In Episode 97 of The Holistic Nutritionists Podcast, Natalie Douglas and Kate Callaghan discuss how to boost your natural immune support and the importance of foods to improve immune system function.

Intro 0:00
Hello and welcome to The Holistic Nutritionists Podcast with your host, Natalie K., Douglas Thyroid Healer, and Kate Callaghan, The Holistic Nutritionist, Nat and Kate a degree qualified dietitians and nutritionists, certified fitness instructors, speakers and authors. If you love unfiltered banter on edited bloopers and authentic heart sharing, then we are your ladies. Now it’s time to sit back, relax and get ready for our latest tips on living your healthiest life possible.

Natalie K. Douglas 0:36
Hey, guys, welcome to the podcast. Kate, what’s up, even though I’ve been talking for like 30 minutes already got 2020 interrupted

Kate Callaghan 0:44
by screaming children.

Natalie K. Douglas 0:46
Right? Real World, you know, life in isolation with kids. Yeah, yeah. But I’m going well, how are you going? I’m good. I’ve been very busy. This week. I’m about to. I’m running a free Thyroid master class next week on Tuesday at 10am Sydney time. And then I will be opening up the cart to the next round of Thyroid rescue, which is super exciting. And I don’t know if you did get like if this happened to you when you were running the healing ha course but I get so attached to like h re h group of people that comes through that I’m like, Oh, no, like, this lot. The last people have gone and they had so much good results. And I just want to keep seeing them after all the zoom calls. And but then it gets really exciting to welcome new people in and just to see them go through the whole journey of of the program and it on so many different levels. It’s so exciting. And yes, I’m feeling like excited, busy. And just a bit. Yeah, I don’t know, just full at the moment. But I’m trying really hard to carve out little spaces in my day to make sure that I am filling my cup back up. So I went for a really beautiful walk this morning. And the sunset was a sunset sunrise. Sunrise. All right, I did i do know what which one is which was so beautiful. Makes me so grateful for living near the ocean to be able to see it. It’s just so cool.

Kate Callaghan 2:20
Yeah, there’s something special about living with the ocean. I miss it. I mean, not that I can complain about where I live now. But the ocean is just has its unique healing capacity about it.

Natalie K. Douglas 2:31
Yeah, totally. Do you feel like you get that from the like,

Kate Callaghan 2:35
ah, not the same. I think there’s something inherently healing about the salt water. But insane that Aaron prefers the freshwater here. And it’s it’s, yeah, it feels very healing and nourishing to just sit down at the lake and be surrounded by the mountains and just peace and quiet of nature. At the same time, I just miss diving into the ocean and yeah, yeah. Embracing all of that.

Natalie K. Douglas 3:05
Yes, yeah. No, I Love New Zealand and I’ve spoken to bow like about living there. But, but it’s such a push pull. Because I’m like, oh, but I just really, I mean, I know you can find ocean in

Unknown Speaker 3:17
New Zealand like as you can go, they’re not the same. It’s not really like,

Natalie K. Douglas 3:22
it’s so much gold. So it’s just such a battle because I adore like New Zealand for all of the outdoor staff. The hiking feels so much calmer than bloody Australian bushwalking where I’m scared to step on like a fly and or kill me. legitimate fear

Unknown Speaker 3:41
is really will kill you.

Natalie K. Douglas 3:44
Yeah, so it’s a constant battle, because then I also love the ocean so much. I am getting back into surfing. I just love the sand and the salt. So dinner.

Kate Callaghan 3:57
Oh, tough choices, destroys choices. I know. Anyway, we’re

Natalie K. Douglas 4:02
not really talking about the ocean today, although it could fall into this discussion of enhancing immunity or supporting your immune system. But we can get to that. Because I feel like it does

Unknown Speaker 4:15
like Kenya.

Natalie K. Douglas 4:17
Yes. So let’s talk about maybe just an overview. First is I thought I would just summarize a little bit about the immune system on a very oversimplified level just because the immune system is incredibly complex. And as someone listening to this, it’s not really that necessary that you know, the complete interest intricacies of it. It’s really just about having a really general understanding. So basically, you have an innate immune system and an adaptive immune system and you can think of your innate immune system as kind of like your first line of defense and it’s not really specific. It’s just kinda when there’s a threat, it just responds or reacts, but not really specifically. So things like barriers is what I think of so skin, your mucous membrane, so that could be like in your nose, in your gut, in your like genital tracts, your lungs, they’re kind of what we think of when we think of the innate immune system and what happens there. And then we have the adaptive immune system, which takes a bit longer to mount a response. And it is more specific. And it’s, I would say, arguably more complex, and it is where you kind of develop, and like antibodies and cells get tagged, so that your body remembers the invader if it comes back again, and can therefore mount a quicker response because it already knows what it is what to do with it, so to speak. So that’s a very general overview of it. And the other thing that’s really important to know is that, as with all things in the body, there’s such a relationship between everything that happens. And one of the really key things that I think is important to point out is how intertwined your gut and your immune system are. So in around like surrounding the gut is all of these what’s called a gut associated lymphoid tissue. So that is why you hear a lot of people, if you listen to these kinds of podcasts a lot, say that up to you know, 70 to 80% of your immune system is in your gut, it’s, there’s a very strong link there. And also, your bacterial diversity in your gut also has an impact on inflammation on immunity, and all that kind of stuff. So that’s a very general general overview. What I want to jump into next, or what we thought might be beneficial for you guys, is to talk a little bit more about food as medicine when it comes to your immune system. And also what are the lifestyle factors as well as, you know, nutrients hubs, or essential oils that you can take to support your immune system throughout winter throughout a time like this, or just generally So okay, when you think of immune system, healthy immune system health or immune food, what first comes to mind for you in terms of food specific to helping support your immune system?

Kate Callaghan 7:34
Mm hmm. So basically, my life is about what am I mean system at the moment. And in terms of healing my body from the campsite, because as I’ve mentioned, before, we’re all exposed to cancer, it’s just our immune system has a capacity, usually to not let it overtake our system and cause havoc. And so something pissed off my immune system to let the cancer kind of cause havoc in my body. So now it’s about rebuilding my immune system to let it do what it’s meant to do. Especially because I’ve had chemotherapy, which obliterates the immune system. So when I catch 22 anyway, so food wise, so it foods been a big thing for me. Obviously, what as you said that we want to focus on food as medicine, and get as much as we can from our food, because all we have to eat anyway. So it’s more cost effective way to do it. But, you know, our food has all of these vitamins and minerals and antioxidants and phytochemicals and all these wonderful constituents in it, that in them that combined together in different foods that have these synergistic properties. So they work together so rather than just taking a supplement of something and going Yep, that’s enough. If you have a whole food sources, something you’re going to get an array of nutrients and array of antioxidants, and they’re going to either boost up the beneficial effects of each other within that food or block potential toxic effects. Does that make sense?

Natalie K. Douglas 9:07
Yeah, it does.

Kate Callaghan 9:08
Yeah, yeah. So my number one thing to encourage people to do and what I’m trying to do at the moment, is to focus on as much colorful fruit and vegetables throughout my day as possible. So I we I swear we said it 100 times in here, try to eat the rainbow. So we’ve never said all the colors of the rainbow and try and get the variety because all of those different colors signal different phytochemicals, different plant benefits, different antioxidants, different vitamins and minerals that are going to really benefit your body. So you know your deep reds and blues and purples and your berries and you put your oranges in your carrots and your sweet potato and greens obviously there’s so much emphasis on greens we don’t need to go into that. yellows you’ve got yellow capsicum What else?

Natalie K. Douglas 10:01
squash, squash. I hate squash but spaghetti squash.

Unknown Speaker 10:06
Squash? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 10:09
Lemons,

Kate Callaghan 10:10
lemons. Exactly, exactly. So a little bit of fruit and as much vegetable matter as you possibly can to get those nutrients in to get those antioxidants in, which are going to help to reduce the inflammation. And it’s also going to help with fiber when you get all of these colorful fruit and veggies in. And as you mentioned at the start, net, a big part of our immune system is located in our gut. So we really want our gut health to be on point as well to maximize our immune system potential. So if you’re getting that good fiber, having those regular bowel movements, that’s going to help. And a few other things that I would suggest bone broth can be really wonderful for the gut lining, and make sure it’s really gelatinous, or get some gelatin make some gummies. They’re really wonderful because they have an amino acid called glycine in it, which is really wonderful for the gut lining. So it’s going to again, reduce that inflammation in the gut and help with the absorption of nutrients across the gut lining. And fermented foods again, if we’re still talking about gut health and really nurturing that environment. So are you thinking of sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, coconut yogurt, coconut kefir, I love coconut kefir at the moment, and plenty of filtered water if you can to flush out any toxins and just to keep your body functioning properly, we are at least 60% water and don’t just get dodgy chlorine, chlorine, ated, chlorinated, chlorinated, green ated chlorinated and fluoridated water get good quality filtered water. And if you have a spring close to you, then that’s going to be number one, get a beautiful spring water happening. And just check that there’s no upstream dead animals. As I’ve been warned before, by one of my friends, Ben Logan, he’s like the New Zealand version of gay girls. I would say avoid inflammatory foods, especially sugar, we know that sugar depletes the immune system. And avoid vegetable oils. They’re highly, highly inflammatory. And as always, as much as possible, avoid repackaging processed foods, because they’re just going to create that inflammation. They’re going to mess with your immune system. And they’re not going to do you any favors. So they would be my top food tips for now. Anything you would add?

Natalie K. Douglas 12:35
I have a couple of things to add. But first, I have some questions. So when we’re talking about like, we often give the advice of getting more fruits and vegetables, and I think most people are okay with getting fruit in. But vegetables I find the meal that people struggle the most at is breakfast. And I feel like often the struggle comes even more into the light when we start getting into cooler weather. Because a lot of the time people just use smoothies, which I think are great to get some extra vegetable and plant matter in in the morning. However, when it does start to get colder, there are some people who just they just don’t want to have a smoothie. And then I also have the added question of if we’re not consuming something like I mean eggs and an omelet with veggies is a really easy recommendation. But I know that a lot of my clients that are listening, a lot of them actually have intolerances to egg or they need to avoid it for a period of time for reasons related to doing an autoimmune paleo protocol or something like that. So what I thought I’d do is ask you, what ways are you at the moment getting vegetables in at breakfast? And it could very well be smoothies, but what are some ideas that come up for you? Especially in this journey of trying to actually incorporate more and more vegetables into your diet? I can imagine there’s had to be some creativity at breakfast and especially consider Oh, yeah, banana.

Kate Callaghan 14:14
We better. I have not had a bit on all that in so long. I think I’ve had it on for months. I don’t know who you are anymore. I don’t know who I am anymore. So the few things that I’ve been playing around with vegetable fritters are really easy. So you just grade up a whole bunch of veggies great at some sweet potato. There’s actually a recipe for it on my website. If you search vegetable fritters with avocado, they have one egg in them, but if you’re not tolerating eggs, you can make a flax egg. Who even am I talking about flex eggs actually made them this week, so no judgement. So just google flax egg. It’s very easy to make them and you can use that instead of an egg in there if you have to avoid eggs or if you want to avoid eggs. And that’s a really that was my child thinking Doors had any nothing doors

Natalie K. Douglas 15:05
too many flexes

Kate Callaghan 15:09
and so it’s all have vegetable fritters with avocado and that’s always delicious if I get some avocado again children can steal it and and what else do I have Mesa veggies, so I will chop up a whole bunch of veggies and saute them so my daughter’s scribing an internship Siri lockdown is fun

Unknown Speaker 15:34
people

Kate Callaghan 15:37
and it’s amazing videos are getting some yummy Nisa pace so like the urban hippie mizo paced and I just saute up veggies with miso paste and and have that with some nuts and seeds and wood. Yeah, can wobble with vegetables. What else I had smoothies, but it’s getting colder. They’re not really that surprising. Yeah. And I like the website. Oh, she glows she’s got lots of good suggestions. If you tolerate oats, you could do grated zucchini or grated carrot into oats, or even you could do like a cauliflower or it’s it’s a thing that you know what I went through a phase when I was

Natalie K. Douglas 16:21
working at bioceuticals of having cauliflower Partridge and I got a nickname with one of the customer support team members of cauliflower and not just now what I’m known as

Kate Callaghan 16:36
the cauliflower porridge nice.

Natalie K. Douglas 16:38
It was but it wasn’t the same as eating oats like it is different but I used to make cauliflower rice. And then I would cook it in coconut like coconut cream cinnamon, a bit of stevia or monk fruit and blueberries into it. And it definitely like yeah, it tastes it I enjoyed it. And I really like I did like it but I wouldn’t say it tastes as good as the consistency that oats gets. But it still was a way to get more bear Gz and I was at the time doing a autoimmune protocol. So I was not eating grain. So it was kind of like the next best option. Yeah, yeah. So I love all of those suggestions. I was gonna say I made this week a so I can eat eggs often because I am quite intolerant to them. But I made I totally made it up. So I can’t give you the exact recipe but I grated beetroot, carrot, onion, garlic, cumin, chimeric letting great the tumeric but you know what I mean? And I put in flaxseeds hemp seeds and chia seeds, and just mix it all up until it was like sticking together and then baked it in the oven. And that turned out so good. And salt Of course, I was so proud of myself.

Unknown Speaker 17:55
And I actually need to get the recipe for that. Because

Natalie K. Douglas 17:58
I don’t I don’t have to make it again.

Kate Callaghan 18:02
Today is to complete. Got all those ingredients.

Natalie K. Douglas 18:09
Yeah, no promises.

Unknown Speaker 18:12
amounts.

Natalie K. Douglas 18:14
Yes, I like that. Because I think it is, it is possible to get more veggies in, you just have to be a bit more creative. And think ahead, and I do find making veggie patties or something like that ahead of time is a really good way to do it. Because then it’s just there when you wake up. It’s not like you have to stand and cook vegetables in a frying pan or whatever the morning of because a lot of the time mornings are quite busy or stressful for people or you could spend that time actually doing some self care of some movement or meditation and just have your breakfast already made for you. So I really like the idea of prepping that kind of stuff ahead of time. And I like the idea of putting things like zucchini or cauliflower, carrots are really easy things to grate into chia puddings into oats and or king or porridge or something like that. It’s just a matter of being creative with it and trying it out even if it sounds a bit funky because often you can it tastes better than it sounds or looks.

Kate Callaghan 19:18
Do you not actually is really nice first thing in the morning, especially on a cold morning is a bowl of soup made with bone broth and veggies. And that’s true, actually really delicious.

Natalie K. Douglas 19:29
Yeah, I agree with that. And you just reminded me of the other thing I was going to say so I hundred percent agree with you with all of the gut boosting foods. My only caveat to that would be if you have if you currently have got issues in terms of like, like quote unquote IBS or CBOE or something like that, then usually those kind of fermented foods will make it worse temporarily until you fix the underlying issue. So make sure you do Do that and then start to reincorporate some of those other foods in. And then I would say if you have histamine issues, then the bone broth and the collagen won’t be the most beneficial thing for you at the moment until you work to sort that side of things out. But I’d say you can usually get away with a little bit of coconut yogurt or coconut coffee, just depending on the person. So context matters. But if you’re generally healthy, and you’re just looking to boost things, and absolutely focus on a whole bunch of those foods and prepare things ahead of time, because it just makes life so much easier than trying to make decisions about what to eat when you’re already hungry, and you just try to get something in because often it’s not, it’s not going to be all that nutrient dense, it’ll probably just be really energy dense or empty calories. Like, I don’t know. This is funny that I’m saying this, but like, rice, I’ll tell you what’s funny about rice cakes with

Unknown Speaker 21:01
whatever spread on it.

Unknown Speaker 21:06
And it’s totally a coincidence. So

Natalie K. Douglas 21:12
I was like, this is really funny timing, but it has to be mentioned.

Kate Callaghan 21:18
Listening young, why are you laughing? Because my daughter walked in before eating sand rice cracker puff air, almond butter and honey on it. Which is really nice. It irks me how much of that? shitty puffed air they like to eat? There’s nothing nutritious about that puff there.

Natalie K. Douglas 21:39
No, it’s just a good carrier for all delicious things. I hear you and i think i think the mistake that happens in a lot of my clients is that ends up being something that replaces the more nutrient dense foods on more of a regular basis then is going to be okay I mean here and there. Whatever but I see people getting into the habit of like a can of tuna with you know rice cakes and like a couple of slices tomato and avocado on top and I just don’t think that that’s doing too many favors. One spinach leaf. Yes, just one

Kate Callaghan 22:17
do

Natalie K. Douglas 22:20
we should leave them alone.

Kate Callaghan 22:21
Ah, good. Good bad Stop it I made that joke so many times before hoping I would add if people struggling with ideas of how to incorporate more veggies and Helen Patterson runs an awesome course called nine by nine so it’s the challenge is nine cups of veggies for nine days. And and there’s amazing recipes and support groups in there and she’s super smart. And so I would recommend that if you need some inspiration 99 love it.

Natalie K. Douglas 22:51
All right, so outside of food I think the next thing to talk about is maybe just some supplements in terms of nutrients or Herbes or essential oils that we want to go through so we always struggle with stealing he will actually I mainly still your so you can start with maybe your top three to five nutrients that you would recommend for supporting your immune system and you’re probably a boss at this right now cuz you probably half at half eating those in half eating

Kate Callaghan 23:24
a lot of supplements going into my body at the moment, I’d pretty much rattle so I it’s not really a nutrient. There’s nutrients and multiple forms. You know what I’m going to say?

Natalie K. Douglas 23:39
nutrients

Unknown Speaker 23:42
are liver, no mushrooms, mushrooms. Ah, good one I’m actually plant based now.

Unknown Speaker 23:49
I didn’t mean to mention an animal food.

Kate Callaghan 23:53
Liver would definitely be a good pick as well that mushrooms and have the medicinal variety so we’ve done a whole podcast on our podcast episode on mushrooms. So go back and find that for all the details on why mushrooms are so wonderful. But I’m really loading up on different forms of mushrooms now in terms of supplements and powders and even liquids all the mushrooms my tacky turkey tail Reishi cordyceps Chaga lion’s mane, all of them they’re really superfoods when it comes to your immune system especially Reishi i think is number one for the immune system for cancer, my turkey tail and a few others

Natalie K. Douglas 24:32
I love quadriceps as well for immune health and also it’s an adaptogen so it’s really really good like a big hug for your nervous system. So I love incorporating that when I’m trying to think of how do I get a lot of bang for my buck. And it is such a good way for that because they are so versatile.

Kate Callaghan 24:50
They’re very cool. Very, very cool. Add them into your coffee. Take them as a supplement. You can. I sold it the other day. Reishi mushrooms, I think Dried Reishi mushrooms, it looks like they’re maybe six mushrooms in there for $25. And No, thanks. Yeah. I would like to learn how to grow my own. I’ve seen people in New Zealand dope before. But I don’t know if I would be that adept at it. Anyway, mushrooms would be a big one for me. Vitamin D, absolutely, I think is too overlooked best source is going to be sunshines to try and get yourself out of the Sun daily, get your skin exposed without sunscreen just for a little bit, don’t get burned that silly. Just to get that that sun, the vitamin D from the sunlight. If you’re taking a supplement of vitamin D, make sure it’s got kaitou in it as well to help redirect nutrients like your calcium to your bone rather than to your blood vessels. And then I would say vitamin C as well. Nice.

Natalie K. Douglas 25:53
I like it good. Well done, you kept relatively to three plus about five within the mushroom. That’s okay, we can deal with that. Good job. All right. So my additions to that would be in terms of nutrients, I would say zinc would be one that I highly, highly recommend. And usually, a safe dose is about 25 to 30 milligrams a day. Of course, it’s always best to get it prescribed by someone. But if people are looking at short term using something that’s usually a really standard type safe dose that you can use, and my favorite form is zinc picolinate. And in terms of other nutrients, I so agree with vitamin C, a lot of vitamin C, other nutrients

Kate Callaghan 26:49
like vitamin C’s liposomal, as well. Yes, unless you’re trying to make yourself poo, in which case do ascorbic acid yes suddenly had 10 grams of ascorbic acid in one go the other day? Oh, damn

Unknown Speaker 27:00
girl.

Unknown Speaker 27:08
Very burning butthole.

Natalie K. Douglas 27:13
If you are having like, if you don’t have access to liposomal, vitamin C, and you are doing a powdered form or a tablet form, it is best done in divided doses. And you can take it up to bowel tolerance. But yes, you will shoot yourself if you do that right away go too high. So just start low and titrate up. And it really depends what you’re using it for. Like, generally, if you’re just using it as a maintenance dose, a lot of my clients, I’ll just have on about, you know, two grams a day instead of super high doses. But if you’re actively trying to treat something, then you would be going much higher than that. And that’s when you’ll run into the issue with bowel tolerance. Because, yes, that’s just what happens. I would also say that, although this isn’t a common one that people would think of, I actually really love magnesium, because I feel like it does so many different things in the body and helps a lot of the enzymes function that are involved in so many different processes, you know, related to the immune system related to all these different things. So I have most of my clients or pretty much every client on magnesium. So that’s a big favorite of mine. And then I would say vitamin A is another one, though, I would say if you’re eating a little bit of liver or if you are getting in some eggs or having some grass fed butter, that is some food ways to get in. Otherwise, cod liver oil would be a really good supplement way to get in because it comes packaged up with vitamin D as well and some omega three or long chain omega three fatty acids, which can be beneficial. That would be my nutrient side of things. What about any Herbes that come to mind for you, Kate, when you think of general immune support,

Kate Callaghan 29:07
I’m on a whole bunch of liver Herbes at the moment. And so they’re gonna support me that way. So Herbes economic show would be my number one actually for an herbal support for the immune system. And it’s an adaptogen as well and it’s really one that most people can take and have no issue with right through from kids to pregnancies to old people make sure you get a good quality one. If you when you take it when you drink it, it should taste like poo. And it will not actual poo, but it shouldn’t taste nice and it should make your tongue tingle. That’s a sign that it’s a proper connection.

Natalie K. Douglas 29:45
And most people won’t know what poo tastes like hopefully.

Kate Callaghan 29:49
Well, you all could especially notice you shot so much analogies.

Natalie K. Douglas 30:01
Yes, I agree with that. And I just made me think of something in relation to pregnancy. Often Immune Support is a question that comes up. And I think vitamin C, zinc vitamin, like sensible amounts of vitamin A vitamin D akinesia, or really beautiful things to use during that time to support you and all very safe. I was the only other thing I would add with akinesia is I just because some of the old my hashimotos autoimmune type patients will be listening. I do use it sometimes in order in my autoimmune patients, but I would use it more short term than really long term. I prefer Herbes that are more modulatory and regulatory, when I’m talking about patients that have autoimmune conditions, and I’m trying to support their immune system. So I would think of things like tumeric like curcumin is really good. I also think that quiz Seaton and resveratrol also promote a more that at all, actually, you know, what I would say I would put things before that, actually, I take that back, I would put astragalus as one with a Nia would be a really one of my favorites. And the mushrooms would be number one, as you said, for that kind of situation. But I think there are so many herbs that can benefit Hey, and I, I, I reckon if I could only choose one or two, off the top of my head that would be most suitable for most people, I would say, quite like mushrooms get a mushroom mix. And with aimia, they would be my top two, I think pigs but it’s so hard, isn’t it?

Kate Callaghan 31:52
So,

Natalie K. Douglas 31:53
but I think you can do so much with food as medicine to get a lot of those nutrients in. If you’re like, Oh my god, there’s so many different things that I could purchase, I would start with food as medicine, and then I would build Herbes in from that, to support you. And I would really focus on the things that do the most in the body as in they are taking off more than just one box. And that’s why mushrooms are such a good example of that, because they are adaptogenic, they, you know, can support brain function, they support your immune system, some of them can actually be helpful in gut health as well. So it’s just one of those things, it’s easy to, to recommend. Although, actually I just thought of another question. People often ask all if I can’t eat mushrooms, like if I get an upset Tommy from eating mushrooms? Can I have the mushroom powders? And the my answer to that is yes, I rarely, in my got patients, if they’ve got SIBO, or they have IBS or something, sometimes they can’t tolerate mushrooms. But the mushroom powders that we’re talking about is different. And you often can tolerate that. Excellent. So bit of a side rant. And clearly mushrooms is the theme of the day.

Unknown Speaker 33:13
Like mushroom is just a little bit.

Natalie K. Douglas 33:15
What about outside of that, because outside of what we can eat, what we can take, what are the other things that you think of when it comes to supporting your immune system? besides getting some sunshine? What else? Are you for example doing for yourself right now, since you’re in immune system support overdrive,

Kate Callaghan 33:34
and trying to find joy and laugh every single day and really being in that space of gratitude. And it’s a really interesting talk by the guy who created heartmath Have you heard of hot mess?

Natalie K. Douglas 33:45
Yes, I love it.

Kate Callaghan 33:47
So I would encourage everyone to go and check out that TED talk on heartmath. And it talks about how when you can keep yourself in that space of feeling and appreciating love and gratitude. And even if it’s just for a moment, thinking about something that really warms your heart. So for me when I was going through the process that would be aired laughing because he’s got the most wonderful laugh, which we didn’t hate before. But that in itself can help to strengthen the immune system via lowering cortisol. So lowering that stress response, anything that’s going to lower that stress response is going to enhance your immune system and this he with Ted Talk, rebels have a whole lot of statistics around it. It’s pretty incredible in just holding a space in that space itself in that space of gratitude and love and appreciation, acceptance and forgiveness, all of those beautiful positive emotions that you can feel that a free to feel. Just think of something that makes you feel them and you’re going to be boosting your immune system and lay down in the grass at the same time and you’re getting some grounding and taking off two birds with one kick. What was that taking off two birds with Start that’s not saying is it covering?

Natalie K. Douglas 35:02
No, sorry, I was muted. I was trying to help you out.

Unknown Speaker 35:09
Killing two birds with one stone

Kate Callaghan 35:11
not kicking

Natalie K. Douglas 35:17
these people in New Zealand.

Unknown Speaker 35:21
Oh dear

Unknown Speaker 35:23
mine, no judgment.

Kate Callaghan 35:27
Exercise is really wonderful for the immune system as well do something that you enjoy again, if you’re hating life or you’re doing your exercise and I think you’re missing the point. So do something that brings again, enjoy and get your heart rate up to release those endorphins. Again, ideally, do it outside, ideally do it barefoot, so you get that grounding as well. And pets, if you have pets, play with your pets, they are wonderful for the immune system. And if you’re thinking about how you can strengthen your children’s immune system, get a pet. right from the get go. There’s a little research around how

Natalie K. Douglas 36:02
a dog or a cat Are you a cat person? Well, I

Kate Callaghan 36:05
have a cat, but I’m currently working on getting a dog. And we’re getting

Unknown Speaker 36:09
good advice on

Natalie K. Douglas 36:11
gartley working on getting rid of it off my

Unknown Speaker 36:14
cat. I know I know.

Kate Callaghan 36:18
I’m no no, we’re working on getting our fences probably put up so we can get a dog. But I was looking at it. We’re looking at getting a Labrador gold level.

Unknown Speaker 36:29
I didn’t know how much two and a half thousand dollars. Yeah, right.

Natalie K. Douglas 36:33
So can you just adopt d? Like, is it different if you adopt one? Like,

Kate Callaghan 36:37
I think you get an older one. Yeah, but I think we want a puppy. And that’s the papers and everything. Um, so if anyone in New Zealand has a lab, they want to throw down lablab

Natalie K. Douglas 36:49
I love at labs because it’s almost like when they little they they’re so clumsy. It’s so cute. They it’s like they can’t keep up with themselves. And I just reminds you just yeah, it’s just so cute.

Kate Callaghan 37:02
Very cute. So that would be my next picks. What would you add to that,

Natalie K. Douglas 37:08
I don’t know that I’d add too much I actually or the only thing I’d add would be sleep and prioritize sleep. But other than that, I love all of those suggestions. And I think they’re the kind of things that are free and you don’t if you’re someone that’s that is at the moment, in a situation where you have to watch your finances a little bit more because of loss jobs or whatnot, focus on the free things that you can do. And the changes you can make there because it is incredible how much managing stress finding joy connection, sleeping, well grounding, all that stuff can have on your immune system and your overall health and happiness. I really think that we don’t emphasize that enough or we don’t place enough attention on really prioritizing it in our day enough and I think it’s something that is so so powerful So I love that final thing What about essential oils are there any that you are using right now defusing putting on yourself topically putting on the kids topically tell us some tips

Kate Callaghan 38:16
using all the Frankincense at the moment for all the reasons and all the ways the Frankincense is a great one for when it comes to supporting your immune system. lemongrass, lemon the terrorists on God blend Eucalyptus orange, a lot of them actually have immune supporting benefits. Tea Tree is really wonderful or a ganar potent but very beneficial. always always always dilute Organa before you apply it topically please do not put on neat it will burn you Don’t say I didn’t warn you 100 times over. So they will be my main pick for essential oils and at the moment mostly just diffusing them and for myself obviously putting Frankincense all over my babies and all over my body and and meditating with Frankincense as well. And I’ve actually done a whole protocol with with oils for my body which I can share at another time. And for the kids that’s more just diffusing

Unknown Speaker 39:16
to support them. They’ve been pretty good. We haven’t got sick at all really nice.

Natalie K. Douglas 39:21
Good stuff. I like that. And I think Yeah, again, another really beautiful way to like like essential oils go such a long ways like the little bit that you pop in a diffuser and there and having the benefit for everyone who’s in the house breathing that in it. I also feel like it’s a really, you know, a lot of bang for your buck kind of choice when it comes to supporting your immune system. And I would say like encourage people to look at all the little things that you can do because all of those things do add up. You don’t have to do every single one of them that we’ve mentioned to get a benefit He is cumulative. So just focus on where you are at now, what you have access to, and be really happy and grateful for that, instead of focusing on what you don’t have access to or can’t afford, or whatever it is, I think that’s a really healthy way to approach it, as opposed to it being something really overwhelming or making you feel like oh, my God, I’m not doing enough because you are anything you’re doing is enough.

Unknown Speaker 40:29
Agreed.

Unknown Speaker 40:31
Amazing words. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 40:33
No mistake.

Natalie K. Douglas 40:36
I think that’s it for this podcast. So if anyone has any follow up questions to any of that stuff that we shared, let us know. Otherwise, the only final thing I wanted to say is to make sure that if you haven’t already signed up to the free Thyroid masterclass next Tuesday, please do so I am sharing a lot of really helpful information. If you’ve listened to the masterclass I previously had up on my website, it will be a little bit different to that I’m adding in some new information just based on some feedback and questions people have asked. And I’ll also be sharing more information on how to secure one of the 20 spots for the next round of thyroid rescue. If that is something that you’re interested in. So I the link to sign up is in my bio. Otherwise, you can just go to my website, Natalie K. douglas.com and navigate to the tab that says thyroid rescue. And you can just sign up there. Kate, do you have anything to add?

Kate Callaghan 41:37
I do not. Not at all. Stay safe. Have fun going laughs don’t take yourself too seriously.

Unknown Speaker 41:43
Like that into like, you’ve been with Kate Callaghan.

Unknown Speaker 41:48
Stay classy world.

Kate Callaghan 41:51
And on that note, that joke if you watch I can, man and if you have not watched it in command, do yourself a favor which anchorman? Yes, it will give you a laugh.

Natalie K. Douglas 41:59
There you go. Good. final recommendation. I like it. Well, I will see you soon.

Kate Callaghan 42:05
Thanks, net.

Intro 42:06
Thanks for tuning in to The Holistic Nutritionists Podcast. Remember, we love to make the show relevant to you. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to discuss, just submit them to podcast at Natalie K. douglas.com and we’ll get them answered for you. Also, don’t forget to subscribe rate and review the podcast on iTunes and share it with a friend. And if you’re looking for more info about how we can accelerate your journey to optimal health, you can find me Nat over at Natalie K. douglas.com and Kate at The Holistic nutritionist.com See you next time