Natural Ways to Build a Bulletproof Immune System

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Hey everyone, welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. I am your host, Dr. Axe. And each and every week on this show, we dive deep into the science and principles behind how to grow in body, mind, and spirit, and take your health and your life to the next level.

Today I'll be discussing how to naturally Boost and strengthen your immune system via diet, lifestyles, natural remedies like honey, and traditional practices. And I want to mention, so many people have a false idea about what immunization is. Now, when we hear the word immunization, we tend to think of shots, and that's the only thing.

But we can naturally immunize ourselves and our kids via things like vaginal birth, breastfeeding, eating very specific foods as you grow up, eating local, consuming things like raw local honey, and so much more. And so on today's In this episode, I'm gonna dive into how to truly strengthen your immune system and what you need to know about natural immunization.

I also wanna say there are so many lies and propaganda out there today about natural immunization. Now, a lot of it, it got even worse around COVID-19 when they started changing definitions in the dictionary and on medical websites around, well, the only way to reach herd immunity is via vaccination, and the only way to, you know, actually truly protect yourself is a shot.

And, you know, You know, people started to discard, everyone from Dr. Fauci to others in the mainstream media, the power of getting sunshine, eating local food, taking vitamin C and zinc and vitamin D. We started to get away from the realities about how to strengthen our immune systems. And this is something we are very aware of in the Axe household.

For instance, one of the things we do with our daughters is we, as they start, we have a 1-year-old now and a 4-year-old, but we give them very specific foods to naturally help strengthen strengthen and diversify their gut microbiome and their immune system. It's a form of natural immunization.

Now that our daughter is 1, we give her things like bee pollen, uh, or, or I'm sorry, our 4-year-old, we give bee pollen. And, and so, uh, I'm gonna dive into that and so much more. By the way, this, some of these ideas, I wrote a book on this back in 2000, and I wanna say it was '13 or '14. It was, the book was called Eat Dirt.

It was a national bestseller, and the book really dived into a lot of these topics, uh, that we're gonna dive into today. But before I dive in, make sure to subscribe to the and hit the link in the show notes to subscribe to my weekly wellness newsletter. You'll find that link in the show notes, and so you won't miss a thing. In those show notes, you're gonna get the show notes of the show.

So if you want some of the references and the medical citations and things I'll go through today, then you'll wanna make sure to go to the show notes and get signed up for the weekly newsletter, or subscribe to the weekly newsletter so you can get the show notes. So I wanna start off here talking about immunization.

And as we talk about in our Western world today, today in the United States, we tend to think of the only way you immunize yourself is via a shot. But I want to go through what the current schedule is so you see really the only way that medical professionals today tend to talk about immunization.

And, and I just want to say too, you know, there is a narrative out there that I don't believe is true around that vaccines eliminated certain diseases. You know what's crazy?

If you go and actually read books and look at the research for yourself without the smoke and mirrors, you'll start to notice that most of these diseases started falling off, going way down before some of these vaccines were even introduced. And so, it's important to understand that as we dive into the truth.

A lot of it had to do with better sanitation, quite frankly, and a number of— because that sort of breeds pathogenic spread, but we'll dive into that more. So, the current childhood vaccine schedule in the United States has continued to expand over the years as new vaccines have been developed by drugmakers.

And if we go back to the early 20th century, when you look at the different vaccines that were given, it tended to be smallpox, diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough. I can tell you for myself, when I was a kid, I think I remember receiving maybe a total of 4 shots, possibly. The ones I think that I was given were tetanus, diphtheria, probably smallpox, and then possibly MMR.

But that's really all I received. So I really didn't get— and I was born around 1981, and I had far less. And around that 1980, '81 time, a lot more were introduced such as hepatitis, influenza B, pneumococcal disease, and a number of others. And this has just continued to expand over time.

And I want to go through these charts here so you can see the number of shots given and the number of diseases from 1986 to 2019, and then also looking at the current schedule in 2024. And you can see here in 1986, there were about 12 shots. Again, I only remember receiving about 4. So it was actually far less than this even. But in 1986, it was 12 shots, 25 antigens, and 8 diseases.

By 2019, it was 54 shots, 70 antigens, and 16 diseases. Now, I wanna say that the current schedule in 2024 is closer to 70 shots for some, and that's a lot. It's a lot. And I wanna say that, you know, if somebody's immune system is fully developed and strengthened, their body can, fight off many of these things we're talking about, such as— you see the number of influenza there.

I mean, I mean, that's the flu, right? So, so, so one thing that tends to happen, and a way that I want you to think about the way that immunization works, is when your body's exposed to something in a microdose, uh, or, or just exposed to it, your body then can fight it off, um, better in the future, right? Your body creates antibodies to these things, and that's the way that works.

Now, I want to go through another chart here, and this goes through the current adolescent schedule through the ages of 18 years old, and I wanna go through also through the ages of 29 years old, the amount of shots somebody will get. And so here's a vaccine schedule. I wanna list off the vaccines and the number of doses per.

So from birth to age 6, kids will get 3 doses of hepatitis B, 2 to 3 doses of rotavirus, 5 doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, 4 doses of influenza type B, 3 to 4 doses, 4 doses of pneumococcal, 6 doses, I'm sorry, 4 doses of poliovirus, 2 doses of MMR, 2 doses of chickenpox, 2 doses of hepatitis A, and around 6 doses of influenza at least, okay?

And then, by the way, that's just 0 to 6 years old. And then from ages 7 to 18, we've got 1 dose of tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, 2 to 3 doses of HPV, 2 doses of MC, 2 doses of meningococcal B, another 6 doses of influenza. And then 19 to 29, we've got influenza, 11 more doses. We've got COVID-19, initial series and boosters, which is gonna be around 5.

And then tetanus, that's gonna be 1 booster every 10 years. But by the age of, 29. Most people have around 70 shots. 70 Shots. Okay. Uh, and the, and, and, and the thing I would say is about this is that like when I think about the groups of people I know that are the healthiest, and I'm gonna ask this as a question, I want you to answer it in your head.

The people that I know that are the least, uh, that are the least likely to follow the current vaccine schedule and either get zero or Very, very few. Here's the groups of people that I know who, who get the least amount of shots. Number one is actually chiropractors. Chiropractors are very holistic. They try and do everything without the use of drugs, surgery, or shots.

And that is the group that probably gets the least amount of these and is the least compliant. The next group is functional medicine doctors. Okay? Yeah. Again, that, that's another group. And then I would say naturopaths, acupuncturists.

These are the other groups along there, but these, these natural medicine providers, and I know thousands of them, by the way, that are in these different groups, holistic MDs, DOs, you know, OMDs, acupuncturists, naturopaths, I know a lot, and chiropractors. They are the least likely to get these. After that group, it's going to be homesteaders, homeschoolers, the Amish.

It's gonna be people that are really focused on gardening and taking care of themselves in that way. Those, those are the most likely groups of people. Now tell me what I missed. Okay? I, I would love for you to share. And by the way, have you seen that same thing? But these are the groups of people that I see that are probably, uh, the least likely to follow the schedule.

And the thing I wanna ask you is, do you think those groups of people are more or less healthy than, than the general population? Well, in my experience, that group of people is much healthier. And when I say much, I mean much healthier.

I mean, most of the functional medicine doctors I know, and naturopaths, and chiropractors, these groups of people, they're fit, they're healthy, they look like RFK Jr., okay, a lot of them. They are much more holistic-minded. They're into, they take vitamins and supplements. They're into gardening. They're into going to their local farmer's market. They're into biohacking.

They're doing these things. And for them, those people, when they think about immunization, they don't think about it as solely this thing that the CDC or government dictates that you do in order to be healthy. They think about it as, I am naturally strengthening my immune system over time in different ways to boost my immune system.

And the reality is this, is that, you know, when we talk about immunization, there's also natural immunization, and that's the process by which the immune system strengthens and learns to fight off pathogens through exposure to antigens in your environment, in food, and other places in life.

And I want to walk you through sort of the process of how this works, of how most people naturally immunize themselves over time. And it starts with through the mother and in the womb. It's called passive immunity. During pregnancy, mothers pass on antibodies such as immunoglobulin G, or IgG, to their babies through the placenta.

And these antibodies protect the newborn from infections for the first few months The key benefit here is this protection is temporary, but it provides a shield until the baby's immune system matures. And then via breast milk, is it? Well, let me, let me actually, there's one in between here.

So, so there's in the womb, there's passing through, through the vaginal canal, vaginal birth, and when the baby is then covered in this, this, uh, good bacteria. And by the way, if you don't do a vaginal birth, one other thing you can do if you did C-section is you can go and take. You can take the fluids and the bacteria from the mother.

You can take a swab and you can then go and wipe it all over the baby's face and head. And I know plenty of mothers and family members who wanted to have a home birth, they weren't able to, and then they had to have a C-section, and then they went and then they did, they covered the baby in that. So the baby was getting some of those powerful immune boosters at that time. At that time.

And this is also— they tell you don't wash the baby the first week of birth at least, so they can continue to absorb into their skin and via inhale and in their mouth that good bacteria. So again, number one is via in the mother. This is why it's so important for moms to be healthy, is you pass off your immune system and those antibodies to your kids in the womb.

The next is during the birth process, and then after that it's via breast milk. Breast milk is rich in immunoglobulins such as IgA, which coats the baby's gut and prevents harmful pathogens from entering the bloodstream, such as lactoferrin, which inhibits bacterial growth. It also has oligosaccharides, which feed gut bacteria, so the child starts growing more beneficial bacteria in their gut.

These are all found in breast milk. It's the greatest superfood of all time, and it supports natural immunization. Some of the other key compounds that mother's breast milk has are cytokines and growth factors. These support modulation of the immune system by the baby, such as your Th1 and Th2 immune system.

There's live cells, and there, there are a host of other things, uh, in the mother's breast milk that supports the antibodies of the baby. Now, once we get through the breastfeeding phase and those teeth start to break out, which is how you know that a child is ready to start consuming some form of food, um, it's, uh, it's via food.

And so this should be introduced typically around that, you know, it could be, you know, let's call it 6 to 9, you know, month time period. And what they start to do is build up a tolerance to these foods they're eating and start creating certain types of bacteria in their gut that help them break down food. And exposure to these various foods introduces antigens.

These are proteins that are recognized by the immune system that now helps train the immune system to recognize and break down and deal with different substances that are out there. The other thing is, again, it really supports microbiome diversity.

When you're consuming foods specifically like vegetables and fruits and grains like rice and meat and healthy fats like avocado, you start to get more diversity in gut bacteria, which are crucial for gut, uh, immune regulation. Also, you're getting other Nutrients that support the immune system, like vitamin C, which is critical for white blood cell production.

Zinc and beta-glucans are important as well. So over time— and by the way, with our, uh, with our kids, what we start to do when they're little is we start to introduce microdoses. We actually buy from a company, and I can't recall the exact name of it, but basically it has things like peanuts and dairy and a number of other things.

And we give, we give our, our, our, our kids this so they start building up exposure to peanuts and tree nuts and strawberries and eggs and dairy and the foods that many kids are becoming allergic to today because they were never exposed.

And so what happens is when you get these microdoses, your body is able to create these antibodies or the right enzymes and bacteria to break down these foods in the future. So you really want to make sure when you've got kids that you're exposing them to a wide range of foods, including gluten and wheat and some of these products.

Now, you're better off with something like an einkorn, but you do want to expose them to these things early so they can produce the antibodies. And a lot of parents stop introducing things like peanuts to their kids early on, and so now kids are allergic to them because they were never exposed in the first place and their body was never able to adapt.

Now, I want to say also, over time, there are other foods that really start to— that continue to support natural immunization, such as local honey. Okay, local honey contains traces amount of local pollen or around 200 different types of microbes. These help desensitize the immune system, reducing allergic responses to local environmental allergens and foods.

And this provides antioxidants and antibacterial properties as well. And also fermented foods also are going to help with something called your gut-associated lymphoid tissue, which is going to be which is a major part of your gut microbiome. So consuming raw local honey, consuming local vegetables. Now in my book Eat Dirt, I talked about this.

When you're pulling beets or carrots out of the ground, if you would hold a microscope up to them or look at them closely, there's little brown specks on carrots. They're not like shiny, unless you're buying the baby carrots which are peeled and sprayed with chlorine. But if you're— In many cases.

But if you're doing the actual carrots you bought at your farmer's market or from a local store, you're going to see that they're gonna have these brown specks on them. That's dirt, right? It's dirt. But those tend to be known as the ones embedded in there are soil.

They have soil-based bacteria, soil-based probiotics that actually help you better break down and digest that food you're about to eat. And there was a study outta Japan that found that if you're consuming foods locally, you're better able to absorb and digest those local foods.

They also found that if you grew up eating certain foods, so for instance, they found people that are were Japanese better digested seaweed than people that weren't from an area where they grew up eating seaweed, right? So, so, so it's important to recognize that you can build up and strengthen your immune system and locally and, and immunize yourself via microexposures to things over time.

And this is also important for kids. You know, when I was a kid, people had chickenpox parties. Now, I went and I got chickenpox just naturally at school once. And I remember soaking in, like, I think my mom had me in like an oatmeal and baking soda bath a few times, you know, just to deal with it. But honestly, I didn't feel too bad. I remember having a movie day or two and it was pretty great.

Um, but I was able to do that and that strengthened my immune system. And I think that if you would ask a practitioner that is more naturally minded if a child is better off taking a shot or actually getting it and beating it themselves, I think they would say beating themselves. An example of that would be COVID-19. What offers greater protection, I'm gonna ask you this.

Getting COVID-19 just naturally or getting the shot? I'm not gonna answer that, but there are studies that go out and show which one of those 2 created a stronger and a more protective immune response. We know this.

Dr. Marty Makary, who was on the show recently, I remember talking, my former interview with him, this was a few years back during this time, he went and shared his belief around that, that that the natural immunity is the strongest form of immunity. Um, and so here's, here's the biggest thing I just want to say.

I'm not, I'm not, I don't know that I'm completely against, I'm, I'm not completely against any vaccinations at any time for, for everything. Let me give you an example. I've got a family member who has glioblastoma.

It's a, it's a, it's a very deadly brain tumor, and we're going to go and do something called a dendritic Um, a, a dendritic, um, cell vaccine where we will go and take— well, actually, once they remove the tumor from his brain, we'll take that tumor, they will take that actual tissue, they'll then create antibodies to the glioblastoma that he has specifically, and we'll give him— and he'll basically get a vaccine to those glioblastoma cells.

I mean, it's an amazing form of research, and it's the future of, of, of cancer therapy, or certain types of of cancer treatment.

So I think there is a time and a place for certain, but I think that probably one of the biggest things that I'm frustrated about is that we have put our sole focus on people strengthening their immune system via this way, this outdated way of doing things in terms of the way we're doing it today versus we've totally lost building your actual foundation of how to strengthen your immune system.

The government and medical practitioners, the CDC, the FDA, should all be going out saying, Listen, people, if you want to strengthen your immune system, you need to ideally be healthy, you know, as a mother. You need to breastfeed ideally. You want to have a natural birth if you can, and if not, then here's the procedure to pass on some of the good bacteria to your child.

You should be exposing your child to some of these things. Here's the sort of diet they should follow. Here's some of the ideal supplements and key nutrients, right? That's how, you know, you should be— we should be promoting eating locally and doing some of these things. But we're not.

And it all has to do with money and these vaccines that are created by these pharmaceutical giants and the billions, or over time, trillions of dollars that they're bringing in. And it's very unfortunate that because that, that now these other natural things aren't promoted.

I can remember getting— I, when COVID was coming out, I went and did a podcast on, um, on Gabe and Rebecca Lyons' podcast, and I went and talked about at that time how to naturally strengthen your immune system. Some of the things we're talking about now, and I got into vitamin D and zinc and vitamin C, probiotics and the research around those herbs like astragalus, echinacea, and elderberry.

I went through all this. And then I, there was an article written about me, several, that said Dr. Axe is being unscientific because I was talking about how I would go about treating and caring for and strengthening the immune system around COVID versus what the outside people were saying, which was— This shot is this is the only answer.

So I want to say it's very important that we change our mindset around this because I guarantee I'm telling you right now, listen, there's a principle in the Bible and is by their fruit you will recognize them. This is something Jesus says, and if you want to be healthy, you should follow the advice of people that are very healthy.

Who is healthier than functional medicine practitioners and chiropractors and naturopaths and acupuncturists? Acupuncturists and a lot of the homesteaders and those sort of people that are, that are researching natural health. You know, we're listening to the people that have only studied disease and never studied health. I mean, it's absolutely crazy.

And so it's important to model and follow what those people are doing if you wanna be healthy yourself. This is why I love Robert F. Kennedy Jr., RFK. You know what, why I trust him much more than some of the other people in government that are talking about healthcare, especially those at the CDC, because He's actually healthy. Many of them aren't. And there's a big difference.

You know, he's in his 70s and still thriving and active and healthy, able to go and box and run and swim and is really fit. So there's a difference there. One of the biggest things that we have gotten away from doing when it comes to natural immunization is spending time outside in our natural environment.

You know, this is why I would say that I think this is one of the biggest reasons why kids are sick today, is they're sitting inside on their, uh, you know, computers and watching TVs and video games and not exposing themselves to outdoor air and outdoor, uh, dirt. This is why I titled my book Eat Dirt in the past, because kids should literally be eating some dirt.

Here's a reality: gradual exposure to dirt, local pollen, and things in the air reduces your risk of allergies according to a medical study, multiple medical studies. And so we know that there are benefits around exposure to natural allergens. And the other thing is the soil.

Like I said, playing outside in the soil helps educate our immune systems, reducing the risk of autoimmune diseases and allergies and a number of these issues. So over time, consuming some of the natural foods we talked about, spending more time outdoors in our outdoor environment, You know, getting your hands dirty in the soil when you're a kid, that means playing in the dirt.

When you're older, it means things like gardening. You know, having pets and animals, but just, you know, exposure is important. Even exposure to things like the common cold is good for you as long as your immune system is strong and can defeat it. Then you're only going to get stronger as you go through it in most cases in that way.

And so it's important to understand that if you're going to be healthy, that you naturally strengthen and support your immune system. So in summary, over time, as we naturally boost your immune system, we want to focus on number one, passive immunity that's provided by the mother via antibodies in the womb, via bacteria during birth and in breast milk.

Number two, we want to have controlled introduction of antigens through your food, things you'd even typically be allergic to like peanuts and gluten, the environment, and getting mild illnesses. Number 3, we want to focus on microbiome development fueled by diverse, nutrient-rich, and fermented foods, getting more polyphenols in your diet, also spending more time, uh, even outside.

And then number 4 is environmental integration. This is exposure to local allergens, microbes, and foods that are built up in your local region where you live, like raw local honey. And 5, long-term immune strengthening via holistic practices such as getting acupuncture, via red light therapy and sauna, doing also things like, you know, herbs like astragalus, foods like bone broth.

A lot of these things over time strengthen and build our immune systems, and so it's important that we focus on naturally immunizing ourselves via these, these ways. Okay, so let's dive more into some of this advanced information. And before modern medicine and vaccines, cultures worldwide used herbs, foods, and traditional wisdom and lifestyle practices to enhance their immune system.

So in Chinese medicine, they utilize a variety of herbs that are believed to strengthen the body's defense energy, which is the immune system, also known as Wei Qi, and they would use things like acupuncture, dietary recommendations, and qigong exercises to strengthen the body's natural defenses.

Now, some of the herbs that tend to be prescribed for these issues— the most common was astragalus, and then in addition, ginseng, reishi mushroom, goji berries— these were all believed to have immune-boosting benefits and strengthen that type of qi that protects the body. There's a quote from the medical journal Frontiers, and here's what it says.

The immunoregulatory effects of Chinese medicine include the stimulation of immune cell activation, regulation of cytokine production, and inhibition of inflammation, production of antioxidant activity, and modulation of immune cell signaling pathways. And so we even see in medical science today the benefits of using Chinese medicine to strengthen your immune system.

We saw a very similar thing if you go back and look at Ayurveda. They focused on on what are called the 3 doshas, your energies of your vata, your pitta, your kapha. They would recommend herbs like ginger, like turmeric, like neem to help strengthen the immune system along with practices such as meditation and yoga.

And so we've— and there's studies showing that these various Ayurvedic practices strengthen the immune system, increase the natural killer cells and T-helper cells in your body, which fight things like cancer and modern illnesses. In Native America, American medicine, they would actually have things like sweat lodges.

So they would sometimes cold plunge and do sweat lodges to sweat and detoxify, sort of an ancient form of a sauna in order to heal. And we saw that in ancient Roman culture as well. And we go back and look at things like European herbalism, they were recommending garlic many years ago.

There was a blend called Thieves, which is vinegar with— which was a lot of other powerful spices like oregano and clove and even black walnut. Elderberry, of course, is a powerful herb that was recommended in ancient European medicine as well. So we see these herbs like garlic and elderberry and vinegar and others used in ancient cultures for treating and strengthening the immune system.

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Wrap yourself in Cozy Earth. Now, as mentioned previously, I am a fan of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his ideas around natural medicine and healthcare. Now, there's probably other things I don't necessarily align with him on, but his idea around Making America Healthy Again, MAHA, it, it, it mirrors his call for a return to these foundational health principles.

You know, Kennedy argues that our current healthcare system is overly dependent on pharmaceuticals, which often focuses on treating symptoms rather than actually preventing and building disease over time. And he suggests that a shift towards prevention could reduce the overall burden of disease and lead to healthier populations. And this is a no-brainer. Now, here's what he said.

I wanna give a quote from him. He says this, I'm going to urge President Trump on day one to do the same thing they did in COVID, which is to declare a national emergency, but not for infectious disease, but for chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, childhood obesity, and others.

And he emphasizes the role of diet in health, advocating for the consumption of whole organic foods that are free of pesticides and chemicals. And as an environmental lawyer, he has highlighted the impact of environmental toxins on health. And he's campaigned for things like clean water, clean air, less exposure to chemicals.

And these are all things that are critical to strengthening our immune system. And also, this is important. He's called for the ending of advertising that's direct to the consumer for prescription drugs. Did you know that the United States and New Zealand are the only 2 countries that can market drugs via ads on television and magazines to the general population. It shouldn't be that way.

He also wants to reform school lunches. I mean, our school lunches today are absolutely abysmal.

Can I tell you, Chelsea, with, uh, with, with our 4-year-old now— by the way, you guys know this if you experience this with schools— Chelsea and I are going kind of touring some schools right now, and, uh, the school lunches are actually— one was really impressive, uh, that we went to here in Nashville, and, and the other we were looking at was just terrible.

So if she goes to That one, we're gonna just be packing her school no matter what. Honestly, we're gonna be packing her school lunch every day. We actually were talking to her recently, um, and, uh, and we're asking her, we said, how many other kids pack your lunch? And she's in this little class with like 12 kids right now. Um, and she's the only one. Okay. The only kid that's packing her lunch.

And she told us the other day, she said, um, uh, what was the kid's name? Simon. She was like, Simon told me that my Um, that my lunch looked icky. And we're like, well, you know what? Like, Chelsea and I were a little— I mean, Chelsea and I know enough not to get riled up about what another 4-year-old says about our, our daughter's lunch.

But we went then and told her like, no, you have the best lunch. Here's why. You know, this has these vitamins, this has this, this has this. And so, you know, she was really empowered that she has the best lunch of all time and it's better than what the other kids are getting. And of course it is much better than what you're gonna get in a school cafeteria.

So, So, you know, I, I wanna go through, um, some of these studies and ideas around, uh, naturally boosting your immune system. And one of the things, as I was writing my book, that was most surprising to me was around— I don't even know whether it was surprising, I'd heard it before, but it was more confirming.

And that is, studies show that children who grow up with pets or on farms, such as Amish children, tend to have stronger immune systems and lower rates of allergies Dramatically. By the way, it's dramatic. I wanna say if you have a dog, um, your cha— your chances of having allergies is like 50% less. I mean, it, it, that, I mean, that statistically is very significant.

And, and what's happening there is you're getting exposure to more diverse microbes. So you have your dog running out and they're on the ground, they're getting their feet in the mud and they're outside, and then you're going back and cuddling, hugging, or, you know, playing with your animal.

Animal, and you're now getting exposure to a greater number of microbes, and that educates your immune system and your kids' immune systems over time, helping your body better differentiate and fight different, different allergens. Um, here's another study. It's amazing. Amish children have the lowest rates of allergies of any group ever studied. Do you guys hear that? The lowest rates.

Only about 5% or less of Amish children have allergies and asthma compared to more than 25% of the general US population. That's more than 5x, 5 to 6 times more, the US population versus the Amish. Here's a quote, okay? The Amish have diets rich in fat, salt, and raw milk, and they spend a great deal of time outside.

They have the lowest rates of childhood obesity, the longest durations of breastfeeding, the most minimal exposure to tobacco smoke and air pollution, and taboos against indoor pets, TV, and internet. And, um, the Amish avoid all modern technology, and as a result, they practice traditional single-family dairy farming and use horses for fieldwork and transportation.

So they're spending much more time outdoors. A variety of farm animals are kept in addition to cows, such as horses, poultry, rabbits, and other birds, to which all the children of both sexes are exposed to from An early age. And so you see there, what's the difference? The Amish people— I mean, here's the biggest difference: they're spending more time outside.

I want you to pick up on something here. If you want to strengthen your immune system and the immune system of your kids, one of the greatest things you can ever do is play outside and do any sort of gardening, even if it's a small herb garden in your backyard. That, and doing that for you and your kids, is phenomenal. So it's spending time outdoors is number one.

Secondarily, having pets and spending time with your pets again outdoors, and less screen time, less time with technology. Those are the things that really move the needle for the Amish, and they have five to six times less allergens and allergies and asthma. So what we really want to be able to do here is educate our immune system. The best way to do it spending time outside.

When you spend outside, you're exposed regularly in micro doses. Which then strengthens your immune system. You know, one of the reasons why some people, you know, there's, we see this a lot in Nashville. There's certain areas of the country, Kansas, I know the Ohio Valley, there's a number of places where allergies are terrible.

So what happens with seasonal allergies is this, is that somebody will go out typically in the spring and fall and have major reactions. For instance, I have a friend and if he spends time outside, he would have his eyes swell up. I mean, I mean, just very— I mean, very, very severe. And, um, and, and that's because his body can't deal with the pollen and the allergens.

But if you do microexposures, like what I would have him do, and what I have had all my patients do who have had the same issue, is I have them start eating as much as they can food from their local farmer's market. So when, when their allergies are heightened, okay, I have them inside with an air filter during when they're having a major reaction.

But then when when you're not having those major symptoms, I have them get outside as many hours as possible. I encourage them to start, even if it's a small garden of just doing herbs, and I have them start consuming local bee pollen and local honey, a teaspoon of each every single day. And you know, the results I've seen with that are extraordinary.

I mean, the number of people who've told me a couple years later that they don't have allergies or they've been decreased by 90% is really, really phenomenal. And so, and, and I guess it's not a phenomenon, it's just the way the immune system works. You have to do these micro exposures over time.

And if you're inside all the time and you're not outside very often and you're not getting those exposures, well, then when you have a big allergy hit, then you're going to have major issues. And so again, doing those things we talked about— and listen, for some people it takes a little more than that.

Sometimes you need to do acupuncture and you need to to take higher dose probiotics for a period of time and take herbs like astragalus to help regulate your immune system and get more fermented foods. But generally speaking, those things will make a really, really big difference because they will educate your immune system.

I mean, exposure to a variety of microbes teaches the immune system to differentiate between harmful and harmless entities, which reduces the likelihood that you're going to have An allergic reaction. You know, one of the things that I am incredibly excited about in Chelsea is, is we're, we're building a farm and a homestead right now. And I already have a farm.

We have a farm, uh, about an hour south of Nashville in Summertown. We've got about 4,000 acres that we own with Jordan Rubin and Nikki Rubin in Missouri where we do organic farming, but I don't live on it. I visit it, but I don't live on it.

And so Chelsea and I just bought about 10 acres in Nashville and for, for, for a few acres We are doing, uh, a homestead and we're gonna have cows and sheep and ducks and chickens. And my daughter keeps asking us to get a pig. I'm like, we're not getting a pig. It's gonna be too much of a mess. And then people ask about goats.

We might at some point, but the reality is I've been around families and friends of ours that have goats and they're just, they can be a real pain in the neck. But we're, we're gonna have, we're, we're gonna have a lot of animals there and we're gonna have a big greenhouse. We're gonna have a large garden.

But I'm incredibly excited about doing this because of the health benefits, but also just the enjoyment, the, the stress reduction and being able to do this.

We are, uh, incredibly excited about, and part of this has to do, there's a great study on this and they found that children on farms were exposed to more plants and more animal bacteria, which are associated with more effective regulatory T cells, which are crucial for preventing allergic reactions.

And at fighting cancer and at fighting immune disease and at fighting things like the cold and flu. There is a study done in Wiley, and here's what they found. They said farm-related exposure induces an anti-inflammatory response of the innate immune system and increases the differentiation of regulatory T cells and T helper cells as well.

And these are important for, again, Strengthen your immune system to fight all the diseases we just talked about. And there's this idea, and this is why I called my book Eat Dirt. Think about that. Most parents are like, don't put that in your mouth and stay away, you know, stay out of the dirt. For us, like, our daughter is like, you know, we encourage her to get out there.

Now listen, if you've got a lawn and you're spraying it with, you know, chemicals regularly, then, then, then don't do this, okay? But if your kid's getting real dirt and some of the just stuff around your dog and around your house and those types of things, you want them to be exposed and you want to expose yourself. And I can't overstate how important it is.

And listen, you don't have to have a farm yourself. Okay? Now, if you do, that's wonderful. If you can have animals or just chickens in your yard, that's amazing. But just spending time outside is so crucial and playing a little bit in the dirt. And there's something called the hygiene hypothesis.

And this That suggests that a lack of early childhood exposure to infectious agents is bad for the immune system. You have these organisms, which by the way, did you know that our bodies have about 37 trillion cells, but there's probably around 100 trillion bacteria in our bodies alone? So you probably have around 3 times as many bacteria That make up your body than actual cells.

When you look at the 3 major world religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, they all state in their holy texts, and of course it's going to be the same in Christianity and Judaism, that we come from the dust and the mud. That's where God created us from.

And I think there's a reality there of we are created to be closely connected to the earth and to the dust and to the mud and to the trees and to the grass. We ideally, from the moment we're born or very early on in life, we need to have exposure and connection to the earth and our outdoor environments. And if you don't have it, it's going to make you sick.

These are really— these microorganisms are symbiotic, they're synergistic, they work with our bodies. And if you don't have exposure to these good forms of bacteria, you're gonna be more susceptible to parasites and to viruses. Viruses, into a number of pathogens. And pets and farm animals are a great source of microbial exposure, as we talked about.

And again, simply having a dog that spends a lot of time outside, simply having a small garden is great. But if you don't have that, get a swing set in your backyard and have your kids play outside constantly. Have rules around how much time they need to spend outdoors versus how much time they get to spend on, you know, watching a TV show.

Set those things in motion to where it's like you're giving them their daily medicine. 2 Hours outside every day. Hey, if it's raining and snowing, well, maybe it's 30 minutes, but, or bundle up or wear a raincoat, but they wanna spend as much time outdoors as possible. Listen to this study on pets. This was out of the Journal of Asthma and Allergy. They said pets are a major source of allergens.

Levels of allergens in the home homes of pet owners are approximately 250-fold higher than levels seen in homes of non-pet owners. That's actually a good thing. You want to have some exposure to some of these allergens.

I want to go back to something I mentioned earlier and just do a little bit more of a deep dive here on some of the practices that we have lost via, you know, mainstream medicine today.

Uh, and can I just tell you, one of the things that just irritates me Is that there are so many people in our medical profession that have just totally discarded God, nature, ancient history in medicine, the wisdom of those people.

For instance, again, all of the C-sections today, I mean, it's known that when you get around 5 o'clock in the evening, C-sections go up because doctors want to get home. Okay? So it's not what's best for the baby. It's not what's best for the mother. Now listen, there are certain instances where C-sections save lives. But I think that they should probably be reduced by 90%.

I think scheduling out a C-section is not ideal. I don't think it's ideal for the mother. I don't think it's ideal for the baby. I know that this is gonna be controversial, but it is not something I recommend.

I mean, there, we, we, we had, like, I've had several people I know who have, have met with their doctors and their doctor said, because you're a small person, um, the baby won't fit through. Your, you know, won't fit through. So we have to go ahead and schedule out a C-section and take the baby out early. I mean, that, that's insane. That, that, that is, um, that's just a complete lie.

I mean, I know one, I'm thinking about a woman I know and she's about 90 pounds, the smallest woman, and she had like 11 or 12-pound baby and no issues at all. So, so, so, so if a doctor ever has told you that, that, that is That is an absolute lie. I mean, listen, it's never— I mean, I don't know that it's ever happened in history where it was like, oh, the baby's too big to come out.

It's just not, you know, it's like saying God made a mistake. Like he made the baby too big, you know, baby's too big to fit out of the vaginal canal. Just, it's absolutely crazy. And so I just wanna say there are so many false ideas around birth today and breastfeeding and And, and, and the medical establishment has lied to people over and over and over again.

So I wanna talk about this for a minute. During a vaginal birth, babies are exposed to their mother's vaginal microbiota, and there's a covering that babies get, and it's called vernix caseosa. And this vernix plays a crucial role in seeding the infant's gut microbiota, laying the foundation for a robust immune system. I mean, Yeah.

There are a number of benefits of the vernix, but the birth can, uh, but, but one is actually protecting, um, the baby from things like amniotic fluid. It's, there's benefits around the immune system, the first, uh, beginning of life. I mean, it, it's, it's important for their, you actually have a microbiome of your skin and the bacteria you want to be living on your skin.

So, so if babies aren't exposed to that, they're at a real disadvantage. And so again, if you've had a C-section, if you have a C-section, if you're gonna have a birth in the future, and, or you have a friend and, and they have to have a C-section, again, there was no other way, which, which can happen.

If that happens, encourage them to take some of that Vernix and coat it, uh, you know, coat the baby's head and face with that afterwards. It will strengthen their immune system.

And, and the other reality is the birth canal contains you know, probiotics such as Lactobacillus reuteri and rhamnosus and other bacteria that build the immune system right from, from, from, from, uh, from the moment that they come into the world.

And research suggests that this early bacterial colonization plays a significant role in developing the infant's immune system, and it helps them fight disease later on in life. So when they're in teens and 20s and 30s. I mean, if that— at the beginning of life, it starts to make a difference.

Babies born via vaginal delivery are thought to have a more diverse microbiome, which is associated with a lower risk of developing asthma, allergies, autoimmune disorders, and other immune system-related diseases. And here's what a study found on this very specifically. There is a 55% decrease in the risk of food allergies at 1 year old when the abundance of microbiota in infants increases.

Okay, so there are medical studies on what we're talking about, that when you have more of those microbiota, that the allergies are decreased by 55%. And part of this is due to, uh, again, doctors trying to, uh, have more convenience in their schedules and some of the money around it.

There's also a study that shows that C-section babies have different microbiotic compositions, often having more skin-like bacteria that we talked about, which may delay the proper maturation of infants' immune and metabolic symptoms if they don't have that. And these changes in immune system function can last from 2 to 7 years old from what they've seen in the studies.

And so again, this is impacting, and I would say even beyond that, but in the studies they found that kids that were born C-section versus vaginal delivery— Interesting. Versus not, they saw a difference in 2 to 7-year-olds.

And the difference that they found was the kids that were born C-section versus not, the kids who were born vaginally, naturally, had less allergies, asthma, celiac disease, and obesity than the others.

Now, one other thing they found that can mitigate the risk is that the kids that were then breastfed, even if they had C-section, if they were then breastfed, those kids we're able to make up some of the difference with the bacteria in the milk.

So listen, the ideal is both vaginal birth and breastfeeding, but if you can't vaginally birth, if you can get— wipe some of the vernix on and then breastfeed, you're going to make up for a lot of that loss there. And you're— and listen, I do want to say I know plenty of kids that were born C-section and weren't given breast milk, and they're, they're still healthy.

And I know some kids that did a lot of the right stuff and they have had immune systems later, immune issues later on.

But I do want to say, statistically, if we're just looking at the data and evidence, there is a far, far greater chance of a child having a healthy immune system if we are— if, if they are born vaginally and if they are breastfed and if they have early exposures to these foods than if they're not. Now I want to talk about breastfeeding and the ways that this boosts immune system as well.

Did you know that only 25% of infants are receiving exclusively breast milk, uh, at 6 months, or their first 6 months of life? Um, that's, that's pretty low. I mean, I mean, I don't know what the statistics were before. It's something we should, we should look up here. But I mean, I, I, I think that, that if we look back 100 years ago, I guarantee that number has dropped Dramatically.

And the reality is this: breast milk is highly nutritious and includes more basic nutrition. And the reality is this: it's personalized nutrition. Did you know that the mother will, will start producing different— creating different nutrients and immunoglobulins and enzymes in, in the breast milk via what the child needs? Back 100 years ago, uh, it was over around 70%.

Of, of at that mark, uh, parents were breastfeeding, and today it's around 25% at that 6-month mark. I mean, that, that, that is a, that, that is a major, major drop. Um, and, and, and, and, and what that tells me is that it's not necessary. Okay?

If 70% was the population, what you could do then, uh, then, then it should still be closer to that or probably even higher because we have more opportunity to have vitamins and nutrients and not have some of these depletions that maybe some of those people had back in those days.

But again, one of the things I think is so amazing about breast milk is this, is that again, it's personalized nutrition. That mother is able to produce the exact right nutrients that that child needs at exactly where they are in life. It's absolutely incredible. This is why breastfeeding is so amazing.

Research indicates that breast milk can adjust its immunological composition in response to the baby's current health, such as increasing specific antibodies when the baby is sick. It's absolutely amazing. This is so important for boosting and strengthening the immune system over time.

And there's plenty of studies also showing that if a child's breastfed, less diabetes, less obesity, less cancer, and a number of other diseases. Let me say this as well: breastfeeding is beneficial for the mom. It reduces the risk of ovarian and breast cancers, type 2 diabetes, and postpartum depression due to those levels of oxytocin that are flowing into the body.

And I was talking about earlier what the government and the CDC tend to fix our eyes on right now, and the pharmaceutical companies, is, hey, get these vaccines. Why aren't they talking about more about encouraging breastfeeding and spending time outdoors and gardening and having pets? I mean, yeah.

Taking vitamins and minerals, these are the ways to naturally boost and strengthen your immune system. Now I want to talk about the nutrients that are most important for strengthening our immune systems, and they tend to be number one vitamin C. We know that this is high in citrus fruits, strawberries, bell peppers, broccoli, foods like spinach, goji berries, amla berries.

So a lot of fruit and certain vegetables you're going to find high levels of vitamin C, and and this is critical. Critical for your immune system. It's also critical for working with collagen and glutamine for helping strengthen and rebuild your gut lining, which is where the majority of your immune system lives. So vitamin C is critical. Vitamin D is critical.

It's known as the sunshine vitamin, and it is very important for your body's immune response. And then zinc, that's the immune mineral, and this is found in higher doses, tends to be in meat and nuts and seeds when we're talking about zinc, especially pumpkin seeds.

And then in terms of herbals that I really like here, I would say that can help modulate and strengthen your immune system over time, number one, the absolute best in my opinion, is astragalus. This is a staple in Chinese medicine. It's believed to enhance immunity. And, and what it does is it helps naturally balance out your immune system and strengthen it at the same time.

Sometimes our immune systems overreact, sometimes they're too Astragalus helps with both, and then echinacea is especially effective for respiratory infections. If you have something that's affecting your lungs or your throat or your or your respiratory pathways, echinacea is powerful. Elderberry has antiviral properties. That's another good one. And then I also really like ginger.

Ginger helps strengthen the immune system via the digestive system. So that's another powerful. One that's used both in Chinese medicine as well as Ayurvedic medicine as well as Western medicine. And so those would be 4 I'd consider at the top of the list.

And then probiotics, you know, getting high doses of probiotics via soil-based organisms, food-based probiotics, and then food that have probiotics like yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi is wonderful as well. And I would say what I do if I get I do a triple probiotic dose at least. I do very high doses for— while I'm sick.

And then healthy fats, they're, you know, omega-3 fats, or can be important as well. And then lifestyle practices. If you want to continue to strengthen your immune system, you want to get, you know, 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. You want to be doing things that support good breathing, like weight training, uh, meditation, qigong, doing deep breathing exercises and stretching.

Indoor rock climbing, you know, whatever you like to do. But the idea there is move, but at the very least walk often. One thing I like too is getting a mini rebounder, mini trampoline. It's very good for lymphatic flow. I get questions all the time, if I'm not feeling well, what do I do? I like a mini trampoline, I like infrared sauna, I like a lot of those things.

But listen, this episode is really about strengthening your immune system over time, natural immunization. Your body's better off off if you are able to keep it healthy. It's better able to heal and rebuild and strengthen your immune system. So regular exercise is important for that, and ideally doing some outside, like riding your bike outside, walking outside.

Adequate sleep is so important for immune repair. You want to get ideally 8 hours of sleep a night. Right when it starts getting dark, try and go to bed. Use a weighted blanket. Make sure your, your house is Journal and read a book or listen to an audiobook before you go to sleep rather than being on a device. These will all help you get better sleep.

And then just stress reduction, doing things that really help you reduce stress. Write down the things you love to do, start doing more of those things, building good meaningful relationships. And then diet-wise, in Chinese medicine, it's eating a lot of foods that are yellow and orange. It's ginger. It's miso soup, it's chicken bone broth, it's going to be garlic and onions.

These sort of foods are going to be good. And then a lot of the orange foods like sweet potato and butternut squash, pumpkin. And then doing a lot of, you know, organic meat— salmon, chicken, beef. So I would say do a lot of organic meat, a lot of cooked vegetables— could be steamed, baked, or sautéed— certain fruits.

Fruits as well, like, um, yeah, pears and apples are pretty high on the list along with berries. Uh, and then you could do some seeds as well. You could do a little bit of rice congee as well, add a little bit of ginger to that, something like that. And then staying hydrated, doing a lot of herbal tea.

When people are looking to boost their immune system, I highly suggest that they drink a lot of herbal tea, things like turmeric tea, holy basil tea, ginger tea throughout the day, as well as chai Green tea can be good as well for that specifically. And then getting raw local honey. Do raw local honey, a teaspoon of pollen and a teaspoon of honey daily.

And then propolis is also wonderful and royal jelly. But I would say get a lot of this raw local honey on a regular basis as well. That's going to help strengthen your immune system. And remember, as much time outside as possible. I want to mention here eating more raw foods. If you want to strengthen your immune system, You can do raw milk if you tolerate it well. Not everybody does.

If that's the case, don't do it. But if you do, make sure your milk is raw and ideally from, from organic. Okay, you want to buy raw. There was a research study on raw milk, and this study found that asthma, rhinitis, respiratory tract infections, otitis, fever, and C-reactive protein levels at 12 months were reduced by by 30% for children who consumed raw milk early on in life.

And so if you're going to consume milk or give it to your kids, the only type of milk I think they should be doing is raw milk for the most part.

Now I do think maybe there's a time and place for— if you're at a local health food store and it's not raw but it's organic and it's fermented and it's natural, like a sheep milk yogurt or something like that, Then I think that's okay too, but I really prefer raw. And as we're talking about natural immunization, that's gonna be the best option by far.

Now, one question I get often is, well, what if I'm an adult and you're in your 20s, your 30s, or beyond, and I have major allergies? I have major food allergies, I've got seasonal allergies, I've got sensitivities. What do I do then? Well, one, if they're seasonal, follow what I talked about.

Eat a lot of local, have a garden bed outside, you know, have an animal, spend it out— out as much time outdoors as possible, and do the local honey, the local pollen, propolis, astragalus, vitamin D, zinc. Do all of those things, okay? Get some acupuncture, that's going to help. There's a technique called the NAET technique. That's N-A-E-T.

It's Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Techniques, and this is a non-traditional therapy that combines kinesiology, acupuncture, acupuncture and nutritional management, and it aims to reset the immune system's response to allergens. And this is something I personally did.

So what you do is, is you go in and they do different testing using kinesiology and muscle testing, uh, where they'll look at how you respond. And you can bring in your food sensitivity test, they can look at that as well.

And what they will do is they will have you do an elimination diet and then do acupuncture points around some those areas to rebalance your body's energy while being exposed to the actual food, and then have you stay off of it for a period of time and then reintroduce it.

So it's sort of a combination between acupuncture, kinesiology, and food therapy, uh, or elimination to start to reduce allergies. And some people have seen really great results from it. And so that's something else you may consider if you're in that position where you or a family member of multiple food sensitivities doing the NAET technique.

And you can find a local practitioner simply by searching online. So, so there is one case study, and again, remember, this is a one single case study. This is not a major medical journal. It's not looking at examining even 100 people. It's one person. But, but here's what it found in this one case study.

It said a 3-year-old girl was intolerant to milk, sugar, egg whites, pork, and other foods causing eczema, And dyspnea. She was treated with NAET technique, which was a combination of kinesiology and acupuncture. After 7 treatment sessions, within 4 weeks she was free of symptoms, and after 3 years she can still eat everything without any symptoms whatsoever.

So listen, I, I can't say that this works for everybody, but I can say there are a few individuals and case studies over time I've seen where it has helped their allergies Getting this mixture of acupuncture and kinesiology together to treat food sensitivities and intolerances, which of course impact the immune system. So I wanna start to wrap up this idea around natural immunization here.

Remember this is that shots aren't the only way to strengthen your immune system. There are many, many other ways to strengthen and develop our immune systems over time that are often overlooked. And a few of those more I wanna just mention here before we close up is intense exercise. Intentional exposure to pathogens.

Some still choose to practice natural exposure to certain mild diseases in controlled circumstances, such as chickenpox in children or COVID more recently. This is known as natural immunization. This approach involves controlled exposure to diseases to stimulate the immune system to build natural defenses and long-term immunity. And one way people do this are chickenpox parties.

Historically, some parents intentionally exposed their children to chickenpox to ensure immunity for future infections. This practice has largely declined due to the availability of a varicella vaccine. So people are getting a vaccine instead of doing this. However, for my kids, if I were choosing one, I'm gonna choose the chickenpox party.

COVID-19, during the pandemic, some advocated for herd immunity through natural infection, which was heavily debated due to the risks associated with the virus. Again, I, you, you look at the countries that did the best with this, they stayed open, they kept businesses open, their people were healthier for it. And, and that's a whole nother topic.

And by the way, if you've not heard the podcast I did on the biggest lessons from COVID my 10 lessons, this is a very popular podcast and I really think you'd enjoy it.

'Cause if you're wondering more about, uh, the way that we treated that and the truth about what we should have done, you, you go, go on YouTube and you can search Yeah, so you can search Dr. Axe COVID-19, and you'll find that episode on there somewhere, or you could search that on Apple or Spotify as well, and you'll find it there too.

I also want to mention that if you're a parent and you want to practice these natural immunization via using nature, and you want to be able to make the right choices for you and your family about these shots, you need to look for a pediatrician or family doctor who's open to discussing your concerns and willing to work with you modifying the schedule or what you're going to do there for what's safe and appropriate for your child.

You're the parent. You need to— it's not the government's job. This is your job. And so you want to do everything you can there to make the right decision. But I've heard some people say, well, my doctor said— Well, get a different doctor. Get a doctor who's actually healthy. Get a doctor who actually follows the research.

Get a doctor who is open-minded and actually looks at not just the propaganda and listening to the pharmaceutical company who's educating them at this point, but actually have them go and look at the real research. And so, and, and I know we live in Nashville, we've got a couple great doctors here that, that are amazing about this.

And, um, but you just need to, you need to ask around, look at chats online, talk to to people online about doctors that are friendly for vaccines or parents that share your same views and ask them who their pediatrician is or family doctor and switch doctors. I can't encourage that enough for most people. So here's the reality.

There's a difference between synthetic immunization and natural immunization. And no matter what you do within synthetic immunization, you want to focus on Yeah. Natural immunization in all the ways we talked about, from the mom when the baby's in the womb, to the birth, to breastfeeding, to getting more— spending more time outside, to eating the right foods.

You wanna do all of it and have a practical approach to that. And I'd encourage you, take some notes from this episode. Write down some of the things you're gonna do to strengthen your immune system and the immune system of your family and your loved ones. And I hope you've enjoyed this episode.

Well, this is a topic I'm very passionate about because I see so many people harming themselves and their kids because they don't know the truth in this reality. And that's why also I just want to thank all of you listeners out there that are subscribed to the podcast, that help like the show, that comment, that share this on your social channels or via text messages with your family and friends.

This is making a real difference. A lot of people don't know all of the ways to build the immune system and that there are natural ways. To immunize and strengthen your body, like raw local honey and all these other things we talked about. And it's important that the world knows. So thank you to all of you. And I just want to ask you, please share this episode. More people need to know the truth.

Also, if you're not subscribed, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss a single thing. I want to say thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. I'll see you on the next show.