Eight Steps to Immune Empowerment

The following eight-point program represents a distillation of the work of Jon Kaiser's work with HIV and other immune-compromised patients. Absent from the program are specific anti-HIV agents or strategies that may not be needed for others.

1. Change your diet: Reduce animal fats, increase vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and protein sources, stick with monounsaturated fats such as olive and canola oils. Overall, an immune enhancing diet is low in fat, high in protein, high in complex carbohydrate, and low simple carbohydrate, such as starches and sugars.
2. Take Vitamins/Minerals: Multivitamin/mineral supplements containing antioxidants, including Vitamins A, C, E, carotenoids, selenium, zinc, cysteine, and glutathione.
3. Take Herbs: Echinachea, garlic, goldenseal, chamomile, and Chinese herb astragulus.
4. Get Moderate Exercise: Walk, run, swim, cycle, and work out, but don't overdo it: studies reveal that extremely strenuous exercise can dampen immunity. By the same token, moderate regular exercise improves immune functions -- especially the activity of "natural killer cells" that knock off viruses and cancer cells in the body.
5. Use Acupuncture, Homeopathy, and Massage: By balancing the body's energy systems and offsetting the negative effects of stress, acupuncture, homeopathy, or massage may enhance immune functions. (Note: acupuncture and homeopathy work in entirely different ways: pursue one or the other when needed for a particular physical or emotional condition.)
6. Practice Deep Relaxation: Using audiotapes or biofeedback to guide you, access deep states of relaxation. Techniques include meditation, mindfulness, progressive muscle relaxation, Chi Gong, prayer.
7. Procure Emotional Support: Studies have shown that people with high levels of social support and intimate relationships have stronger immune systems and fewer illnesses. Research at Southern Methodist University in Dallas has shown that confiding thoughts and feelings about traumas -- if only by writing the down -- improves immune function.
8. Develop a Sense of Meaning and Purpose: Psychotherapist Lawrence LeShan has shown that cancer patients who find their raison d'etre often experience physical improvements, or even long-term survival. In his research on long AIDS survivors, UCLA mind-body pioneer George Solomon, MD, observed that they invariably had a strong will to live and were engaged in meaningful activities and relationships . If you are stymied in your search for meaning, consult a psychotherapist who can help you work through creative and emotional blocks. In scores of studies, prayer and spiritual pursuits have also been associated with better overall health and healing.