You need eight different nutrients daily to maintain your immune function.
PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay – You need eight different nutrients daily to maintain your immune function.

The immune system needs to be replenished often with the right kind and amount of nutrients. These nutrients are:

● Proteins
● Amino acids
● Antioxidants
● Essential amino acids
● Essential fatty acids
● Vitamins
● Minerals
● Enzymes

These nutrients can be found in the foods you eat. A deficiency has an impact on your immune system. Depleted immune systems can be replenished quickly with a balanced nutritional diet.

It is important to get the right kinds of nutrients from foods when possible. For example, selenium is a trace element. We need it in small amounts. It is part of the process to make oxidant enzymes which protect our cells from damage from free radicals. It is also needed for heart health. It is one of the five most common mineral/vitamin deficiencies in the United States (Selenium, Vitamin B-12, Vitamin K-2, Magnesium, and Iodine).

Brazil nuts are a great source of selenium.
Gadini / Pixabay – Brazil nuts are a great source of selenium.

Selenium can be found in Brazil nuts, Shiitake mushrooms, chia seeds, brown rice, broccoli, cabbage, and spinach. The selenium supplement usually lists brewer’s yeast, vegetable cellulose, vegetable stearic acid, silica and vegetable magnesium stearate. However, your body needs sodium selenite, L-selenomethionine, and selenium-methyl L-selenocysteine. Selenium is found in the soil. It is generally in two inorganic forms (selenate and selenite). Plants convert the inorganic forms of selenium into organic forms (selenomethionine and selenocysteine).

When looking for dietary efficiency to attain nutritional balance, the first choice should always be dietary rather than supplemental. There are some compounds that supplementation makes more sense, such as vitamin D3 and vitamin K2.

Some beef products contain toxic chemicals.
Unsplash / Pixabay

The surface area of your gut (gastrointestinal tract) is roughly 150 times greater than the area of the skin covering your body. The average person eats approximately twenty-five tons of food over his or her lifetime. Those food choices affect your gut in good and bad ways. The foods we eat may contain the following toxins:

● Preservatives
● Animal hormones
● Antibiotics
● Artificial colors
● Artificial flavors
● Pesticides
● Many more toxic chemicals

The immune system has to make instantaneous decisions whether to accept or attack the molecular structures as they pass through the intestines.  Over the next few blogs, I will provide more information on how your diet affects the strength of your immune system.

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