Enhancing Your Immunity: A Chiropractor's Perspective

Join Dr. Brant Hulsebus in this episode of Ask the Chiropractor as he delves into various ways to build up your immune system. Learn about the importance of vitamins like D3 and C, the benefits of chiropractic adjustments, and the role of sleep in maintaining a healthy immune response. Dr. Hulsebus also discusses why staying active, even during cold seasons, is crucial for health. Tune in for practical health tips and the science behind chiropractic care, while understanding the limitations on the information that can be shared due to regulations.

www.rockforddc.com

Transcript

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Hello, Dr. Brant Hulsebus here, and welcome to another edition of Ask the Chiropractor. Ask the Chiropractor is my little podcast that I do when someone has a question about chiropractic or chiropractic care, I try to answer. I'm a chiropractor here in Rockford, Illinois. I'm a proud graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic, and I'm happy to be the team chiropractor of the Rockford Icehogs. Let's dive into it. Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Ask the Chiropractor. So this is a touchy subject this next podcast because I get asked this question a lot and I want to answer it but I'm not allowed to answer it or I'm not allowed to talk about it or I'm not allowed to acknowledge its existence. So I'm going to try to talk about the best I can within the limits I'm allowed to. Talk about how to build up your immune system, some tips from the chiropractor. So these ones are pretty simple. These are like your vitamins, right? You're going to increase your vitamins. I'm going to start with D3, the sunshine vitamin. We don't get a cold in the summer because we're outside in the sun and we get plenty of D3. Now the D that's in your milk, that's D1 or D2, that's not D3. I'm talking about D3. Or like I like to say, not R2D2, but D3. So D3 is a sunshine vitamin. Now if you want to supplement this or get this from a vitamin, that's the way to do it. This time of year. But you have to make sure it's with a fat. Because you can't absorb vitamin D3 without a healthy fat. So I feel like a multivitamin, it's like a hard pill and it's got it says it's got vitamin D in there, you might have it but you're not going to absorb it. Make sure it's in a healthy fat like a gel cap or something. Do what I like to taste actually with my fish oil. Because fish oil is an amazing healthy fat. So I do mine with the fish oil at the same time. But if I'm not feeling good I'm going to dose, up dose. I'm going to take my normal 2, 000 units a day and go to almost 4, 000 to 5, 000. How do I do that? I have an extra little bottle that I put a couple drops on my tongue to increase my vitamin D3. Now, you don't need to take vitamin D3 if you spend the equivalent to a half an hour a day outside your swimsuit. But if you're not getting that, you better take some. And vitamin D3 is one that we store up and then we run out. This is about the time of the year we're running out of all that great vitamin D we stored up in the summertime. So I do recommend vitamin D3 or, just fly down to the Caribbean for a couple of days and get your vitamin D3. So if you can't get to the Caribbean, you can't get to a beach, you better do your D3. Next one, I'm talking about vitamin C. A lot of people do vitamin C wrong. Everyone knows you're supposed to do vitamin C when you're not feeling good. But let me tell you how people do it wrong. They'll drink a big glass of orange juice, I got my vitamin C. Or one. Vitamin C readily oxidizes, so when it comes in a clear jar, the sunshine hits it, the vitamin C is oxidized. Two, there's no fiber in juice. When you eat an orange, it's got fiber in it. And the fiber slows down the sugar absorption. Because you can't absorb sugar and vitamin C at the same time. You have to do them, they have to be done separately. So when you eat an orange, the orange has got fiber in it. The fiber in the orange slows down the sugar absorption. It gives you a chance to get the vitamin C before you're hit by the sugar. And the juice is no fiber, boom. Sugar blast, no time to deal with the vitamin C in and out. Another thing, a lot of people take vitamin C capsules. Same thing applies here, folks. If there is sugar in that vitamin C capsule, you're not going to get any vitamin C from that capsule. A lot of people take 4 or 5, like when they really load up on vitamin C. Previously I talked about D3, how you store up your levels, but vitamin C goes in and out of you. You don't really save it very long. So you want to have vitamin C all day long at different times. So don't do a whole bunch of vitamin C in the morning and say, I'm covered now. Do it all day long. And what's my favorite source of vitamin C? Colorful vegetables and fruit. Did you know red bell peppers are? Jam packed full of vitamin C, so you don't have to have an orange at dinner, you don't have to have an orange at lunch. Just have some red bell peppers, dip them in a little hummus, good little snack. Make sure you're eating colorful vegetables and colorful fruit, that's the best way to get your vitamin C. Now next, people will talk to me about getting a chiropractic adjustment. One thing that happens if you're sneezing or coughing a lot, you're going to be whipping your head around and your upper back a lot, and it's going to get tight and stiff, getting a chiropractic adjustment when you've been sneezing and coughing a lot does feel good. It takes away a lot of the pressure on your back and helps you feel better and gives you some relief. Now we know that when you're under stress, you don't make white blood cells and we've talked before on previous podcasts from the GUIA studies that we're able to show that when you get your chiropractic adjustment, your stress goes down and you go back into homeostasis. When I say stress, I'm talking about your sympathetic nerves. Those are your fight and flight nerves. If your fight and flight nerves are dominant, it's hard to make white blood cells because your body's in fight and flight. You don't think about white blood cells when your body believes it's in danger. We know when you get a chiropractic adjustment, we help take you from fight and flight back. That's, like I said, we use studies that have proven that. All kinds of studies out there that show that. But that being said, ever since COVID, I'm not allowed to tell you that when you get a chiropractic adjustment, we boost your immunity. But I can tell you that when you get a chiropractic adjustment, your overall fight and flight response decreases, homeostasis increases, and when you're in homeostasis, it's easier to make white blood cells. You can draw your own conclusions, but for the record, as I was told, since COVID, I am not telling you that getting an adjustment will raise your white blood cells. Alright? Sleep. Sleep is huge. You got to get your sleep. Your body is going to run better when you're sleeping. And if you get a fever, don't suppress it. A fever over 101, that's one thing. But if you get a mild fever, a lot of people want to take something to drop their fever down. You're having a fever to raise your body temperature to make your body a hostile environment for the germs. So this way you don't, your germs can't survive inside you and they want to move on. Okay? So that's the idea. You want to have a little bit of a fever in order to fight off. Also, when you have a little bit of a fever, your body is making white blood cells at a better rate, which also helps fight off the germs. I'm a fan of a low grade fever. Now, fever is over 101. We're talking a whole different ballgame. Don't put words in my mouth here. You do want to lower some fevers. They get to be too high. That suggests other things are happening, like a bacterial infection or something. That's seek medical help. That's why they make medicine. That's when you ask a medical doctor for help. Okay? There you have it. Tips from a chiropractor, look at your vitamin C. Make sure you're getting that all day long at different times. Colorful produce. Your vitamin D3. Make sure it's in a nice fat soluble form. Make sure that you double it if you're not feeling good. Okay, now you should also ask your chiropractor about taking anything with the vitamin D3. Some people add other vitamins with it and some of them can have adverse reactions depending on your health condition. But you can ask your chiropractor. They can walk you through that. You might want to get an adjustment because of the violent action of sneezing and coughing. Adjustments have been proven to take you out of fight and flight. When you're in fight and flight, it's been proven that it's hard to make white blood cells. So by getting out of fight and flight, you might be able to make more white blood cells. I don't know. I'm not allowed to say anything about that. I'm just talking. And then, you need to really work on increasing your sleep. It's really, they talk about the cold and flu season. It's really the lack of sunshine. It's the lack of vitamin D. And it's the lack of getting around and moving. Cause we talk all the time as chiropractors that motion is so important, but when it gets cold out and it snows, we tend to catch up on our Netflix, we tend to catch up on our TV shows, we tend to catch up on our couch time, and we tend to do less other things. So if you want to fight getting sick, you gotta get out and do stuff, you gotta go for walks in the cold, you gotta go to the gym and exercise, you gotta get up a sweat, you gotta keep moving all the time regardless if it's cold outside. There you have it. That's how I try to not get sick, and that's how I help prevent sicknesses. And that's what I do when I don't feel good. So if you're going to ask the chiropractor, hey, how do I stay healthy? Hey, how do I fight off this viral thing, this virus thing I got? There you have it. And there's a lot more tips we'd like to talk about too, especially since COVID. But as you all know, there's only so many things we can say. So make sure you go in person, ask your chiropractor, you might learn a lot more. But there you have it. I'll remind you one more time. And when you have a question about chiropractic or chiropractic care, the only person qualified to answer your questions is an actual chiropractor. You would never ask your dentist questions about your ingrown toenails, and you would never ask a podiatrist questions about your molars or your incisors or your teeth. So when you have a question about chiropractic or chiropractic care, the only person educated in chiropractic is a chiropractor. Make sure you ask them. You can ask me if you want. Leave a comment below or send me a direct message and maybe next week you'll be the question of the week. Thanks for tuning in, thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you again real soon. Remember to like us, subscribe us, and all that other fun stuff. Share us, let more people know about the powers of chiropractic. Thank you. И