Book review: Eat to Boost Your Immunity

Eat to Boost Your  Immunity by Kirsten Hartvig

I'm really interested in learning more about the immune system, what we can do to strengthen it, and the role that it plays in illness. There are so many things that we can do to strengthen our health, and I believe that what we choose to eat can make or break our health. I know that in my experience that proves to be true, anyway.

I've been flicking through this book and though it's specific focus on CFS is minimal, it does state the following:

"The best way to prevent or manage CFS is through detoxification, and following a diet rich in foods that enhance resistance to disease and support immunity." 

Author, Hartvig advises eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and drinking plenty of pure water to boost immunity. She suggests eating foods with high levels of vitamin B5 and C, calcium, zinc, magnesium and essential fatty acids for CFS, while vitamin C and zinc (as well as vitamin A and selenium) are also good for combating stress.

Hartvig includes a list of superfoods for CFS: avocado, banana, beans, beetroot, blackcurrant, borage, chamomile, cleavers, echinacea, grapefruit, green leaves, liquorice root, muesli, nuts, okra, papaya, peas, red pepper, rice, tempeh, tofu and wheatgrass. 

Her list of superfoods for stress is the same as for CFS, with the additions of cabbage, carrot, lavender, lemon balm, lentils, mango, oats, oranges and strawberries. 

An easy, understandable tread, the book delves into the relationships between the immune system and health, and food and the immune system. It also contains profiles on multiple superfoods, recipes for immune boosting foods, and which foods can aid in certain ailments. 

The following recipes are recommended for those wanting to prevent and treat CFS, though they'd benefit anyone's immune system!

Grapefruit salad

1 grapefruit, peeled and cut into segments
1 avocado, peeled, stoned, sliced
1 endive, thinly sliced (leaf vegetable from chicory family, could replace with kale)
2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
100g bean sprouts
1 bunch watercress
1 lime, to dress salad

Combine all the ingredients in a salad bowl. Add some lime dressing, garnish with watercress and serve immediately.

Immuni-tea

2 parts nettles

1 part borage

1 part cleavers

1 part echinacea

1 part liquorice

1 part thyme

Mix the herbs well. Use 1 teaspoon or herb mixture per cup of boiling water. Place the herbs in a warmed teapot, add the boiling water, cover, and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

MY STORY

It was in the Autumn of 2012 that my health began to rapidly dwindle. My energy was long lost, no strength remained within arm's reach, and everything including my arms began to ache. I became bedridden and isolated in my own whirlwind of illness and consequent depression. 

Two Autumns have passed and I am progressively gaining strength, after gaining much experience and knowledge of illness, health, and various factors that keep the two notions separate. Join me on my journey as I endeavour to learn more about what makes for a healthy individual, as I put this chronic fatigue to rest.

History

At the age of nine I had glandular fever for about two months.

I had a persistent sore throat, cough and throat clearing thing going on throughout childhood. It drove my mother crazy. The GP diagnosed it as asthma and prescribed inhalers. At the age of ten I was told by a naturopath that this was due to a dairy, wheat, rye and barley intolerance. My diet changed dramatically. My ten year old self hated that naturopath! No longer was the table laden with raspberry buns, Madeira cake and chocolate milk aplenty. Instead I carried around almonds and raisins everywhere I went and reluctantly made the switch to soy milk and corn thins. But I did get down to a healthier weight and with the diet and truckload of supplements, my health strengthened somewhat.

Energy levels

I was often tired. I don't remember so much before the glandular fever, but definitely recall low energy levels after it. I would go through phases of excessive tiredness and then seem to recover for a time. I would try everything, from sleep inducing foods, herbal sleeping pills and lavender baths and earlier bedtimes, to protein shakes, spirulina and the coffee addiction that began at fourteen. I started to 'recover' less as the years went on, often missing a lot of university from age twenty to twenty three because of sheer exhaustion. I could not keep my eyes open. I had to study part time because I had such a seemingly weak constitution, I was always just hanging on. But doctors had always put tiredness down to lack of exercise (which would definitely have been a factor) or depression, or the ho-hum response, "well your blood tests have come back normal, so just see how you go, and maybe come back in a few months if it's still the same."

Stress 

I was going through a particularly stressful period and was then in a car accident. This lead to further stress with insurance companies and disputes tribunals and car purchasing. I began to enter one of those 'phases' of exhaustive fatigue again, but this time I couldn't kick it.

Symptoms

The fatigue became much worse, to the point where not only did I have to leave university and barely leave the the house, but I couldn't pour the jug without using two hands or go to get the phone without becoming breathless. I also experienced the following symptoms:

• sore glands
• dizziness
• nausea
• loss of appetite
• joint pain
• muscular pain
• headaches
• brain fog 
• chest pain 
• shaky hands
• red eyes
• thinning hair
• weight loss
• dependence on coffee and energy drinks to get anything done

Progress

After suffering with the symptoms and the consequent depression and significant life changes, I started learning. It took a while to get a diagnosis, I had to go to multiple doctors, and finally travel to see one who specialised in CFS. Though relieved and grateful to finally receive diagnosis, there was no treatment plan and no cure. I was clueless. Where do you start? After trying bed rest (I didn't have any choice) and weekly vitamin b injections, I saw no progress. I started to read whenever I felt strong enough, trying to gain any knowledge that may help. The next year I discovered the role that diet could play in CFS and autoimmune illness, as well as how possible underlying factors of the illness could be addressed. I started to regain strength slowly, only to lose it again, to gain it....and so on. 

My goal now is not just to recover, but to try and be of help and encouragement to anyone else who finds themselves weak, sick and clueless as to why, and what to do next. 

Now let us continue to learn about immune health, fighting illness and gaining strength!

Love,

Scarlett