you're going to need more than in the summer. You may not need any during the summer. You may need to take some in the winter. I take 5,000. I use a vitamin D with vitamin D K in the summer and in the winter I double that up. So how do I know what to take? I do a test called a 25 hydroxy vitamin D test. And this is an easy test to get ordered and take. And then you optimize your vitamin D to 50 to 80 ngs per milliliter. If you're low, what you're going to find is that you may need to supplement a little bit higher at first. Generally 10,000 IUs a day for 1 to 3 months. Retest and then make sure that you've gotten to a level place and then see how much you need to maintain. It. Might be 2000ius, might be 5000ius. Again, always do that with K. But vitamin D is actually, it's actually a pro hormone, not a vitamin. Sits on the top of the hormone cascade. So important for so many things. But one of the key things that it's critical for is your immune system. All right, next thing, sleep. In fact, the only time I get myself in trouble is when I get my sleep interrupted. Now I travel a bunch, so I have prioritized sleep, especially with shifting time zones. But sometimes things just get a little bit messed up. You might not have a good night's sleep. Maybe you're staying at a hotel, there's noise. I always travel with a tempur Pedic eye mask and earplugs. And I always take my sleep candy. That is my formula with melatonin and five HTP and theanine and inositol and B6. And those are the things that work really well for me. And I have a. I have a little sleep formula that I always do, which is I take a hot bath. Now if I'm at home, I do that with magnesium salts, which are very calming and also detoxifying. And then I cool down the house to about 65 degrees. My hubby and I have always got a little disagreement here about this. He likes it warmer, but you want to cool your house down. I also make sure that I have a very dark environment. If you don't, this is where you're going to want to wear an eye mask. It is super important for you to be in the pitch dark. My buddy Sean Stevenson, who wrote Smart Sleep Smarter, talks about the fact that even little bits of light, even little bits of light that are being shown on different parts of your body. Like they did one where they put a light on the back of someone's knee and it interrupted their melatonin production. So smoking. Super important to have it dark in your bedroom. Really important. We just moved into a new place in Tampa and they had these plantation blinds and it was like you could see light through them. So we had to fix that one because that little bit can mess up your sleep. So sleep, besides being really bad for sugar cravings and belly fat, also depletes your immune system. Now here's another one. I'm a big fan of exercise, especially high intensity interval training, which can help your body handle stress better. And of course, we know stresses also can lower your immune system and resistance training because they're both anabolic, but too much exercise, especially endurance style exercise. Now, I'm not talking about walking. I want you out walking, super duper important. What I'm talking about here is any kind of high intensity, ongoing interval training, high intensity steady state training. So let's say you're going out and you're jogging for an hour plus, or you're riding a bike at intensity, not toodling around for an hour plus, those things can lower your immune system as well and also create a lot of oxidative stress. So be aware of those. That's why I prefer walking. You know, I want you to move more. We should be accumulating those 10,000 steps plus per day. That's why a Fitbit or an Oura ring is so great. But then you want to have your exercise count. That means you got hot, sweaty and hurt a bit. And you do those for short, intense bursts of movement by the Way I read this really cool article in Scientific America that was basically like, exercise is not optional for us. We are meant to move. But when I read that, what really got to me was we're meant to move. So get those steps in every day. But then do the high intensity interval training. Do the resistance training for your bones, for the hormone response that you need in there. Don't do necessarily the ongoing cardio, because that's going to impact your immune system and of course, create that oxidative stress that's very aging. All right, next thing now, you knew I was going to say this. You knew that I was going to say this, because I can't help but not say this. Let's not go eat a bunch of sugar. All right, so you want to make sure that you're lowering your sugar impact. I wrote the book the Sugar Impact Diet, all about this. Because sugar can compete with vitamin C to enter the cell is going to lower your immune system. So definitely don't go chowing down on the sugar and make sure that you know where all the sugar is sneaking in. That's one of the challenges. We think we're being so great, and then all of a sudden you find out that that marinara sauce that you ate had more sugar than a couple Oreo cookies or that light salad dressing actually was loaded with sugar. So we need to be really aware of where sugar is sneaking in, because that sugar can lower your immune system. Be careful. Okay. I talked a little bit about stress already, but again, stress is the other one that can really start to deplete your immune system. I just got off doing a podcast, got off a recording with Emily Fletcher, and we will put in the show notes. We will have show notes on this, and we'll do that@jjvirgin.com immuneboost but we just did a podcast I'll include there, too, where Emily talked about all the things that you could do to help lower stress. Of course, meditation, since she's even meditation was a huge one. So you want to make sure that you're managing stress. Stress has the same type of impact that sleep does in lowering the immune system. Next thing, have a good gut. This is what I wrote about in the Virgin Diet. We're going to be upgrading that book, it sounds like here pretty soon, taking it to the next level into the year 2020. And one of the things you really want to focus on is having a good, healthy gut microbiome. Very important for nutrient absorption, very important for your immune. So how do you do that? Well, of Course, stress is very important because if you are stressed out, you actually are going to hurt your gut microbiome. We know that it makes your gut more permeable. But the things that you want to think of to really build up a good immune system in your gut, to have that good bacteria in the gut, is increasing the fiber in your diet. Fiber is so important for feeding the good bacteria in the gut. And really you want to have a good blend of both soluble and insoluble fiber and some resistant starch. So resistant starch is a starch that resists digestion. That's why it's called resistant starch. It can actually help you burn fat. Good for the immune system. And then soluble and insoluble starch or fiber. Think of in of soluble fiber as the fiber that's like a sponge, it absorbs water. And insoluble is the other one. So most of the vegetables out there, these are plant based. Of course, all the fiber comes from plants. And remember, your body absorbs all the carbohydrates except for the fiber. And then the fiber goes in to add bulk to the stool, to increase transit time, to help detoxify and help feed the good bacteria in the gut so that you have a better immune system and you can also absorb more nutrients. Another thing that is key and important because you need good nutrients, especially antioxidants, to help reduce inflammation and to help improve and boost your immune system. You don't want to be nutrient depleted when you're going into cold and flu season. You want your nutrients right there, ready to fight for you. And that means that you have to have a good gut, good gut microbiome where you're absorbing your nutrients in. Also here I would tell you to eat from the rainbow. Lots of non starchy vegetables, all the bright colors, they all have different antioxidants, they all serve different purposes. And of course, take a good multivitamin mineral antioxidant and fish oil formula. That to me is the baseline here for what you need. You need to optimize your vitamin D. And then you need to take a good multivitamin mineral antioxidant formula. All right, let me see if I've covered all the key ones that I wanted to tell you about today. Yep. So to recap, vitamin D, super important to optimize it to and always take it, of course, with vitamin K. And you'll probably need more in the winter months. Lower your sugar impact. Make sure that you are building a healthy gut microbiome with good fiber. I Also use my formula, my microbiome balance formula which has both pre and probiotics. Super important there. Bone broth can help here as well. And of course I do my bone broth protein shakes there. Good sleep, manage stress, eat from the rainbow, take a good multivitamin antioxidant, multi mineral formula and do not over exercise exercise to boost your immune system. Do things like high intensity interval training that helps your body handle stress better. But don't go overboard. All right now after the break, we're going to be answering a listener's question, so stay with me.

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All right. I was recording this while on Instagram and Facebook Live. As you can imagine, just a tad distracting. But as I promised everybody I would answer their questions afterwards. A question that kept coming up all the way through is how much vitamin D should I take? So here's the first part. Always make sure. And the only exception would be if you are on blood thinners. And then of course you want to work with your functional medicine doctor. That is a legal disclaimer. But you always want to make sure you're taking vitamin D with K because vitamin D helps you absorb calcium. But vitamin key is like the symphony director, the conductor that makes sure that the calcium goes to the right places and not the wrong places. We want it to go in the bones, not, not in the arteries. Okay, so that is super important then. So you're going to take vitamin D3, that's the active form. You'll see vitamin D2 in plant based products because that's not from derived from animals. Vitamin D3 is. And basically you're going to take that along with vitamin K1 and 2 and base and you'll take about 10 times the vitamin D to the vitamin K. So that's the general rule of thumb. Now what I find is, and I've been looking at a lot of vitamin D tests, so how do you know how much vitamin D to take? The ideal thing is to get a 25 hydroxy vitamin D test. So when you go to your doctor next time you ask for one of these tests or we'll put into the notes how you can get a vitamin D test, a direct to a consumer directed test. And this is something you really want to manage and get a feel for. There's a couple different reasons you can become deficient in vitamin D. One of course could be because you're never outside. Two is because you wear sunscreen. Three is because you are always covered. Four is because you're where you have to. You're in a very cold place you don't want to be out in. But it also could be genetics. Genetically, some people have trouble making vitamin D. And so if that is you, any of these things you will want to supplement. In fact, I rarely find someone that can have optimal levels which is 50 to 80 Ngs per ML of vitamin D without supplementation. And I find that most people do best at about 5000ius of vitamin D and then about 500ius of vitamin K1 and 2 and that was vitamin D3 by the way, and then doubling that up during the winter. But again it's going to depend on those factors. That's why testing is so important. But if I had to guess and not test, I would put myself on 5,000 in the summer and 10,000 in the winter is you do not want to be deficient in vitamin D. It's so important for a good immune system, healthy brain, healthy bones. It does. It's really sits at the top of the hormone cascade. It's a pro hormone and does a lot of super important things. And I will reference Dr. Michael Hollock. He is really one of the top researchers on vitamin D, has great information on it. All right, so that is it. Vitamin D. Always take it with vitamin K. I look forward to seeing you next time. If you have not yet subscribed to this show, what the heck are you waiting for? I don't want you to miss anything. And while you're there, be sure to share it with your pals. Okay, see you soon.

That's all for this episode of the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show, which marks another step towards a healthier body and mind. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show and we'll talk to you next week.

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