Visits to your Knoxville chiropractor at Homberg Chiropractic and Wellness can boost your immune system by properly addressing spine mis-alignments that affect messages from your nervous system to the rest of the body.

However, you must also do your part to keep your immune system healthy through the food you eat. Did you know that 70 to 80 percent of the cells that make up your immune system are located in your digestive system? This means a healthy gut is a major focal point if you want to maintain optimal health, including a very strong immune system. We have both good and bad bacteria in our guts. Getting your gut bacteria healthy is one of the most important things you can do to get and stay healthy.

It’s no coincidence that we hear more about colds, the flu and other illnesses around this time every year. In addition to staying inside more with dry heat and very little fresh air, our diets tend to include more sugar. Think about it, Halloween not only includes the costumes, but it also includes candy – lots of candy. Candy is sugar and sugar nourishes pathogenic bacteria, yeast, and fungi in your gut, which may actually harm you. Sugar also curbs your immune system cells that attack bacteria.

Sugar not only harms your immune system, it also affects your body in other ways such as increasing your risk for cavities, weight gain and cognitive decline. Sugar is also inflammatory, and as you’ve heard me say before, inflammation is the root of all diseases.

Refined sugar breaks down into two simple sugars in your body: glucose and fructose. While nearly every cell can use glucose, only liver cells can metabolize fructose. Studies show fructose can increase inflammation while raising your stress hormone cortisol, which in turn increases belly fat.

A sugar-free diet doesn’t mean you have to consume no sugar, but rather avoid refined sugar in processed foods.

Fruit, legumes, tubers like sweet potatoes, and even leafy or cruciferous vegetables contain some sugar. But they also come with dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients that buffer sugar’s impact on your body.

As for all of that Halloween candy – moderation is the key!