The best known antioxidants, of course, are vitamins C, E, and betacarotene. In fact, there are many antioxidants, and the vast majority of them come from plant foods. In addition, there are an abundance of other chemicals in plants, known asphytochemicals, that boost immune response and help us prevent and fight cancer.

Thus, another way we can weaken our immune system is by failing to get adequate amounts of whole grains, fresh vegetables, and fruit in our diets. The standard American diet, composed chiefly of fat, cholesterol, and processed foods is extremely low in these essential immune boosting and cancer fighting substances, which is precisely while the standard American diet is one that promotes both premature aging and disease.

Yet another common way we all weaken our immune systems is through stress, which, among other things, changes our hormonal balance and suppresses immunity. Chronic stress has been shown to dramatically weaken immune function and lead to an array of illnesses, ranging from the minor, such as colds and flu, to life-threatening, including heart disease and cancer. 

It's Never Too Late

By the time we reach our 50s and 60s, we've experienced decades of stress and exposure to oxidants, all of which take their toll, especially on the immune system. Consequently, aging is associated with depression of the immune function. However, this weakening of immune response is not a fait accompli. Research has shown that when immune boosters are incorporated into people's lives -- even by the elderly -- the strength of the immune system returns. For that, we must incorporate more immune boosting behaviors in our lives.

How Immune Boosters Work 

Immune boosters work in at least four general ways, which overlap somewhat with each other.

1. They enhance communication within the immune cell, which makes the actions of the cell more efficient and powerful.

2. They have a direct effect of making immune cells more numerous, more aggressive, and more effective in the face of an antigen.

3. They significantly slow down, and in some cases halt, production of free radicals, the essential cause of more than sixty illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, brain disorders, and most of the symptoms of aging.

4. They have the longer-term effect of significantly improving the environment within your blood and tissues where immune cells and work so that your immune system functions more optimally.

Looked at from the long-term perspective, immune boosters are like capital that you put away in a savings account, to be drawn on later when your immune system confronts an antagonist. This points to the necessity of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, even when you are well. In effect, today's immune boosters make tomorrow's battles easier to win.

How to Use the Program Described Below

Use the immune boosters provided below in two ways -- first as an ongoing support to protect yourself from disease on a daily basis; and, second, as a form of medicine whenever you determine that your immune system is in a trough, or low point. When that

occurs, add immune boosting foods, herbs, supplements; deal effectively with current stressful conditions, particularly any fears you may have about your current situation; and seek balance.

Here are some of the most powerful immune boosters that you can incorporate into your lifestyle.  

Healthy Eating: Boosting Your Immunity Every Day 

Making your immune system strong is not as difficult as you might think. Simply by adding more of immune-boosting foods -- and reducing immune-depressors -- you can strengthen your body's ability to maintain health and fight disease.

 "For years, everyone thought the effect of these [immune-boosting] substances would be small," said Dr. William Pryor, director of the Biodynamics Research Institute at Louisiana State University. "But now we're finding there's about a 50 percent reduction in illness in many cases, and that 50 percent benefits consistent. If we could cut chronic diseases in half by using nutritional therapy, we're making a profound difference, especially when you consider the cost of treating these diseases."

The following foods will help make your immune system stronger. Some of them specifically protect against cancer and heart disease. All of them will help you prevent and overcome illness. They will improve the quality of your life, and perhaps make it longer.

Foods Rich in Antioxidants

There improbably no more celebrated group of nutrients in the food supply today than antioxidants. They prevent disease, boost the immune system, and even slow the aging process. In fact, they may be the most powerful health enhancers in the food supply.

There are many antioxidants, but the three that most people are familiar with are vitamins C, E, and beta carotene, the vegetable source of vitamin A. In addition to these are vitamin B6, glutathione, bioflavonoids (a group of compounds found in vegetable foods); several minerals including, selenium, zinc, copper, and manganese; and an amino acid called L-Cysteine.

The first thing you must understand about all nutrients, including antioxidants, is that you do not have to run out and get a bunch of expensive pills to be healthy. In fact, recent studies have shown that getting the antioxidant beta carotene in pill form may even increase the risk of disease for some people.

This, of course, has created enormous confusion in the minds of people everywhere. Many wonder if antioxidants aren't all that they were cracked up to be; others worry that they may be just little dangerous. The fact is that antioxidants are essential to good health, but the way in which you get them is as important as the nutrients themselves. For the most part antioxidants are most effective when you get them in the old fashion way: as part of the food you eat.

The reasons is that antioxidants appear to be stronger when they work in combination with other immune boosting and cancer-fighting nutrients that are also present in food. This certainly appears to be the case with beta carotene, a nutrient that, when eaten as food, is clearly an important immune booster. But when you take beta carotene in pill form, it doesn't seem have the same effectiveness. There is even a slight chance of it raising the risk of cancer among cigarette smokers. Why this occurs is still unknown.

 The only antioxidant that may be worth supplementing to your healthy diet is vitamin E. Supplements of 200 mg. per day or more appear to have a positive effect on immune response, without any evidence of harmful side effects.

Even if you decide to take additional E, supplementation should be the exception, rather than the rule. In the last analysis, the best way to get your antioxidants is in apples, oranges, leafy greens, broccoli, cantaloupe, brown rice, olive oil, and so many other delicious foods. All of these whole grains, vegetables, and fruits contain an abundance of antioxidants, as well another cancer-fighters and immune boosters.

Simply beating these and other foods, you can protect yourself from allergies, arthritis, the common cold, the flu, cataracts, cancer, and heart disease, just to name a handful of illnesses. In many instances, these potent immune boosters can be used to treat chronic and serious illnesses, as well as keep you younger and fitter.

Getting Optimal Amounts of Antioxidants 

In order to get adequate quantities of antioxidants -- as well as the other immune boosting nutrients we'll be talking about -- you should eat at least five servings of whole grains, vegetables, and fruits per day in almost any combination.

People who do not eat at least those five servings of vegetable and fruits each day are at increased risk of illness, and this includes the vast majority of Americans. Famed cancer research Bruce Ames, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley, have calculated that those who fail to eat the recommended five servings of antioxidant-rich foods have twice the risk of developing cancer than those who do. The elderly are particularly at risk because they often fail to get an adequate supply of antioxidants in their diets. However, when senior citizens increase their intake of antioxidants, their immune systems rebound to normal strength. In fact, the same happens for people in all age groups: Eat five servings of whole grains, vegetables, and fruits per day and the immune system is restored to normal function.

Minerals: We Need the Rocks

Minerals are the microscopic metals in your food. These bits of the earth's crust that are unearthed by rain, rivers, and wind, carried to top soils, and absorbed by plants, which are then eaten by animals and humans. Plants are the middlemen, so to speak, in the long journey these tiny bits of rock make from the soil to your blood streams and cells.

Minerals are essential to a vast array of metabolic and immune functions, and are therefore fundamental to human health. All of the minerals your body needs are available from vegetable sources alone, including whole grains, beans, leafy greens, roots, and fruit. In addition, fish, poultry, and red meat are also abundant sources of minerals. However, red meat and certain parts of poultry are often rich in fat, which is immune-depressing. Therefore, we should rely upon vegetable foods for the bulk of our nutrition, including our source of minerals, and supplement with animal foods.

Though all the minerals used by the body are essential, only a handful have been proven to have clear immune related functions or specific roles in the protection against disease. These well-documented minerals are zinc, iron, copper, and magnesium.

Zinc is particularly important to immune response. Zinc protects against all forms of infection, especially in children. A study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology November 1986), showed that deficiencies of zinc are associated with recurrent vaginal yeast infections in women. Zinc deficiency is also associated with prostate disease in men, and higher rates of arthritis in both sexes. Optimal zinc levels, on the other hand, increase the number of circulating immune cells. Zinc also causes antibodies to mount a stronger attack of an antigen.

Sources of zinc include pumpkin seeds; whole grains, such as brown rice, whole wheat, bulgar, whole wheat bread and flour; cashews; most beans, and black eyed peas.

Food and Herbs That Boost Immunity and Fight Cancer

For people who are not familiar with traditional or herbal medicine, the word herb can conjures up images of strange and foreign plants that have been specially prepared and then sprinkled into boiling water, perhaps with an incantation or two. The fact is that traditional healers saw herbs are nothing more than medicinal plants. The more science learns about the healing properties inherent in the plant kingdom, the longer the list of medicinal plants, or "herbs," becomes.

Here is a list of foods that you can choose from that contain cancer-protective nutrients. Let these vegetables turn up on your menu often. While you enjoy their wonderful flavors, they will be protecting you against disease.

Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts, collard, and mustard greens). These green and leafy vegetables contain compounds called phytochemicals and indoles that may prevent tumor-causing estrogen from targeting the breast. In animal studies, they've been shown to switch on enzymes that protect breast tissue from carcinogens.

These same vegetables are also rich sources of another cancer-fighter, called sulforanphane, which has been called a "major and very potent" trigger for detoxifying tissues and blood and for promoting production of cancer-preventive enzymes.

Cruciferous vegetables, especially watercress, also contain a substance known as phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), which has been shown in animal studies to inhibit the creation of lung tumors in animals who have injected with a powerful tobacco-specific carcinogen.

Soybeans and soybean products, such as tofu, tempeh, miso, shoyu, and tamari. A staple in Japan for countless generations, miso soup is regarded by Japanese as a powerful healing food. Shoyu and tamari are two types of soy sauces, commonly used in the Orient as a base for soups, stews, and sauces.

In April 1993, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that scientists had isolated a substance in miso and other soybean products that effective blocks blood flow to tumors, thus starving them from the essentials of life. The substance, called "genistein," blocks blood vessels from growing into tumors, a process known is angiogenisis. Cancer cells and tumors, like all other cells and tissues in the body, need oxygen and nutrition to survive. In order for them to get both, they need blood. Thus, cancer is sustained within the body by blood vessels that grow to the cells and support their life.

The genistein in miso soup blocks blood vessels from attaching to the cancer cells, and thus literally suffocates and starves the tumor.

The National Academy of Sciences report comes after numerous studies by the Japanese National Cancer Center showing that populations of people who eat miso soup regularly have 33 percent fewer incidences of cancer than those who never eat it.

Beans. Beans are the greatest source of protein in the vegetable kingdom. Collectively known as legumes, beans and peas generally contain between 20 and 28 percent protein. They are also rich sources of complex carbohydrates and fiber, and contain significant amounts of vitamins and minerals.

The soluble fibers in beans and grains bind with fat and cholesterol, and lower blood cholesterol levels. This prevents atherosclerosis, or cholesterol plaque that forms in the arteries to the heart and brain and cause heart attack and stroke.

But beans have other properties that scientists are just beginning to appreciate. The American Health Foundation reported that beans may well be the reason Hispanic women suffer such low rates of breast cancer. Hispanic women, who experience far lower rates of breast cancer than white women, eat a diet twice as rich in beans as white women, the scientists found.

Researchers have found that beans contain high quantities of plant-based estrogens, which block the cancer-causing estrogens from attaching to cells and promoting mutations and malignancies. In this way, plant estrogens protect against the hormone-dependent cancers, such as breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers.

 Fruit. Citrus fruits contain compounds called limonoids, which stimulate the production of protective enzymes. Most fruits contain flavonoids and antioxidants which, among other things, block the receptor sites for hormones that promote cancers.

Shiitake Mushrooms. The shiitake mushroom (of the genus lentinula) is wide, flat-capped mushroom traditionally grown in the Orient and now widely available through the United States and Europe. Shiitake mushrooms contain a polysaccharide called lentinan that has been approved in Japan as an anti-cancer drug. Recent research has shown lentinan stimulates macrophages and natural killer cells to kill cancer cells and tumors in cancer patients.

Another substance isolated in shiitake, called cortinelin, has been found to be an effective broad spectrum antibiotic. Also, compounds known as sulfides in shiitake can kill ringworm, fungus, and other causes of skin disease.

Studies at the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the Japanese National Cancer Institute have established the shiitake mushroom as a cancer fighter, an immune booster, and a powerful cholesterol-lowering herb.

Shiitake has been found to inhibit the attempts of viruses to replicate. Scientists at Japan's Yamaguchi University School of Medicine have found that shiitake extract protected cells against the destruction normally caused by HIV infection. The scientists went on to recommend that shiitake be used in conjunction with other AIDS treatments.

One of shiitake's compounds, called eritadenine, has been shown by both American and Japanese researchers to dramatically lower blood cholesterol. Studies have shown that three ounces (or 5 or 6 mushrooms) a day can lower blood cholesterol by 12 percent in one week. Other research has suggested that the cholesterol lowering effect of shiitake extract -- the concentrated form of the mushroom -- may be as much as 25 percent when used over a couple of weeks.

Shiitake mushrooms are widely available in supermarkets and natural foods stores. They can be used in soups, stews, and vegetable medleys -- steamed, boiled, or sauteed.

Garlic contains thiol compounds, including allicin, that stimulate the body's detoxifying activities. Allicin is most effective when eaten raw, but researchers at the National Cancer Institute say that garlic also has health promoting effects even after it is cooked.

Many of these same chemicals are also found in onions, though apparently in smaller quantities. "It seems that the stronger the food -- and in the case of garlic, that means the smell -- the stronger the health- enhancing effects are," said Michael Wargovich, MD, a professor of medicine at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and an expert on garlic.

Garlic extracts boost a number of immune activities that could be related to controlling cancer. They stimulate CD4 proliferation and enhance natural killer activity. Garlic extracts have been shown to strengthen the oxidative bursts of macrophages. Macrophages use these bursts of oxidants to kill bacteria, cancer cells, and virus-producing cells.

Garlic has also been demonstrated as an effective anti-bacterial and anti-viral agent. It may have anti-cancer effects that are independent of the immune system, though the exact mechanisms by which garlic may protect against cancer, and even attack cancer cells and tumors, has yet to be fully understood.

Garlic has been shown to protect lipids (fats and cholesterol in the blood) from being oxidized, thus preventing the onset of free radicial formation, the cause of most degenerative diseases. In fact, garlic extracts have been shown to decrease the development of cancer even from such powerful carcinogens as radiation.

 As if this were not enough, garlic compounds also inhibit the formation of thrombi by inhibiting platelet aggregation. They apparently block adhesion through integrins on the platelet surface. This might reduce the risk of strokes and cardiovascular disease.

Finally, garlic is also a good source of selenium.

Other healing herbs include the following:

Echinacea (echinacea spp; compositae) is among the most commonly used medicinal herbs in the world today. Known for its immune boosting properties, which are now being backed up by scientific research, echinacea has been consistently shown to increases the ability of macrophages and granulocytes to phagocytize bacteria or virus-producing cells. Studies have demonstrated that these effects could be increased by giving echinacea in combination with extracts from other herbs, including Eupatorium perfoliatum, Baptisia tinctotia, and Arnica montana.

The herb also stimulates CD4 cells to multiply more vigorously in the face of a disease-causing agent.

The following herbs have also been shown to boost immunity.

Saffron stimulates the proliferative response of CD4 cells in the processes of a disease causing agent.

Ginger. Used as a tea or a condiment, ginger has been shown to reduce inflammation and the pain of arthritis. Ginger inhibits platelet aggregation, improves blood circulation, and offers some protection against heart attacks and strokes. It also relieves indigestion.

Tumeric is anti-inflammatory and inhibits platelet aggregation. According to work done at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, tumeric inhibits cancer at several sites in the body by disrupting certain chemical processes that would otherwise lead to malignancy. Tumeric has anti-HIV activity in the laboratory and is being tested currently in clinical trials.

Cumin. Israeli scientists have found that people who regularly add cumin to their food have lower rates of urinary tract cancers, including those of the bladder and prostate.

Clove has demonstrated anti-tumor properties.

Green and Black tea contain antioxidants, flavonoids, tannins, and indoles, all of which are being demonstrated to have anti-cancer effects on the body. Green tea also contains a powerful antioxidant, EGCG, that fights cancer, slows aging, and promotes healing. (See accompanying article on green tea.)

Chamomilla recutita, or simple Chamomile, seems to stimulate macrophagse and granulocytes to consume pathogens.

If You Supplement, Keep Doses Small

If you decide to take a supplement, small amounts are better than the larger doses. Research published in The Lancet (November 11, 1992) demonstrated the effects of adding certain key nutrients to the diets of 96 senior citizens, all of whom were 66 years old and older. The seniors were divided into two groups, one of which was given a placebo (a pill containing some calcium and magnesium), while the experimental group was given supplements containing the following nutrients:

• Vitamin A (400 IU);

• Beta carotene (16 mg.)

• Thiamine (2.2 mg.)

• Riboflavin (1.5 mg.)

• Niacin (16 mg.)

• Vitamin B6 (3.0 mg.)

• Folate (400 micrograms)

• Vitamin B12 (4.0 micrograms)

• Vitamin C (80 mg.)

• Vitamin D (4 micrograms)

• Vitamin E (44 mg.)

• Iron (16 mg.)

• Zinc (14 mg.)

• Copper (1.4) mg.)

• Selenium (20 micrograms)

• Iodine (0.2 mg.)

• Calcium (200 mg.)

• Magnesium (100 mg.)

Both groups were followed for one year. The researchers found that the supplemented group had significantly fewer infections and sick days during that year than the placebo group; the supplemented group suffered a total 23 sick days, as compared to 48 sick days recorded by the placebo group. Blood tests revealed that the supplemented group had stronger immune responses to antigens and greater number of circulating macrophage and other immune cells.

 Moreover, these benefits were accomplished on relatively small doses of nutrient supplementation. As the researchers point out, "It is important to note that large-dose supplements were not used; indeed, very large doses of many micronutrients may impair immunity."

The only exception to this is vitamin E. Research has shown that doses between 200 and 400 mg. of vitamin E significantly boost immunity and are safe.

Exercise 

Many of us have turned the old aphorism that exercise is good for us into a kind of hair shirt. We think that unless we engage in lots of exercise -- that is, lots of sweat and pain -- we won't get any benefit from it. Nothing could be further from the truth. When viewed from the point of view of the immune system, moderate exercise is ideal, which means that walking four-times-per-week will boost immune function and protect you against infection, cancer, and heart disease.

When viewed exclusively in terms of how it benefits the immune system, exercise presents a challenging paradox, however. On one hand, people clearly live longer and enjoy better health when they engage in regular, moderate exercise. Nevertheless, exercise is a stressor on the body, and specifically on the immune system. Strenuous exercise depresses certain immune cell counts, at least temporarily. In addition, long-term exercise programs that are highly stressful, such as long-distance running, result inconsistently lower immunity, at least for certain immune factors.

Thus, contrary to what many people believe, there is such a thing as too much exercise. And like many other examples of "overdoing a good thing," too much exercise can weaken your immune response to disease causing agents. Such revelations teach us, again, that balance is crucial to good health.

Interestingly, the effect of exercise on the immune system depends strongly on the degree of exertion, and hardly at all on the length of time spent exercising. For instance 30 seconds of strenuous exercise causes changes in the relative numbers of white blood cells in the blood, whereas one hour of gentle exercise has no measurable effect in these white blood cells.

Also the changes seen after thirty minutes of moderate exercise are the same as those seen after two hours of the same exercise.

The effects of exercise on the immune system that have been studied most extensively are the changes in the number and type of white blood cells; the ability of lymphocytes to proliferate in response to an antigen; and the ability of natural killer cells to kill target cells. In general, the number of all major classes of white blood cells -- granulocytes, natural killer cells, monocytes, and lymphocyte cells -- all increase during exercise, especially if the exercise has not been highly strenuous.

It doesn't take much exercise to boost immunity and even extend your life. A study published in the February 11, 1998 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that simply by taking a brisk walk just six times per month, people reduced their risk of death by 44 percent. The study followed a group of16,000 twins over a 19 year period and found that those study participants who did this minimal amount of exercise had nearly half the risk of dying that their sedentary siblings did.

The benefits of exercise extended even to those who fewer than six times per month; these people had 30 percent less chance of dying than their sedentary twins did.

This study confirms many other experiments that have shown consistently that exercise not only boosts immunity and improves overall health, but also lengthens life.

Blocks and Beliefs 

All of us experience stress from time to time, but the characteristic that distinguishes people with periodic stress versus those with chronic stress is often their outlook on life. Our beliefs and attitudes are the filter through which we judge experience to be either good or bad, life-supporting or threatening. Indeed, beliefs and attitudes are usually the most important factor in determining whether or not we experience stress, and how debilitating that stress is on our immune systems.

As he so often managed during his lifetime, Albert Einstein went right to the center of things. In the simplest of words, he managed to put his finger on the single question that helps to clarify our own inner realm and deepest beliefs.

"The most important question all of us must answer," said Einstein, " is whether the universe is a friendly place or not."

If you truly believe that the universe is a friendly place, you are able to be more relaxed about your life and optimistic about what to expect in, say, the next 10 minutes, or for that matter in the next 10 years. The universe, being an essentially friendly place, will present you with much that is good, life-supporting, and even beautiful. This is what it means to be optimistic about life and the future.

Being optimistic has a very powerful and very positive effect on your health, and especially on your immune system. A recent study reported in the British medical journal, The Lancet November 1993), found that people who, early in life, came to believe they are predisposed to life-threatening illnesses actually died sooner than those who did not believe they were predisposed to disease. Researchers followed Chinese Americans who were born during certain years that were believed to be predisposed to lethal diseases. These Chinese Americans actually died four years sooner, on average, than Chinese Americans born during other years, and at least four years sooner than Anglo-Americans who, in fact, had the same diseases as the Chinese Americans but had healthier beliefs about the outcomes of those illnesses. The findings were based on a very large sampling of people -- 28,169 Chinese Americans and 412,632Caucasians.

Study leader David P. Phillips, Ph.D., professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego, said that this study suggests that beliefs can have a dramatic effect on health. "Our findings and those of others suggest that mental attitude is associated with health," said Phillips.

Research has shown that being able to relax and feel safe has a profound effect on CD4 cells. Scientists at the University of Miami Medical School have found that daily relaxation exercises --that is, the progressive releasing of tension in muscles throughout the body -- caused CD4 cells to increase. The study was done on men with HIV, who normally experience a steady decrease in CD4 cells. When Gail Ironson, MD, a psychiatrist at the University of Miami Medical School, and her colleagues followed up on the men a year later, they found that those men who continued to do some form of daily meditation or relaxation exercises were less likely to suffer from AIDS symptoms.

Other research has shown that meditation or relaxation exercises have increased immune cell activity in the face of a disease causing agent. One study showed an increase in natural killer cells and greater proliferation of lymphocytes in medical school students who practiced a daily relaxation regime.

"There are many forms of relaxation or meditation exercises," said Dr. Ironson. "They can be as simple as muscle relaxation, or meditating on a beautiful place in nature, or repeating a single word (like a mantra) over and over again in your head.

We don't have enough data to distinguish the effects of each of these practices on the immune system, but the research so far suggests that all of them -- if practiced regularly -- seem to have a positive effect."

In addition to these traditional exercises is a newly recognized relaxation tool for controlling stress and boosting immunity: writing in a journal about your feelings each day.

One recent study showed that those who wrote about traumatic or painful events in their lives for four days, 20 minutes a day, increased cells.

Balance

Balance is a term that is thrown around so much in healing today that it may have lost its meaning for many of us. How many of us really make choices according to any concept of balance? Yet, there are several ways of using balance to understand ourselves and the amount of stress in our lives. According to Chinese healers, one way of seeing balance is to ask ourselves whether we expend more energy than we gather. Do we engage in activities that demand more physical, emotional and intellectual investment than they give back as rewards? Do we engage in activities that leave us feeling empty and exhausted at the end of the day? Does our work completely eclipse all opportunities to play?

The more we are harried by deadlines or the pressures of work and career, the more impersonal our lives can, not only toward others, but especially toward ourselves. Thus, another way of determining balance is to see where our time and energy is spent, and compare it to other aspects of our lives to which we give little or no time.

For great many of us today, work and career dominate our lives, while social relationships and intimacy suffer. Unfortunately, this imbalance often leads to poor health and sometimes a shorter lifespan.

In 1979,researchers reported a study of 7,000 residents of Alameda County, California, who were followed over a 9-year period. The scientists found a direct relationship between social or community, rates of illness, and longevity.

Specifically, those who were married, had close personal friends, and/or church or civic affiliation, were more likely to live longer and have fewer illnesses than those who were unmarried or socially isolated.

Men, especially, are particularly vulnerable to illness when they live alone, or lose a loved one. Dr. Maradee Davis and her colleagues at the University of California at San Francisco studied 7,651 adults and found that middle aged men who were unmarried or divorced were twice as likely to die ten years sooner than men who were married or lived with their wives. That finding held true even after accounting for differences in economic, smoking habits, drinking, obesity, and physical activity.

"Men who lived alone or with someone other than a spouse had significantly shorter survival times compared with those living with a spouse," Dr. Davis reported in her study, published in the American Journal of Public Health (March 1992). The pattern of early death was particularly strong among younger men. "The age-adjusted relative hazard of dying was highest in the youngest age group, 45 to 54 years, and decreased somewhat with increasing age."

Ironically, the same pattern did not exist among women. In an interview with Natural Health, Dr. Davis speculated that the reason women fare better than men is because, "Women have better social support networks, are better at making friends, and seem to take better care of their health than men do," Davis said.

Intimate relationships have a profound effect on health. At Duke University Medical School, Redford Williams, MD, director of Behavioral Research at Duke, found that those who suffer a heart attack and have no spouse or close personal friend are three-times more likely to have a fatal heart attack within five years of the original event than those whose hearts are equally injured but are married or have intimate relationships.

 The Duke University research is based on a 9-year follow up study of1,368 patients who were initially admitted to Duke for cardiac catheterization to diagnose heart disease. "What we found was that those patients with neither a spouse nor a friend were three times more likely to die than those involved in a caring relationship," said Dr. Williams.

For people with both minor and severe heart muscle damage due to a heart attack, the results were consistent. People generally face about40 percent change of dying within five years. Dr. Williams found that those who were married or have a close intimate relationship reduced their risk of suffering a fatal heart attack to 20 percent, while those who lacked intimacy raised their chances of dying to 60 percent.

Other research has consistently supported these findings. Women with breast cancer who participate in a support group live longer than those who try to deal with the disease alone.

Scientists are discovering that not only are the recommendations of traditional healers effective, but so too are the guidelines for living offered by spiritual traditions. After reviewing the evidence linking meditation and intimacy to longer life, Dr. Williams said, "It seems evident that the core teachings of most of our religions have been right all along."

A Four Week Program to Enhanced Immunity

The four-step program described below can be incorporated into your life all at once, or by taking a week to adopt each step individually. The overall goal of the program is to have the entire program integrated into your life after 30 days. For those who are unfamiliar with the foods, herbs, and other recommendations on the program, the better approach may be to take your time, adopting each step over a week-long period.

There are two parts to the dietary program. The first is to maintain the healthy diet described in the program; the second is to eat more of the healing foods, herbs, and supplements when your immune system is showing signs of weakness.

Part II, Power Foods, Herbs, and Supplements, should be used whenever your immune system is in a trough.

We begin the program in the first week by adopting a healing diet.

Week One: Nutrition for Stronger Immunity

PART I: An Immune Boosting Diet

An immune-boosting diet must accomplish several things at once. First, it must be rich in antioxidants. It must also be abundant in immune-boosting and cancer-fighting minerals and phytochemicals. It should also be rich in fiber and low in fat and cholesterol. All of these goals can be accomplished by adopting a diet that is rich in plant foods.

Dr. Bruce Ames and his colleagues at the UC Berkeley recommend that in order to get optimal amounts of antioxidants, we must consume at least five servings of whole grains, fresh vegetables, and fruit per day. The beauty of this recommendation is that these foods are not only rich in antioxidants, but also in many other vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, complex carbohydrates for energy, and fiber.

They are low in fat and contain no cholesterol.

THE GOAL: TWO VEGAN MEALS PER DAY

• Salad, with lots of dark leafy greens, carrots, onions, and other vegetables. Add small amounts of low-fat salad dressing or olive oil.

• Sandwiches composed of tofu, leafy greens, mustard, and small amounts of low-fat salad dressing.

• Steamed vegetables. Leafy and green vegetables can be steamed in seven minutes or less. Most restaurants will steam vegetables without oil or butter.

• Baked potato, sweet potato, or yam.

• Vegetable soup. Wide variety available; heated in minutes.

• Leftover grain, such as brown rice.

• Leftover greens, especially those recommended above.

• Brown rice, either boiled or pressure cooked. Any of a variety of condiments or dressings may be added.

• Baked squash.

• Vegetable soup.

• Fruit. 

PART II:Power Foods and Herbs When Immunity is Low

Add the following healing foods and herbs to your diet whenever your immune system seems to weaken.

• Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, collards, kale, mustards, cauliflower, watercress. Recommended amount: At least two servings daily.
  

• Garlic. Recommended amount: four to five times per week, raw or cooked, and preferably both.
   

• Shiitake Mushrooms. 2 to 6 mushrooms per week.
   

• Echinacea. Echinacea can be taken two-times per day, anywhere from three to seven days, without side effects. Use whenever you feel a cold coming on or when suffering from a cold or flu. Standard dosage is 30 drops of echinacea in tincture, taken three times per day, anywhere from three to seven days, depending on the duration of the cold, flu, or infection.  

Add the following immune boosting culinary herbs to your food in cooking.

• Saffron

• Ginger

• Tumeric

• Cumin

• Clove

• Green and Black tea

• Chamomile tea

SUPPLEMENTS 

If supplements are used, add a multivitamin and mineral that contains low doses, or those close to the RDA. The multivitamin and multimineral should include the following nutrients: betacarotene, vitamins B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, folate, riboflavin, and calcium, zinc, magnesium, and selenium.

Week Two: Exercise for Stronger Immunity and Longer Life 

The goal of Week 2 is twofold: First, you should simply to walk four-to-five times during the week, each time for at least 30 minutes. Second, begin a physical activity that you enjoy. That activity could be a sport, such as basketball, tennis, swimming, or racquetball. It could be a physical workout in the gym with weights or on Nautilus equipment. It could be a form of meditative exercise, such as yoga, Tai Chi Chaun, or some other form of martial arts. The activity could also be a form of dance, such as aerobic dancing, swing dancing, or African dance.

The only emphasis for second part of this week's goal is fun -- and only fun. The vast majority of people do not stick with an exercise program because they find it tedious, unpleasant, and even painful. Do not engage in any activity that gives you such an experience. The best physical activities require some skill development, but are also pleasurable from the very beginning.

Suggestions for accomplishing both these goals:

*Pick a time and a place you can easily walk at least four to five times a week. Set that time aside every day to get your exercise.

*If you cannot get a half hour to walk daily, walk three times per day for 10 minutes each session, starting in the morning or at your lunch break.

*Walk before dinner for 20 minutes or more.

*Walk with your lover or friend. Walking is cheap therapy. Walk with your spouse, friend, or lover and get to know each other better. Also, someone from your neighborhood might love to get into a routine for walking at a particular hour of the day.

*Take up dancing.

*Join a club. Lots of towns have organized nature walks and hiking clubs.

Walking with others is a chance to make new friends and have fun while you are exercising. Consult your local recreation department for organizations that provide regular walking clubs or hiking programs.

*Join the YMCA or YWMC. The YMCA or YWCA provides everything from swimming to basketball to volleyball to hiking. Call the Y or drop by and talk to the nice people there about the programs being offered and see what works for you.

*Private classes offer on-going classes in yoga, stretching, and other forms of exercise. These clubs and classes are usually very inexpensive and are great ways to socialize while you exercise.

*Ride a Bike. One of the greatest and most enjoyable exercises you will ever experience on this earth. If not a two-wheeler, than a stationary bike. People who use stationary bikes often listen to music, self-help tapes, and meditate themselves into tranquility.

*Avoid competitive games if you are out of shape. If you are new to exercise, it's wise to avoid competitive games because people often forget themselves in the heat of battle. The consequence for many is a fatal heart attack.  

Week Three: Overcoming Blocks and Developing Optimism

The goal of this week's step is to achieve deeper self-understanding, greater compassion for yourself and a greater sense optimism. Improvements in diet and exercise will reduce your stress considerably and dramatically improve your outlook on life. They will make you feel more personally empowered and optimistic about your future. Having made those two steps, it's time to go a little deeper and confront your underlying feelings about life.

At the bottom of so much pessimism about life is a dull depression and feelings of powerlessness. Psychologist James W. Pennebaker, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, learned that such feelings can be overcome and immune response boosted by dealing directly with one's deepest trauma. The method he used to do this has come to be known as the Pennebaker method.

Pennebaker learned that after writing about his life, and particularly his own deepest trauma, he spontaneously overcame his own deep depression. Surprised at the powerful effects of such writing, Pennebaker devised a study in which people were to write for 20minutes a day, for four consecutive days, about their most traumatic event. He and other scientists then measured the immune response of the participants and compared them against a control group. Time after time, the people who wrote in their journals about their own traumatic experiences had markedly stronger immune responses.

After the writing exercise, Pennebaker tested the number and aggressiveness of CD4 cells in both the control group and in those who spent four days writing confessional journals. He discovered that the CD4 cells of students who did the writing were more aggressive in response to a disease-causing agent than those of the control group. The students who did the study had fewer visits to the health clinic than their matched controls.

The immune response was especially strong among those people who confessed feelings that they have never confronted, even to themselves. These people, whom Pennebaker termed "high disclosers," had the most remarkable improvement in CD4 response than all other participants.

Pennebaker maintains that more than mere catharsis is at work here. He suggests that psychological inhibition – the mechanism by which we keep things secret, even from ourselves -- requires a certain degree of psychic and physical energy. As he puts it, inhibition is a demanding form of work, especially when a very painful trauma must be kept secret. Physical symptoms frequently occur from such inhibition, such as elevations in blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, skin temperature and perspiration levels.

The psychological effects on people who use the Pennebaker method are as significant as its impact on the immune system. People report feeling released from old wounds, shame, and psychological barriers that long held them back. Others report feeling emotionally lighter and more optimistic.

Pennebaker points out that one does not necessarily have to write the event. Confessing it to someone else will have the same effect.

The rules for writing such confessions are simple enough:

1. Write for20 minutes, for four consecutive days.

2. Write continuously about the most upsetting experience or trauma of your entire life.

3. Don't worry about grammar, spelling, or structure of the piece.

4. Write your deepest thoughts and emotions regarding the experience. Include all the details you remember and insights into the events.

In addition to the Pennebaker Method, adopt a ten-two-twenty minute program of prayer or meditation. The meditation should take place each day in a quiet, peaceful place in your house or outdoors, if that is where you are most relaxed. If you feel it appropriate, create a place where you can focus your attention, such as an altar.

Do a progressive meditation exercise, or simply sit and pray. Ask whatever spiritual guides or beings with which you feel comfortable for guidance and assistance. Pour out your feelings. People who meditate or pray regularly report that typically they feel themselves going through at least four layers of emotions. Very often, the first is anger; the second is sadness and grief; the third is compassion for what one has gone through in life; and the fourth is joy and gratitude.

As the research has consistently shown, this process has tremendous immune boosting effect.

Week Four: Making Balance

The goal of Week IV is to redistribute, if only in a small way, some of your time and energy to the areas of your life that are currently neglected.

Do the following exercise to understand your imbalances. Draw a circle and divide it into segments that represent the amount of time you devote to five key areas of your life. The five segments are:

• First, the time you devote to your work and career.
   

• Second, the time and energy you devote to your intimate relationships, such as your lover and/or immediate family members, such as children.
   

• Third, the time and attention you devote to your friendships.
   

• Fourth, the time devoted to play.
   

• Fifth, the time you have for yourself to be alone, to do whatever you enjoy doing for yourself, and to reconnect with yourself and your life. The primary focus of this time is to know what you feel and to allow your own needs to surface.

After drawing the circle with its five segments, recognize where your life is imbalanced. Take each segment of your that is currently neglected and commit to giving that segment an hour to two hours in a single day sometime during the week head. For example, many people devote most of their time and energy to their work and career, but neglect their loved ones, friendships, and themselves. They also have little or no time to do whatever recreational activities that give them enjoyment. Such a person, therefore, would designate four days of his or her coming week and devote at least and hour, and preferably two hours, of each day to a currently neglected segment of his or her life.

You do not have to incorporate all the suggestion in this article toe xperience the program’s benefits. Do as many of the steps as you can and then gradually incorporate more and more of the steps over time. Every step that you maintain will have a positive effect on your immune system. As you integrate and maintain more healing practices, you will experience greater and greater effects on your overall health and sense of well-being.

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