Alcoholic Beverages: Alcohol disrupts our sleep and wake cycle known as circadian rhythm. This disrupts the sleeping pattern, makes you feel dull and lethargic throughout the day, and weakens your immunity.
Intake of high sugar drinks and carbonated beverages: Cortisol hormone suppresses/weakens our immune system. High sugar content spikes insulin levels which in turn spikes cortisol hormone. Secondly, bad bacteria survive on sugar, and the more sugar they have to feed on, the safer they grow which will outnumber good bacteria.
Soda and foods which have artificial sweeteners: Foods that contain artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, sucralose allow bad bacteria to grow and weaken the immune system. Solution: Choose whole foods and natural sweeteners like honey which promotes the growth of healthy bacteria.
Caffeine: Increased caffeine levels in the body reduce the T-cells levels. T cells are responsible to fight against infections.
Refined foods and oils: Refined oils are exposed to high heat temperatures which destroy all good nutrients and produce free radicals which damage tissues and body cells leading to inflammation. Alternate to it is chosen whole-grain foods, cold-pressed oils, or filtered oils which go through less or no heat processing.
Junk food: The body reacts to junk food in a similar way to that of bad bacteria. These repeated actions may destroy the healthy cells too and disrupts the immune balance. Alternate to it is to choose healthy homemade namkeens and crispies, baked snack at home.