October 2025

Immune Resilience

• Ecological Immunity
• Snot – Your Immune System Superpower
• Rethinking Fever Beyond Suppresants
• Practical Tips For boosting Your Immune System

If you follow me, you know that my mantra is it’s Not what you take, it’s what you Do. Yes, I will suggest supplements and herbs, but they will not work if you don’t invest time and energy in the foundation.

The building blocks of a resilient immune system are found in what you do every day to build a healthy inner ecology.

How To Boost Your Immune System

Other vitamins for immune resilience

Vitamins needed for immune health and the foods that contain them:

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is crucial for a healthy snot. It prevents pathogens from binding to the mucus membrane so it is easy to expel them when you sneeze or blow your nose. Vitamin A is also involved in the maturation of T cells in the adaptive immune system. When vitamin A is deficient, your body will produce more pro-inflammatory immune cells.

Good vitamin A sources are orange vegetables and fruits such as pumpkin, squashes, carrots, sweet potatoes etc.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D helps regulate the immune response. It increases white blood cells’ capacity to engulf and destroy pathogens, and produces your body’s innate antibiotics. You synthesize vitamin D from sunlight in the summer, but in winter, you might consider supplementing with vitamin D/K2, especially if your Vitamin D serum is under 40.

You get vitamin D by stepping out into the sun. If you live away from the poles you don’t get much vitamin D in the winter. I suggest supplementing with D/K2.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an antioxidant, meaning it cleans the ashes of the metabolic process. It is found mainly in nuts and seeds and protects immune cells from oxidative damage.

Selenium

Selenium is another antioxidant compound that can support the integrity of your immune cells. It takes only 2 Brazilian nuts a day to get the daily recommended dosage of selenium.

Zinc

Zinc is needed for the maturation and activation of white blood cells. Zinc is found in oysters, lamb meat, chicken, turkey, and beef.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C enhances white blood cell function and acts as an antioxidant to protect immune cells from oxidative stress. Vitamin C is found in Red bell peppers, Kiwi fruit, berries, broccoli, brussels sprouts, Citrus fruits, papaya, mango, and dark leafy greens.

Sleep and immunity

Poor sleep increases cortisol levels, increasing pro-inflammatory immune messengers and decreasing the body’s response to anti-inflammatory messengers.

When you don’t prioritize 7-8 hours of sleep at night, or if you struggle with insomnia or a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea, your body develops systemic inflammation that leads to a reactive, unbalanced immune system.

Move to build immunity resilience.

Movement reduces stress, meaning cortisol goes ⤵️ and with it, inflammatory markers. It also increases the flow of blood and lymph, improving the delivery of nutrients to cells and removing waste products, creating a vital ecosystem that is not hospitable to germs.

Herbs for the immune system

Herbs can help support the immune system in four different ways:

• Herbal acute stimulants are short-term, fast-acting herbs that increase white blood cell count.
• Herbal immune tonic or trophorestorative support long-term healing, nourish the immune system, and restore proper structure and function.
• Herbal anti-inflammatories are herbs that reduce inflammation.
• Antimicrobial herbs are usually not systemic. They mostly work on the tissue they come in direct contact with, such as the gut and kidneys.

Echinacea – An acute immune stimulant

Dr Meyers was a medical practitioner who practiced in Nebraska in 1870. He was the first to learn about the benefits of Echinacea as an antidote for snake bite. Dr Meyers sent some roots to Dr King and Dr Lloyd of the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati, who were skeptical in the beginning but later found it helpful as an alterative and antiseptic.

By 1920, Echinacea became the most widely used botanical in American history. 

Echinacea improves lymphatic flow and waste removal from the cells. Think of swollen lymph nodes, as in the case of a sore throat.  Squirting echinacea tincture directly on the lymph nodes at the back of the throat can be helpful to drain the nodes, reduce the inflammation, and relieve the sore throat.

By increasing the white blood cells’ capacity to engulf and destroy pathogens and increasing neutrophil numbers, Echincea reduces the underlying cause that triggers fever.

Astragalus – An immune tonic

Astragalus is a warming and toning sweet root that nourishes and replenishes a depleted immune system. It can support people after an acute illness when the immune system is drained, or for people with a lingering condition such as the Epstein-Barr virus or Long COVID.

Astragalus is not used in acute conditions as it closes the pores of the skin; therefore, heat and toxins are trapped in the body. Instead, it is used for a long time as a preventative and to build a resliant immune system.

People with autoimmune disease should avoid herbs that stimulate the immune system, as their immune system is overactive.

Herbs can nourish and restore structure and function, but are not a long-term solution. If you are one of these people who get sick multiple times every winter, or you can’t seem to shake off that nasty cold all season, then your immune system needs some loving kindness.