I went through cancer in 2012 at 29 years old and with two babies under two at home. It was a super rare cancer caused by my pregnancy and carried through my body by the HCG hormone (pregnancy hormone). By the time it was diagnosed I had tumours in my uterus, left lung, and spleen. It was definitely a craaaazy time but thankfully I got to choose how to go through it and I chose joy (thank you Jesus!)
For four years after the cancer I had virtually NO immune system. I caught everything from everyone. Someone sneezed on the other size of the street and guess who got sick? This girl! It felt like I spent more time in bed than out of it. I expected that while I was going through cancer but it was, shall I say, disappointing to be constantly on guard any time someone coughed for the following four years.
I have a feeling that a lot of people can relate to this right about now. We are all under lock down for the most part and the world seems to be shutting down. This is why I wanted to put together a list of things I did to heal my immune system and make it stronger. Over the last four years I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve gotten really sick and that has meant the world to me. Here is what I did and what you might want to consider doing too.
1) Make your mental and emotional health a top priority. When I was diagnosed with cancer I had been in a toxic relationship with a “friend” for several years. Every time my phone buzzed with a text my palms got sweaty and my heart started racing because I didn’t know if it was going to be a good text or a bad one. I didn’t know if I was going to get screamed at or praised. It wasn’t someone I could easily untangle myself from and the stress of that relationship was extremely harmful on my body. I honestly believe it was the reason I was diagnosed with such an aggressive form of cancer because my body had been in constant stress for the four years immediately before the diagnosis. If you’re in this kind of friendship my only advice to you is GET OUT! Your health may depend on it.
2) Start eating real food. What do I mean by that? Shop the outer perimeter of the grocery store for most of your groceries. Fresh produce, meats, eggs, etc are so important for your overall health and immune system. Eat things that aren’t processed or have a million ingredients in them that you can’t pronounce. Sugar and processed foods suppress your immune system and prevent it from working the way it was meant to.
3) Drink lots of water! Your liver needs about half your body weight in ounces of water each day to accomplish all the tasks it needs to do. Drinking enough water flushes toxins out of your body, keeps you hydrated so that your brain can function optimally, and helps you sleep better. It keeps your organs functioning properly and delivers nutrients to your cells. All this just by drinking water everyday? Yep.
4) Take high quality supplements that will benefit your body. Did you know it’s not even possible to get all of the nutrients our bodies need from just our diets alone? Our bodies are made up of essentially water and minerals and that’s what we need to flourish. The problem is that our diets have been mainly stripped of the very minerals and nutrients that we NEED. Supplementing is essential to our health and wellness but most people don’t even know where to start. I’d be happy to walk you through what I know, just hit contact me on this page.
5) Last but certainly not least ~ get moving! Exercise has so many health benefits to it. Exercise releases the happy hormone in your body, gets rid of toxins through sweating, reduces your risk of heart disease, helps your body manage blood sugar and insulin levels, and can even help flush bacteria out of your lungs and airways. If you’re like me and you don’t like to subscribe to hardcore workouts then go for a 30 minute walk, do some gardening, play with your kids, or put some music on and do some heavy cleaning.
To sum it up, these are the things I started in 2016 to restore my immune system and they worked! I’m not a doctor and I certainly can’t prescribe anything but these are the things that made the biggest impact on my health. Getting your mental health right, eating real food, drinking lots of water, taking high quality supplements, and exercising are going to change everything.
Thank you