Written by a medical doctor, Build Your Immunity for Life is all about building your immunity to help fight against infection. Yes, vaccines and antibiotics are very useful, but reading this book highlights how important your diet and lifestyle choices are in helping you to maintain a robust immune system naturally. So this doesn’t replace medical intervention when you need it, but it does mean you are giving any medical intervention the best chance of success if your natural immune system is already working well.
The first part of the book looks at why the immune system matters and how the immune system works.
Interestingly the commonest driver of infection is adequate nutrition, which you would think doesn’t apply to people who are well fed, but sometimes people are eating empty calories, not food that has nutritional value. So a diet of processed food doesn’t give people the micronutrients to stay well.
The second part of the book looks at the role of micronutrients that are important to include in a healthy diet, including copper, zinc, selenium, iron, and various vitamins. I found it particularly interesting to read the chapter on selenium, with estimates that up to a billion people on the planet are deficient in this micronutrient. This is a micronutrient that is great at fending off infections, particularly viral ones.
Unfortunately, New Zealand is one of the many countries with selenium-deficient soil, so this is a micronutrient to pay attention that you are getting enough.
The third part of the book is about your lifestyle choices, and it looks at sleep, your gut, the sweet spot of weight and our immunity, fasting and calorie restriction.
Build Your Immunity for Life is obviously well-researched, and there are pages of references at the back of the book. It’s packed with invaluable information, but thankfully, Dr Mulgan’s writing style is clear and easy-to-read, so as a lay person, this book is not daunting. An excellent read for anyone interested in being healthy and well!
Reviewer: Karen McMillan
Calico Publishing