Foods That Weaken Your Immune System
While there are plenty of foods out there that can help boost your immune system, there are also plenty of foods that can hurt your immune system. These foods will negatively affect your body in such a way that your immune system can’t do its job properly, leaving you more prone to infection and more likely to get sick.
By avoiding these foods, you’re going to increase your chances of staying healthy and will also likely lose weight if that’s something you’re after. First, you need to avoid fast food.
There are a number of problems with fast food, and you should already know that it’s horrible for your body. For one, it’s prepared by someone else behind closed doors, which could mean that they’re not taking the right health precautions and are getting their germs onto your food.
While some fast food restaurants are better than others about this, you never really know how clean they’re being in the kitchen. Additionally, fast food causes a strange response from your immune system in general.
By regularly consuming it, your body will go into a sort of panic mode, and careful research has found that your immune system acts as though it’s fighting off a sickness, even though you’re fine.
This can tire out your immune system, making it much less effective when an actual virus arrives. Foods that are high in sugar are also detrimental to your immune system. This includes sodas, desserts, things that have been very processed, and so on.
Not only do these cause you to gain weight and increase the risk of heart disease, but they also hold back your immune system. They cause your immune system to essentially slow down so that when you get infected, they don’t have the reactions needed to get it under control fast.
Alcohol is a common problem for many people’s immune systems. While having a beer or two while you’re out with some friends isn’t quite going to shut your immune system down, continuous or frequent drinking will.
This is because it messes with your body’s ability to produce the white blood cells that it needs to fend of diseases. It can also mess with your sleep, during which time your body does a lot of behind the scenes work on your immune system. Without that proper preparation, your body won’t be ready when a disease comes around.