The food logging app mentioned in this video is Cronometer.

0:01 – Intro and a Focus Shift

Hi there! I'm Shane from MATRIX and I've been bringing you these Daily Tips all about stress management during this COVID-19 outbreak. However, in today's tip, we're going to start to switch the focus a little bit from just stress management to more immune system support. The good thing is that all the tips I've already given you are still incredibly relevant because one of the most detrimental things to your immune system is chronic stress. So, the more work that you're doing to alleviate your stress, the better your immune system is going to be functioning during this time. Keep doing what you've been doing!

0:35 – Today’s Focus: Nutrition

Today's focus I'm going to put on nutrition. When I say nutrition, it means making sure that you're doing the best that you can to get important vitamins, minerals, and nutrients into your body to help support your immune function. And I'm going to give you two simple ways to work on that because generalized nutrition for everybody is a little bit different. Since we're all at different points along the spectrum from the "perfect diet" to eating very poorly, I'm not going to give you guidance on that. Rather, we're just going to talk about some simple things you can do.

1:10 – Tip #1: Get Outside for Vitamin-D

Our first tip, particularly for those of you like me in Rhode Island -- we just come through the winter where we don't get outside a lot -- one of the nutrients that so many people are deficient in -- that is so important for immune health -- is Vitamin-D. My first tip for today is to use the other tips we've done about warming up, breathing well, and getting out and going for a walk with your peripheral vision. But since we have such a beautiful day today, just make sure you're walking with maybe some short sleeves on or some shorts on, so that your skin is getting access to the sun because that is our primary way of getting Vitamin-D. There's a lot of food out there that's supplemented with Vitamin-D or fortified with Vitamin-D, but not everybody can absorb it that way. But when it comes to our skin, creating Vitamin-D through the use of the sun, we can all do that.

1:58 – Tip #2: Food Logging

Now, Tip #2 is going back on to what I was talking about, making sure that your nutrition is as good as it can be for you. One of the problems we're probably all experiencing -- being trapped at home these days -- is that inevitable urge to run to the kitchen cabinet and pull out some snack food. What I'm going to recommend for you to try today, is to start a food log. This food log is not about writing down specifically what you've been eating so that you can track your calories and all that kind of stuff. I'm not worried about that. More so, it's about making you conscious of the choices you're making around your food. When you know that you have to write something down, you might be more likely to go and grab an apple from the kitchen rather than the cookies. Or you might be like, "you know, I'm just bored". "I'm not actually hungry". "Maybe I don't need a snack right now". And that's the power behind food logging in this situation.

2:56 – Detailed Food Logging

Now, for those of you that are more interested in knowing whether or not you are vitamin deficient, nutrient deficient, that type of thing. Or you're working on losing weight during this time because it's a great opportunity to try. There is an app that I recommend -- and I'll post a link to it below -- that does a great job. If you input things accurately, it will break down all of your different vitamins, nutrients, macronutrients so that you know that you are getting the right stuff. But for those of you that don't want to go that route, you don't have to. Just simply writing things down on a piece of paper when you go to the kitchen is a perfect way to do it.

3:32 – Summary of Today’s Tips

In summary of the tips for today, A-#1 get your Vitamin-D by going outside into this beautiful weather. At a very minimum taking a walk, or maybe using the peripheral walking tip I gave two days ago. Secondly, consider keeping a food log. Just so that you're creating a conscious awareness around what you're putting in your body right now to help you make the best possible decisions that are available for you. All of these things are to help you stay healthy and strong with your immune system.

4:08 – Intro to the Vagus Nerve

Now, the cool thing about making this shift into thinking more about our immune system is it's going to open up a bigger window of things that we can talk about. And as a little preview for what's coming down the road, one of the important nervous system interactions with our immune system is through the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve innervates our gut, stomach, intestines, all of that stuff. And it's actually very, very important in immune function. And maybe that's another reason why thinking about your nutrition could be important too.

4:41 - Farewell

So that's it for today. Stay tuned over the next few days to see how we can start to affect our vagus nerve to keep our immune health. And remember, go outside, take a walk, and start writing down what you've been eating. I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you again tomorrow.