7 Steps to Boost Your Immune System Naturally

How do you boost your immune system naturally? As someone who’s been sick many times throughout his life, I’ve struggled with this question a lot. Is it what you eat? Is it how much you exercise? Or maybe it’s your emotional state?

In reality, if you want to boost your immune system you’re going to have to cover a lot of bases. There isn’t just “one thing,” that will fix all of your problems.

If you want to boost your immune system naturally, you need to make sure that you’re going to approach the problem with a nuanced, multi-pronged solution: physical, emotional, hormonal, and more.

Being in great physical condition, but being lonely as hell isn’t good—and neither is having a great social life, but having the testosterone of a baby girl. We need to balance multiple areas of your life to achieve this goal.

Here’s how to boost your immune system naturally.

Start From A Healthy Baseline

If your baseline is 50 pounds overweight, chronically sleep deprived, and living off of ramen and hot pockets, you can forget about being able to boost your immune system. In order to never get sick again, your baseline has to be solid.

To keep your baseline at a good level, you should be:

1. Lifting weights 3-4 times a week
2. Doing cardio 1-3 times a week
3. Getting 7-9 hours of sleep a night
4. Eating a healthy diet (I recommend the bulletproof diet)
5. Minimizing stress (meditation is a great way to do this).

If you’re not doing these things, then start. You will not be able to boost your immune system naturally if you don’t do these things, because your body will be in a constant state of stress. If you’re 50 pounds overweight, that puts a HUGE load on your body (no pun intended).

Getting to a healthy baseline will already begin to boost your immune system naturally, but as I said, it’s just the baseline.

If you really want to boost your immune system, follow all of these steps.

Max Out On Fermented Foods

Due to years of antibiotics, chlorinated water, and a lack of unpasteurized dairy in our diets, our guts are completely devoid of a healthy flora. This is horrible, because numerous studies have shown that having a diverse gut flora is absolutely crucial to your immune system’s response.

The best way to build your gut flora is to consume fermented foods. To put it simply, consuming fermented foods is a great way to boost your immune system naturally.

As with everything else, I’ve pretty much made myself a human guinea pig. Over the last 5 years or so I’ve tried out literally every single type of fermented food I could get my hands on, and here’s my list of the best.

Once I started consuming the following foods, I cut my doctors visits in half:

Kefir

This eastern European fermented dairy drink comes from the Russian word for “good feelings,” perhaps because drinkers often report feeling euphoric shortly after consuming it.

It’s loaded with probiotics—just one bottle has 12 different live, active cultures, adding up to a total of 20 billion probiotics. This makes it an incredibly potent tool for restoring and maintaining a healthy gut which will in turn boost your immune system.

Its benefits go far beyond creating a healthy gut flora, however—it’s also loaded with nutrients, can lessen the symptoms of allergies, and has even been shown to help fight cancer.

In addition to this, it’s also a great food for bulking. I personally have 1 to 3 cups a day when I’m trying to pack on some muscle.

If you’re lactose intolerant, don’t worry—Kefir is actually lactose free. I personally can’t stomach dairy that well, but when I get whole fat Kefir I’m just fine.

My favorite brand is Lifeway, and I’m always sure to get the plain version (less sugar). You can find it at any major organic market franchise like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, and sometimes you can find it at Giant, Walmart, and Food Lion.

Sauerkraut

In addition to being loaded with probiotics, sauerkraut is also high in fiber, indole-3-carbinol, and isothiocyanate compounds.

Obviously probiotics help boost your immune system naturally, as has been said, so that’s a good enough reason to consume sauerkraut in and of itself.

But, I’m a firm believer in Pareto’s Law—I want to get the most benefit out of the least action, and the foods that I consume are no exception. So, in addition to being filled with probiotics, sauerkraut is also high in fiber along with other great nutrients.

It’s also very high in indole-3-carbinol which has it been shown to help fight cancer, and decrease estrogen.

And the isothiocyanate compounds? They help combat brain cancer as well as other forms of cancer.

I prefer the brand Farmhouse Culture—all of their flavors are pretty good. I haven’t found them anywhere other than Whole Foods and Mom’s Organic Market, though.

Kombucha

Not only is kombucha loaded with probiotics, but it also contains polyphenols, amino acids, b-vitamins, and a whole bunch of other great stuff. However, I don’t want to just stop there.

GT has a great brand known as Synergy, which is kombucha mixed with chia seeds—so not only is it a lot more delicious, but it’s also packed with Omega 3’s, which have been shown to decrease your risk of heart disease, help lessen the symptoms of arthritis, and improve your mood.

You can find it at any Whole Foods or MOM’s, and sometimes Trader Joe’s carries it. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen it in a Walmart, Giant, Safeway, or any other food store before.

I usually end up drinking 1 a day when I can, but that tends to change if I’m extremely busy or travelling and can’t get access to it.

In my opinion, Kombucha is probably the best food that you can consume to boost your immune system, hands down.

Probiotic Supplements

Taking a probiotic supplement is another way that you can get probiotics into your digestive system.

Although probiotic supplements aren’t usually as powerful as raw, fermented foods, they’re extremely convenient and you can carry them with you when you travel.

Personally, I’ve tried dozens of brands of probiotic supplements, and I’ve found that a lot of them are either extremely expensive, and work very well, or really cheap, but barely work.

That’s why I like Pro-15. It’s fairly inexpensive, and highly effective—within just a week of taking this stuff I felt a huge difference.

Again, to boost your immune system the most, you should be consuming all of these foods on a regular basis, but I would also recommend taking a probiotic supplement due to the convenience and guaranteed quantities of probiotics in them.

Take Cold Showers

In addition to improving circulation, boosting testosterone, and improving your skin, cold showers have also been shown to boost your immune system.

However, there’s a dilemma—hot showers have benefits, too. They relax the muscles, which can be great post-workout, and they reduce stress.

So what do you do? You get the best of both worlds, of course.

This is my procedure for reaping the benefits of both hot and cold showers:

1. Turn on the shower as hot as you can stand it.
2. Relax for 3-5 minutes, maybe do some stretching and deep breathing.
3. Turn the water as cold as it will go. No, not lukewarm, you pussy. Frigid. Ice cold.
4. Once the water turns cold you’ll likely start to hyperventilate and it’ll jolt you awake—this is normal.
5. Slowly rotate your body for 3-5 minutes. Be sure that the cold water hits every area.
6. Do your typical washing stuff (shampoo, soap, shaving, etc.)
7. Get out of the shower

Cold showers are also a great way to increase will power. When you force yourself day in and day out to experience mind-numbingly frigid waters, you build some serious discipline.

Do you know how hard it is to turn that faucet handle, knowing that you’re going to put an end to the hot water bliss and get blasted with ice cold water? Doing that every day builds will power.

I personally take cold showers every single day—I prefer to do this “contrast shower,” routine (hot and then cold) after a workout, but you can do it whenever you want.

Consume A Super Food Shake

“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” -Hippocrates, Founder of Western Medicine

I probably could’ve categorized this one under number 1, where I said to have a good diet, but it’s so important that I’m going to have it stand alone.

Just recently have I started consuming a super food shake, and I feel amazing. My shake is packed with a whole bunch of antioxidants, phytonutrients, and immune-boosting compounds.

This is, perhaps, one of the most important steps to take if you want to boost your immune system naturally. Just one super food shake a day and you’re getting more nutrition than 99% of other guys out there.

The ingredients I use change daily, depending on what fruit/veggies I have left over, but here’s what I shoot for:

• 1 cup mixed frozen berries – you can get 5lb bags at Costco for like $15
• 1.5 cup kale/spinach mix
• 1/2 an avocado
• A few chunks of pineapple
• 1 tsp spirulina powder
• 1 tsp gingger root powder
• 1 tsp turmeric root powder
• 5 peppercorns (these help with absorption)
• 1/2 a beet

You want to use a quality blender, however. If you use a cheap $75 blender, it’ll be chunky and gross.

I personally recommend the Vitamix Pro Series 750 Blender. When I use this blender, it makes a silky smooth healthy greens shake that tastes delicious and is highly nutritious.

If you want to boost your immune system and take it to the next level, I highly recommend trying this smoothie out. You’ll notice an increase in your cognition, energy levels, and mood in just a few days.

Have a Purpose

A lot of people would disagree with me here, and I understand—most people would claim that “having a purpose,” doesn’t do shit, but I’d beg to differ. When you have a purpose, every aspect of your physiology comes alive.

When you have a purpose, it’s easier to get up in the morning, you have more energy, you exude confidence, and you’re happier. When you have a purpose, every single aspect of your life becomes better.

And the immune system is no different. Having a purpose will lower cortisol levels, which has been shown to boost your immune system. Having a purpose will supercharge your body with positive energy and intention.

I know for a fact that when I’m super excited about a project, it literally makes me feel physically different. I don’t get sick as often, I can thrive off of less sleep, and my focus and assertiveness are off the charts.

The problem is, a lot of men don’t have a purpose nowadays. We’re taught not to have one; to be cogs in the machine.

So, if you have a purpose, that’s great—if you don’t, however, make your priority finding your purpose.

Take Immune Boosting Supplements

I’ve said it before, and I’ll said it again—I’ve tried pretty much every supplement out there, and a lot of them don’t work. Shroomtech Immune one of the few immune boosting supplements that actually works.

I went through a period of about 3 months my first year of college, where I literally got 3 hours of sleep every single night. On top of this, I was recovering from surgery (I severed 2 tendons and a nerve in my left hand) and it was about 90 degrees in our dorm room (there was no AC).

This, combined with the stress of being away from home for the very first time ever, would make most people sick, but not me. I’m honestly convinced that the only reason I didn’t get sick even once during that period of time was because I took Shroomtech Immune every day.

When I take Shroomtech Immune every single day, I NEVER get sick. I feel like it supercharges my immune system to a whole new level.

I’m not going to post a whole bunch of scientific evidence explaining how it works here, because it’s all in the link, but if you travel a lot, don’t get much sleep, or are generally stressed out, I would highly recommend utilizing this stuff. It will definitely boost your immune system.

Recognize The Pre-Sick Phase

This one isn’t super scientific, but it’s probably one of the biggest contributing factors to whether or not you will get sick.

Before you get really sick, you’ll notice a drop in energy, maybe a runny nose, and a little bit of brain fog. This is what I call the pre-sick phase.

You have to be fairly in tune with your body in order to recognize this phase, because it’s subtle. But if you can recognize it the day that it hits you, you can take action and stop yourself from becoming truly sick.

Most people don’t even recognize this phase, and they continue to work hard and stress themselves out. Don’t do this. Instead, recognize this phase for what it is—your body is telling you to rest.

Take a day off. Just sit around the house and watch South Park or something. If you do work out, make it very light—and if you have to go to work, try to minimize it.

This is critical. This is where I fucked up just a week ago.

I recognized this phase immediately, and what did I do? Did I take it easy?

No. Like a dumbass I hit the gym hard as fuck, stayed up late, wrote 2-3 blog articles, and stressed out over finding a Chinese manufacturer for a watch business I’ve been working on.

And I paid the price—now I haven’t been to the gym in nearly 7 days, I haven’t written a blog article in far too long, and what could’ve been just a minor setback is now a much larger one.

So, learn from my mistake! Recognize the pre-sick phase, and take it easy.

Summary

Following the 7 steps laid out in this article will boost your immune system to an almost superhuman level…and it will do it naturally.

When I follow this protocol 100% I don’t get sick—ever. It’s only when I stray from it that I get sick.

However, I understand—sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind if you have a huge project due in 2 days. I get it. Life is messy, but at least try to stay healthy. Do your best to follow the steps outlined in this article, and you’ll be thankful that you did.

If you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know. I hope you enjoyed the article.