Let’s Talk Health: The Link Between Your Diet, Health, and Immunity

A majority of Americans focus on their daily nutrition to lose weight, boost immunity for better health and/or to maintain strength and energy. However, the keys to success for achieving these goals can be found by increasing one’s overall knowledge about the relationship between the  nutritional values of foods and their impact on metabolic and immune function.

While this sounds simple, the messages we hear about diet plans and programs are often confusing at best, and impossible to follow at worst. However, we can make the correct food choices by simply arming ourselves with accurate information.

 According to Liz Silverthorne, Director of Food and Nutrition Services at Saint Clare’s Health, “At a time when immunity has become an even more critical factor in the face of the COVID pandemic, the need to have a positive eating plan is a key way to protect and prolong life.”

“We need to realize that what we put into our bodies impacts the way we look, the way we feel, and our overall immune health,” said Silverthorne. If there is a positive to the recent global pandemic, is that it forced us to reexamine the importance of focusing on our nutrition and health overall. “You could see this heightened awareness when the vitamin and mineral shelves in the grocery stores were completely wiped clean,” she added.

“Poor nutrition and diet have a link to obesity, which leads to a state of chronic inflammation in your body that makes it harder to fight off infection. The importance of eating healthy and making certain your vitamin levels are up as part of fighting obesity has been demonstrated very prominently in the last two years,” Silverthorne added. “It could affect the severity of any illness, including COVID.”

While the fight against COVID has been at the forefront of health concerns since the pandemic first emerged in March 2020, there is always a constant struggle against a regular biological phenomenon that impinges on health: free radicals.

The human body is constantly experiencing oxidative stress. Oxygen in the body splits into single atoms with unpaired electrons. Electrons like to be in pairs, so these atoms, called free radicals, search throughout the body to seek out other electrons so they can become a pair. This causes damage to cells, proteins and DNA.

Free radicals are associated with human disease, including certain cancers, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and many others. They also may have a link to aging, which has been defined as a gradual accumulation of free-radical damage.

Silverthorne emphasized that while free radicals are in some ways something that people can’t avoid, they are also compounds created in our bodies that are the result of certain self-inflicted environmental factors.

“Lifestyle choices, such as the excessive use of alcohol and smoking, can accelerate the activity of free radicals as they attack our cells and over time cause chronic conditions and diseases,” Silverthorne said. “Again, we always have to be mindful of what we put into our bodies.”

Fortunately, there is a natural weapon against the deleterious effects of free radicals: antioxidants.

Antioxidants are substances that can prevent or slow damage to cells caused by free radicals. In certain ways, they are the police force of the human body because antioxidants hunt free radicals, acting as compounds that inhibit oxidative damage. By doing so, they stun and stop the chemical reactions that can produce free radicals and the chain reactions that damage the cells of organisms and cause illnesses.

Silverthorne noted that the search for the natural antioxidant weapons to combat the negative effects of free radicals can be found on your plate, especially in fruits and vegetables.

“Certain superfoods are rich in antioxidants. They give you the biggest nutritional bang for your buck,” said Silverthorne. “Diets high in a variety of fruits and vegetables will give you all the antioxidants you need.”

Silverthorne also noted a starting approach to assessing one’s health is knowing your body mass index. “Weight has a significant impact on overall health, and the body mass index helps you to keep an eye on it,” Silverthorne said, noting the index number is based on height in relation to weight. “The higher that number is, the more likely you are to be susceptible to chronic illnesses, such as diabetes or heart disease.

Silverthorne hoped people take those initial and important steps toward better nutrition and immunity by challenging people to start eating one meal a day that doesn’t come from a package and working toward a goal of five servings of fruit and vegetables a day.

“The best thing you can do for yourself is to take a deep look at your diet. After you do, make some changes,” said Silverthorne, pointing out that Saint Clare’s offers outpatient nutrition counseling as part of its community approach to health. “Get enough fruit and vegetables. Get enough water. Your body will thank you, and so will your family and friends.” 

For more important information on nutritional programs at Saint Clare’s Health, please call 973-989-3156 or visit https://www.saintclares.com/services/diabetes-services/outpatient-nutritional-counseling/