A 3-Step Holistic Plan For Stronger Immune Function & Cancer Prevention

Your immune system doesn’t just need more support, it needs the right kind of support in the right order. 

We’re continuing our cancer prevention and immune system series with a simple 3-step system we use with clients to rebalance immune function and strengthen cancer surveillance...without making your life feel like a full-time wellness project.

Here's some of what we're covering today:

• how calming the stress response can move you out of fight-or-flight and back towards healing
• grounding and nature breaks as fast nervous system support
• breathwork plus herbs, flower remedies, and scent for regulation
• raising positive emotions through gratitude, fun, laughter, and connection
• the nutrients & foods necessary for white blood cell building & immune nourishment
• deep restorative sleep, circadian rhythm habits, & lifestyle strategies that can further support immune function 
• deeper emotional healing for stored trauma and stuck emotions
• using blood work & functional labs to monitor immune function & dive deeper into what might be impacting it

We can all use a little extra immune love. I hope today's episode inspires you with practical ways you can help your immune system work better.

And if this helps you think differently about immune support and cancer prevention, please subscribe, share the show with someone you love, and leave a review so more people can find these conversations. 🙏

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Transcript

Why Immune Balance Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Ground and Root Podcast, where we explore the world of holistic and functional strategies to enhance healing and help you stay cancer free. I am your host and holistic cancer dietitian Dionne Detraz, and welcome back to the show. So this week we are continuing our conversation on the importance of the immune system, especially as it relates to cancer prevention. At the beginning of the month, our episode was focused on the factors that can disrupt or deplete or diminish, suppress immune function. And then last week we had Jennifer Ashby join us to share a different perspective on both what can disrupt immune function as well as how we can enhance function using traditional Chinese medicine. And in today's episode, we are going to continue that conversation by talking about how you can take action to rebalance your immune system, to enhance its function, to enhance surveillance from a holistic Western perspective. Okay. This is like I mentioned in previous episodes, this is a big part of the work that we do with our coaching clients. We walk through a three-step process that I'm going to share with you today that will hopefully feel very empowering, very doable, that you'll leave this episode with at least a few, if not a handful of things that you could bring in easily that can start shifting your immune system right now. Ready? Let's dive in.

Step One Calm Fight Or Flight

SPEAKER_00 1:37

So, step one in our three-step process that we do with our one-on-one clients is to calm the stress response. Again, if you are following me along over on Substack, I spent a lot of time talking about this over there. We actually hosted a class just about this topic with lots and lots of tools of how you can shift your stress response very quickly. So there's a lot more that you can dive into over there if you haven't already joined me on Substack. But I want to give you some of the highlights today. So, why do we start with the stress response? Right. The reason is because what I've learned over the years, and this was not something I started with, just as full transparency, I definitely started with the more physical support with diet and exercise and sleep support and supplements and fasting and right, all the physical things we can bring in to enhance healing and to enhance recovery. What I learned over the years is that no matter how many of those good things we bring in, if the body is still functioning from a state of fight or flight, right? That is the sympathetic nervous system response to stress. And if we're just constantly in that state, we're not going to heal. And it almost doesn't matter how much of the other good stuff we bring in because the stress response is constantly negating, maybe not completely. I don't want to be all doom and gloom, but it's not giving our body the full potential to receive all the good things that we're bringing in. So our goal with calming the stress response is to really shift out of fight or flight. And it's okay if you have moments of fight or flight, but to not be functioning from there most of the time, right? So we move out of fight or flight into rest and repair. This is the parasympathetic nervous system state. And this is the nervous system state where we can actually heal, where we can really infuse our body with all the other good things that we're bringing in to enhance recovery, to enhance healing, and ultimately to enhance immune function, right? We talked in a previous episode about how much stress and chronic stress and emotional wounds, emotional trauma can influence the immune system. So the more we support our body in calming that response, the more benefit we're gonna get. Now, the great thing about this, and again, as you'll see over in my Substack community, if you're not already over there, there are a bajillion things you can do to help calm the stress response. And they're all pretty easy and pretty quick to do. One of my most favorite things that will very quickly shift the immune system, excuse me, both really, the nervous system and the immune system is to get outside, to get into nature, to ground earth, touch the earth with your hands, with your bare feet to get into the sunshine, right? The light, the earth, plants, flowers, animals, all of these things can help you co-regulate your nervous system. On actually, just 10 minutes touching the earth with your body, okay, with your bare hands or feet, or even your body, your whole body in the water, let's say a lake or river or ocean or something like this. Just 10 minutes completely resets the nervous system. It syncs your electrical field to the earth's electrical field. And you technically don't really have to do anything. You just need to be there. You need to be in nature. You need to be touching the earth. Okay. That would be one of my first ones. If you're not already doing that, if you're not taking little outside nature breaks, this is your invitation to add that to your to-do list. Again, you only need 10 minutes. Okay. Breath. The breath can also help with this. So even just taking one deep, slow belly breath, you know, let's say a few of those in a row can shift you out of fight or flight and into rest and repair. We also have a lot of beautiful plant allies that can help shift us energetically and emotionally. Flower remedies. So one of my favorite ways to begin to work with stored trauma and stuck emotions in the body. Again, you don't really have to do much. You just have to take the droppers, you know, you gotta put the, you gotta put the flower remedy in your mouth. But other than that, it does the energetic work. We also have herbal nervings, right? We can do teas, tinctures, essential oils, the scents. Those can all help shift the nervous system. And it doesn't take much. I take one whiff of rose essential oil and I immediately ground and feel myself returned to my heart, like out of my head, back into my heart. Okay. These don't take a lot of time to do. We can also raise our energetic vibration with more higher level positive emotions like gratitude, like love, like joy and hope, right? So having moments in our day that pull our emotions up, whether that's a simple gratitude practice before bed, whether that's doing something fun, right? Like giving yourself permission to have fun during the day, calling up a friend who makes you laugh, watching a funny movie, right? Giving somebody you love a hug, all of these can quickly shift the nervous system, raise our energetic vibration. Now, we also do ideally identify and remove what might be weighing on our nervous system, what is creating these stressors. Now, if you're moving through cancer, definitely that is a huge stressor that you can't, that you're working on removing, right? Where you can tell yourself, I am healing, I am recovering, right? I am helping the cancer go back to healthy cells. So you can, that is shifting, but it may not be gone yet. So identify and remove are there other stressors that you could shift? Is there too much on your to-do list, right? Could you delegate? Could you just not do stuff and be okay with it? Could you work on some of the emotional stuff? Could you allow yourself to feel? Could you forgive? Could you get outside in nature, right? Give yourself more time for rest, for play, for fun. So those are some of the ideas. Again, if you want more, please head over to my Substack community. This is one of the main reasons I even started this community, is because I want to really empower you with ways to start with step one. Because again, if you start here, it's not only easier, it's it doesn't take a lot of work or time to do, it's gonna make everything else you bring in work that much better.

Step Two Feed And Rebuild Immunity

SPEAKER_00 8:16

All right, step two is that a little bit more of the physical support. It's how do we actually nourish the immune system, right? How do we bring in food and fuel and rhythms that are going to help our body make white blood cells as well as keep our immune system balanced. So there are definitely certain foods that can help do this. Protein is a big one. Amino acids are essential at building white blood cells. So particularly if you're going through treatment, if you're struggling with your immune counts, it's likely you're not getting enough protein. Even if you're focusing on it, it's often you'll be surprised how much you actually need when your body is going through something that requires so much detoxing and repairing and rebuilding, right? Your protein needs are very high. So protein, first and foremost, is going to be essential for the immune system. And then there are other minerals that could be helpful. So foods that are rich in zinc, foods that are rich in selenium, right? Foods that are rich in vitamin C, those are all also going to help feed and nourish the immune system. Antioxidants are going to help nourish the immune system. And then remember that connection with the microbiome, right? So the more we can bring in gut support, the more that is also going to enhance immune function. So bringing in thing, you know, bringing in good bacteria. So fermented foods, bringing in fiber to feed those good bacteria, bringing in prebiotics too, right? Like all of that is going to help nourish the gut, which is then going to nourish the immune system. There are also specific foods that have been shown to enhance immune function. Mushrooms are a big one. And sometimes we supplement with them if we really need a heavy dose, you know? But just as a general, general immune support, we want to make sure they're in your diet. So a variety of mushrooms, green tea, garlic and onions, bone broth, fermented foods, right? These are some of the heavy hitters when it comes to immune support. Staying well hydrated is also going to be helpful here. Now, outside of our food choices, we also just have some of the other lifestyle pieces that are going to be important. So a calm, calming stress, right? That is part of it. And our lifestyle is going to determine how stressed out we are. So are we trying to do too much? Are we surrounding ourselves with people who make us crazy? You know, are we reading too much news? Like all of those things are going to matter. But also after your food, the next probably most important thing to do is deep and restorative sleep. So bringing in strategies to enhance your sleep, right? One of the ways we enhance sleep is also by enhancing our circadian rhythm. They go together. And as we talked about in an earlier episode, circadian rhythm in and of itself is also a key regulator of immune function outside of sleep. So we want to get deep restorative sleep and enough hours of sleep, right? We need to make sure we're going to bed early enough that we have enough time to get the level of sleep that we need to repair and heal during the night. But we also need to enhance our circadian rhythm so that we can get good sleep and so that all of our other systems benefit as well, right? So getting morning light, getting outside multiple times during the day. Even if you work inside me, you can still take lots of breaks. Get outside, touch the earth, be by nature, be in the sunshine, right? Move your body. At night, being very intentional around the light. Now, in the summer months, the warmer months, that's a little easier because it stays lighter later. In the winter, that's more complicated. When the sun sets, we really need to be protecting our eyes from blue light, right? So minimizing our exposure to electronics, having either red light therapy or even just fire. Fires like nature's red light therapy, right? Fireplace or a stove, that's really great. Candles, that's really great. Blue light blocking glasses, all of those things can help enhance circadian rhythm. I mentioned movement, movement that feels good is important. So yes, we do need to exercise. We do need to move our bodies to stay strong and to keep our immune system strong, but it also needs to be movement that feels good, right? Because there's a fine line between pushing ourselves too hard with exercise and then having it actually be depletive. And now it's depleting our immune system. It's causing, it's causing more oxidative damage, right? It's causing more of these free radicals that we're trying to limit. So you need to be very intentional around your movement, but movement that feels good every day. Fasting is another one, especially the seasonal extended fasts that we do. We do four a year inside of our coaching container as a group. These are like three to five day fasts. This gives your body the chance to really clean house, right? Really ramp up autophagy and get rid of things that don't belong there, like these damaged or mutated cells. Or if you've had cancer before, that also includes cancer stem cells, right? Seeking out things that don't belong there, including infections, microbes, all the things. And then after that three to five day mark, when you start eating again, particularly if you're being intentional around protein and right, those immune-boosting foods, you're regenerating your immune system. You're actually rebuilding your immune system and you're creating stronger immune cells than before. Isn't that amazing? So fasting is an incredible tool because it's helping with both sides. It's helping you get rid of the things that we don't want there and it's helping build a stronger immune system after. Then of course, there's the emotional healing piece too, which I touched on a bit with calming the stress response, but it might even be needing deeper emotional healing, right? So perhaps even beyond flower remedies and raising our energetic vibration. Maybe it's working with energy healers, maybe it's working with therapists, maybe it's learning emotional freedom technique, tapping or other tools, right? But really looking at the role, the stuck emotions, the stuck energy, the wounds or trauma from our past that we haven't looked at. Okay. Cause if we've processed it, it's not necessarily still creating an issue. But if it's things we've been ignoring because they've just been too hard to deal with, that stuff, it is impacting you, even if you don't realize it right now. And it could be impacting your immune system. All right, that's step two.

Step Three Long-Term Immune Surveillance

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Step three is really looking at the long game. Like how are we enhancing surveillance long term? Obviously, we're gonna keep a lot of these practices in place around, you know, this nervous system support, calming the stress response, nourishing the immune system. But then we also have to look for any remaining triggers that might need to be addressed. So this is going now a bit deeper into some of that root cause stuff, right? Maybe doing some extra testing or labs to really try to understand are there other sources you're not aware of, chronic infections, chronic inflammation, gut like microbiome imbalance, et cetera, that could still, or even food sensitivities, food intolerances, toxic burden that could still be weighing on the immune system. One of the things I like to do, just as a side tip, is that when I guide my clients through this, is that we go through those first two steps, right? We're using blood work, even if we didn't do any other testing. We often do others, but even if we don't, we're using blood work to monitor the immune system. We're checking immune counts, we're looking at inflammation markers, we're trying to get a better picture of actually what's happening physiologically as you shift these things, as you calm the stress response, as you nourish yourself in a deeper way, as you rebalance your lifestyle, right? And we see what happens in the physiology. Sometimes that's enough. And you're like, okay, I can continue this now going forward as my prevention strategy. If we find that despite all those things, we're still seeing some imbalance in the immune or inflammation markers, then we know we need to go deeper, right? So you can take it in steps. You don't necessarily need to start with the super expensive functional labs, you know, to try to figure out what's going on. Because the truth is, you're gonna need some of those foundational strategies anyways, regardless of what else is there. So we get the foundation in place, we check your blood. If we're still suspicious that something's there, something's a burden, this still isn't in the range we're wanting it to be, then we dive deeper. Then we look at are there some infections or toxins that we've missed that are there? And then we can be more targeted. And how do we get rid of those? How do we help the body rebalance? Okay. That would be the final step. So a lot of tools that you can add to your toolbox, right? Step one, like we talked about in the first episode in the month, is really to first just identify what is more obvious that is likely contributing to your immune function, and first shift what you can there, like what you have control over, right? Then, as we talked about in today's episode or even some of the strategies from last week's episode with Jennifer, then we bring in food, lifestyle, stress support, sleep, et cetera, you know, to like really ramp up the foundation, the how we're nourishing our immune system so that it can rebalance itself. Because the beautiful thing is your body is constantly striving for balance, you know, the body knows how to heal itself. We just have to sometimes get out of the way and give it what it needs, you know? So that in and of itself might be enough. If not, then like I mentioned, then we dive deeper into are there lingering infections? Is there toxic burden? You know, is there autoimmunity? Is there something else that needs to be supported so that we can really enhance immune function? And like I said, most importantly, surveillance long-term. Right. I hope that's helpful. If you have more questions around this, of course, you can come into Substack. We have a community there. You can ask questions, you can learn more.

Next Steps Support And Resources

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Okay. We have both a free and a paid community. So you can decide what feels best, what level of support you'd appreciate. And then, of course, if you really want more personalized hand-in-hand guidance in building your own specific plan, then I invite you to join us inside of our coaching container, which is we help guide you through all of this, you know, step by step. We can do testing, all the things. And if you'd like to learn more, even about our three-step system for enhancing immune function. I also, like I mentioned in the episode earlier in the month, we do have a free video that kind of gives you an overview of how it works and just some of the client results that have been had from following this system. If you want to chat more, you can always book a free call with me. And I love to meet you guys and hear more about what's going on for you. And of course, if there's a way that we can help support you in your goals. Thank you so much for being here. As always, I really appreciate your listening to these episodes. I truly hope they're helpful and you always walk away with something that you can apply in your real life. That is definitely a big goal of mine. And of course, if you're enjoying it, please share with others. Please subscribe, please leave a review. All of those things helps to get our podcast in front of more people, which of course is just gonna help more people, right? So I really appreciate that if you feel called to help share. I wish you such a beautiful day. So much love for your immune systems, right? They work so hard keeping you healthy against infection and also against cancer. So give your immune system a little love today. Bring in a little extra support. And I look forward to connecting with you again on next week's episode. Bye for now.