Easy to follow steps to maximize your own immune system. It's something we forget in the world of pharmaceuticals. I'm glad the author didn't villainize medication, just gave alternatives.

I always appreciate learning about nutrition and immunity, and this was a great in-depth book chock full of information on ways to optimize our immune system. A lot of info about vitamins and minerals as well as a few recipes. Many of these vitamins we can get from foods, but she does discuss supplementation as well. I was a bit leery on the info about elderberry because of some recent research, and we definitely want to optimize our immunity, not overdo it, but I enjoyed the book and the details within and definitely appreciate how detailed the author is in explaining things.

I am constantly on the lookout for easy ways to help improve my health.

In our current environment, making sure your immune system is working as it should is paramount. 

Ms. Ruggles walks the reader through the research behind things and makes suggestions of things you can do to optimize your immune system.

While I knew many of the things, it is always good to have them reinforced so appropriate action can be taken.

A very holistic book on eating well, eating whole, for the goal of keeping the body immune system strong and healthy. Comprehensive in listing variety of food to choose from to provide the most benefit from eating well.

'Optimize your Immunization System' is a gentle and caring reminder that food is medicine. Our bodies are well designed systems with the innate ability to protect itself and fight off viruses when given the right types and amounts of nutrients. This book lists these key nutrients and explains their role in fighting off viral attacks, in an easy to read and remember format.

It is short and to the point, with each chapter stating the different ways in which we can improve our health. This book is a timely reminder of what our body needs to do its job properly. This is more relevant than ever, with the world is in the midst of a pandemic, with possibly more to come.

Thanks to NetGallery for providing this as an e-book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you NetGalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. This book has a lot of interesting information. While it was dense at times, I found the information quite insightful and plan on applying some to my everyday diet. Recommend to those who are interested in improving their lifestyle and want a more scientific approach to improving your immune system.

Disclaimer:  I was provided with a digital copy of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

While this contained great information on the subject, there was nothing that made it stand out from other publications on this material.

I guess I found myself puzzled on why the author is so big on taking supplements.  Shouldn't eating the whole foods she suggested eliminate the need for OTC vitamins and supplements?

A great read with lots of good information. I liked the mix of facts and recipes that could help a person going forward.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

I feel that this book is a perfect introduction to foods that will benefit your immune system to try and prevent illness. 

It breaks down clearly which foods are helpful to add to your diet to boost your immune system, but also includes important vitamins and minerals that our bodies need and what foods or supplements we can use to boost our intake. 

I think including some recipes would have taken this book to the next level, and it would have been great to include some photos or illustrations to break the book up a bit.

Optimize Your Immune System is a guide to what makes our immune system work better, especially the vitamins and minerals we consume.
The author talks in length about what foods are know to stimulate good health, which can be really helpful when deciding on your grocery shopping.
However, what worries me, is that the book promotes taking lots of supplements with no good reason. Instead of "these foods are a good source, but if you're allergic, you can use the following supplements", in many cases we just get "here's some good supplement brands". Another thing that worried me is the recommended dosages - I am vitamin D deficient (diagnosed with a test ordered by a doctor) and my dosage has never been so high (I'm doing well with what was calculated by my doctor for me specifically). So in turn I'm worried that the recommended doses for other things might not be accurate as well and might even end up hurting someone, who should have just visited the doctor instead.
Overall, I'd say that to read this, you should be ready to not trust the author blindly.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Emerald Lake Books for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.*

I am currently suffering from long covid so looking to change my diet and work on my immune system. My inflammation markers are well up. 
So when netgalley offered me this book for a fair and independent review, I wanted the chance. 

To start off with it was a bit wordy but perserved and got there. I liked the fact that there were lists. It made me look at certain foods differently. The lists were good for my shopping. 
Another good idea was the juice bathing, okay so I scoffed at that at first but then thought about it. If taking small slips every hour twice a week works I am up for it. 

So all in all liking the book and great tips.  

Thank you

For a long time, the use of food as medicine has been considered a way to achieve optimal health.  Also, in recent days, a strong immune system has become even more of a necessity. While there is a lot of information available, often the reader may have challenges with understanding the technical terms used in many books. In this case, the author has written an evidence-based book in plain language that is also reader-friendly. This makes it a wonderful choice for personal use and as a gift for people who may be looking for a way to improve their wellness state.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by the publisher and Net Galley. However, the thoughts expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. I have Crohn’s and Celiac disease and many food allergies. My immune system is definitely not what it should be. It’s a challenge to find foods that agree with my system while still having some form of flavor. There are a lot of good suggestions and food recommendations in this book that I will be able to put into practice. I like the idea of the “juice bath”. No it’s not time to go to the bathtub and fill it with grapes and kale. The author recommends introducing smaller amounts of juice throughout the day so your body is getting a constant supply of nutrients it can use more efficiently, or “bathing” your digestive system with juice over the period of a day or two. That is just one of many tips and tricks that I found helpful. It’s filled with good information that anyone can use.

Thanks NetGalley. This was sn informative and easy to follow guide.  I was able to make some simple additions to the family diet immediately.
I'm ooking forward to implementing more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Emerald Lake Books for kindly providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.
This book’s publication is very aptly timed as we are in the middle of a pandemic and we all need to be taking our immunity seriously at this time.
I also have health conditions that make me more vulnerable so it something that I am forever trying to educate myself better on and improve my ability to fight infection and illness.
I therefore have read quite a few books similar in nature to this one, so I also found that a lot of what is covered in this book I was already familiar with. That doesn’t mean it isn’t useful though- like I say, we all need to be trying to protect ourselves currently. Someone who has had the good fortune to not get ill regularly, may never have had to analyse their lifestyle to see where they can improve their immunity- so this could be the book for them.
It’s also quite short but the author does continually provide links and resources you can go to to expand your research into particular areas,
Worth a read at this current time definitely.

This is a relatively short and easy to read book that gives you good information about what foods, vitamins and minerals best support your immune system, both to keep you healthy and to help get better fast when you do get sick. In all honesty, there was nothing new here for me, but I read quite a lot on the topic. She also covers very basic info on things like getting sleep and avoiding stress.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

I loved this very much! The characters, the actions and even the plot itself! Very inspiring for my own book too!

This is a timely release, when so may people are looking to support their immunity. The book give a holistic aspect to immune support, including nutrition, sleep and relaxation. Content is nicely laid out with some clear and achievable goals, combined with a nice "putting it all together" summary. While some of the content is a little questionable,  (e.g "juice bathing"), it is mostly sound advice.

I read a well rounded amount of cookbooks, diet, plant based, and superfood books that I felt the author did a great job at handing you a regimen that could improve your overall health. She divided up foods that could help your health by giving you vitamins you need to fight off infection. Given that we used to get most of our vitamins straight from the soil and the need now to supplement those with a multivitamin. 

   What did I like? I enjoyed the overall look of the book and the information on what plants give us as far as vitamins. I’d also always wondered why chicken soup helps a cold. The subject matter in the book is very knowledgeable and I thought it did a great job on how to optimize your immune system. What a great read for a pandemic. I also like how it explained fat soluble versus water soluble as far as vitamins go. Interesting read for sure.

   Would I recommend or buy? I recommend the mobi version over the pdf. It did not download in a great manner versus the kindle edition. I think I’d rather have a paper copy so I can put notes in the margins. The book is not to be read in place of consulting a doctor and all regimens should go through your doctor first. I still think it was very helpful and had some great information.

   I received a copy to read and voluntarily left an review.

Date reviewed: October 12, 2020

When life for the entire universe and planet turns on its end and like everyone else you "have nothing to do" while your place of work is once again closed and you are continuing to be in #COVID19 #socialisolation as the #secondwave is upon us,  superspeed readers like me can read 300+ pages/hour, so yes, I have read the book … and many more today.

I requested and received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.  

From the publisher, as I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as they do it better than I do 😸.

Many people think that it’s normal to come down with an illness each year and, for some, two or three times a year. Yet researchers have proven that nutrition and lifestyle factors can boost your immune system.

Learn how to build a kitchen pharmacy of whole foods, superfoods and nutrients to provide a stable foundation for your health. And when you’re at an increased risk of infection, know what to do to derail a virus before it takes hold.

Follow this immune-boosting roadmap to a healthier diet, making you less prone to viral infections and more resilient after an illness.

In Optimize Your Immune System, you’ll read about the three phases of immune support.

• Phase I: Everyday immune strengthening and care
• Phase II: After exposure to an unhealthy person or environment
• Phase III: Immune-boosting support to prevent illness when you feel like you're coming down with something

For each of these phases, Marie Ruggles, M.S., R.D., C.N., C.D.E., draws upon over forty years of experience within the wellness arena.

The book begins with her explaining how the immune system works and what it does. From there, she discusses the foods that help and hinder our immunity. She even gives a whole foods quick start guide for those who aren’t too certain where to start.

She also shares the concept of juice bathing, and how to use that to minimize the fuss and mess of juicing while maximizing its benefit.

Optimize Your Immune System makes specific recommendations for how to fortify and stimulate your body’s natural defences using a simple kitchen pharmacy, no matter which phase of immune support you are facing.

Diving deep, the book looks closely at whole foods, superfoods, nutrients and supplements, even giving specific product recommendations for those brands and products the author personally loves most.

The final chapter of the book pulls everything together in an easy-to-reference format sharing phase-specific recommendations, as well as how to eat more nutritious foods even if you’re on a limited budget.

For those who are new to the subject of natural wellness, the book is easy-to-read and written in a friendly manner. Yet, for those who are already familiar with the topic, it proves to be a valuable reference guide as well.

Immune systems are funny things as COVID19 has proven - sometimes people with amazing immune systems will fall ill, but we are dealing with a very tricky, once in a century/millennium pandemic vs. "regular life" illnesses. This book shows that your kitchen can be your pharmacy - I come from a very long line of pharmacists and plants used to be over half of the pharmacy. 

I do take issue with the use of the word "superfoods" - it is too trendy and the claims are unsubstantiated in many ways but at least they are whole/unprocessed foods and it is disingenuous to state that one can stop a virus - you can fight it, but trust me, viruses and disease can fell you no matter how healthily you eat. (And juice bathing? don't get me started.....)

What I love about the book is that emphasizes the use of whole ingredients instead of pre-prepared and packaged foods. I do draw the line at making my own cheese, and canning tomatoes but the more "ingredients" you use the better.  My one nephew says that I never have any food in my house, only ingredients --- that is why I cook so much. I also refuse to eat or cook with "chick'n" and its 88 ingredients vs. 🐔chicken🐔 having one!)														

I have not been sick in six years and my blood is half coffee and half diet coke so take everything in here with a grain of ... air-dried, flaky, unbleached sea salt.   But remember that ALL SALT is sea salt...

As always, I try to find a reason to not rate with stars as I love emojis (outside of their incessant use by "🙏-ed Social Influencer Millennials/#BachelorNation survivors/Tik-Tok and YouTube  Millionaires/snowflakes etc. " on Instagram and Twitter... Get a real job, people!) so let's give it 2.5 rounded up to 💊💊💊