Herbs to Boost Kids’ Immune Health: Immunomodulators vs. Immune Stimulants Explained

In this episode of The Herbalist’s Path, we dive into using herbs to support your kids’ immune systems—naturally and without overwhelm. Learn the difference between immune stimulants and immunomodulators, why balance is key, and how to choose the right herbs to keep your family healthy during cold and flu season. We’ll cover some of my favorite immune herbs like Astragalus, Ashwagandha, and Shiitake mushrooms, and how easy it is to include them in your daily routine.

03:22 Lifestyle Tips for Immune Support
06:05 Immunomodulating Herbs
08:53 Astragalus
13:29 Ashwagandha
17:07 Shiitake Mushrooms
18:59 Immune Stimulants
19:30 Elderberries
21:42 Echinacea
23:44 Garlic

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Chapters

• 1:27 Herbalist Path
• 19:33 Immune-Boosting Herbs and Mushrooms

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:28

Hello and welcome to the Herbalist Path, a podcast where you'll discover how to make your own herbal remedies at home so that you can take better care of yourself, better care of your family and better care of our planet. I'm Mel. I'm a clinical herbalist, environmental educator and mountain-l living mama with this crazy passion for teaching more mamas and their little loves how to use plants as medicine in a safe, effective and tasty way, so that there can be an herbalist in every home. Again, it's an absolute honor to have you on the journey down the herbalist path with me so that together we can make herbalism Hashtag spread like wildflowers. Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode on the herbalist path. I'm so thankful that you're here tuning into this episode and I really, really hope that it gives you some more insight on great ways that you can use herbal medicine to support your kids' immune health and know when to use herbs to boost the immune system or when to use herbs to just support and strengthen and nourish the immune system. So this episode is actually part one in a three-part series that I'm doing all about helping your kids thrive throughout the year. So I'm pretty excited about the series and I hope that you are as well. The next two parts of this series we'll be talking about herbs to help calm the nerves and ease anxiety, and herbs to help calm the nerves and ease anxiety, and herbs to boost overall brain function. And the good good good news for you is that these herbs are not only amazing for your kids, but they're going to be really, really helpful for you as well. So definitely, definitely, definitely, make sure you tune in to the next two episodes.

Speaker 1: 3:32

After this and if this stuff is super interesting to you, next week, at the time of this recording, on September 18th, I am doing a free class called Herbs to Thrive in School and, of course, these herbs you're going to thrive outside of school as well, and so will your children. I'm collaborating with the American Herbalist Guild South Jersey Chapter to bring this class to you for free, so there will be a link in the show notes for you to get registered. Unfortunately, there is no replay of this one, so you do want to show up live. So again, that's September 18th. It's at 3.30 Pacific Standard Time. It's a Wednesday afternoon or evening or well, it really depends on where you are in this world. But yeah, either way, it's free, it's going to be a great class. We're going to dive really, really deep and I sure do hope to see you there. And yes, it will be linked in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 4:34

So let's start talking about it. I think this is really important this time of year. I'm here in beautiful Oregon and it's dark and cloudy and rainy today, which is that surefire sign that here we go, heading into the good old cold and flu season. So there's no better time than right now to really start thinking about how are we going to keep those colds and flu away? How are we going to support our children and their immune health? What are we going to do about the fact that everybody's going indoors more and they're wiping their nose and then grabbing the doorknob and just flinging snot basically all over the place, especially if your kids go to a school with other kids? That's definitely a reality.

Speaker 1: 5:22

But the good news is there's a lot that we can do with herbal medicine. There's also a lot that we can do with lifestyle, which is significantly Gosh. I go out on a limb and say it's more important to talk about than the herbs, but I know you're here for the herbs, so don't worry, we're going to talk about that too. But as far as things that we can do to support optimal immune health, really ditching the stress Chronic stress is definitely something that's going to deplete immune function overall. So, you know, do what you can to help your kiddos not feel so stressed all the time. Make sure that they are getting plenty of fluids in their body, so drinking lots of water, drinking lots of herbal teas and other things that are going to keep them really nice and hydrated. Sleep health is another huge one. So making sure that your kiddos are getting adequate amounts of sleep and yes, of course, there are herbs that can help them sleep as well but when we don't get enough rest, our immune function really every other parts of our body cannot function as well as we need them to. And then, of course, as everything our diet, their diet, everyone's diet right, I know you hear me talk about this a lot If you listen to this podcast ever.

Speaker 1: 6:47

But crap food is making people sick. The super heavily, heavily processed food like stuff, the dyes, the sugars, the junk that people and kids are being fed on a regular basis is definitely depleting immune function. So if your kids get sick a lot, look at these kinds of things Also, you know. Hopefully they're already avoiding alcohol and they're avoiding smoking. Those two will definitely deplete the immune system as well. Ditch the sugar Sugar. Those immune, those bad guys, the bad pathogens, the foreign invaders, just thrive on sugar. They're like woohoo, it's a party, we're just going to multiply and therefore everybody gets sick. So make sure those kiddos are washing their hands a lot. Make sure you're getting outside Rain or sunshine or snow, whatever it may be. Time and nature has been proven to improve immune function as well as brain function and everything else that we have to use in our bodies. Get lots of omega-3 fats, get lots of vegetables and fruit in the diet, tons of fiber. If you can get your kiddos to do some yoga or maybe some meditation, that is going to make a world of difference. So that's just a super brief outline of what you can do in regards to lifestyle differences to support immune health overall.

Speaker 1: 8:21

And then we can talk about herbs. So I know when people think about using herbs for immune health, they immediately just are like how do I boost the immune system? How do I boost the immune system, which there's certainly a time and a place, and we are going to talk about that in this episode, but I also want to talk about immunomodulating herbs. So these are herbs that are going to help balance and strengthen and support the immune system. They basically create a significantly more resilient immune response. They help with cancer prevention, they help prevent respiratory illnesses, allergies, autoimmune disorders and colds and flu, of course, and they're great for those that just have an overall weak immune system. So if somebody, one of your children, is that kid that is always sick, consider getting immunomodulating herbs into their body.

Speaker 1: 9:23

And then we've also got the immune stimulants, and the key word I want you to hear in here is stimulant. What other stimulants do you know? Coffee is a stimulant. That caffeine is a stimulant, right, it's a stimulant for the nervous system. It wakes it up and gives you all that energy, and then when you crash off of coffee or something along those lines, you really really feel it in your body, right, you feel it in your brain and I want you to think, you feel it in your brain and I want you to think about your immune system in that way. Like what, if you were to drink coffee at nine o'clock at night, right before bed, what would you do? You probably wouldn't sleep well right Now.

Speaker 1: 10:02

Think about just always giving your immune system these immune stimulants, immune system, these immune stimulants, these immune boosters all of the time. There's no time left for that immune system to rest and restore and rebuild. The stimulants are phenomenal when it's cold and flu season and everybody you know is getting sick. Back to school time maybe you're traveling something along those lines Heck yeah. Boost that immune function so that you can fight off any potential foreign invaders, whether they're viral or bacterial or even fungal. Awesome, awesome idea. But taking immune stimulants every day just is not the way.

Speaker 1: 10:43

So, that being said, I do want to share some of my absolute favorite herbs to use as an immunomodulator, meaning it's going to regulate the immune system, it knows when it needs to boost the immune function and it knows when it needs to lay off of it, and it's basically like healthy diet and exercise on the regular for the immune system. Does that make sense? I hope it does. If not, reach out to me and let me know. So one of my favorites is astragalus, and it's because, again, it's not just revving things up but it makes your immune system smarter and stronger over time.

Speaker 1: 11:24

So this is an herb that you want to take more for preventative measures. You want to take it like building up long-term resilience, like always eating really really good foods or exercising daily. This is a really really nice one to get into the body and what it helps do is increase resistance to potential infections, so like preventing colds, respiratory infections or the flu Again, really great for those kids who catch all of the sickness out there and it's going to boost overall endurance and stamina. So if you as a mom or your kids are feeling run down or just really fatigued whether it's from lack of sleep or it's just been a really stressful week or there's just way too much on your plate to deal with a stragglers can come in and really help improve your energy and that tired, worn out feeling. So what else it does is basically help with natural killer cells.

Speaker 1: 12:33

So our NK, our natural killer cells, are basically like the special ops team of your immune system. They're like these punk rock little cells that run around and destroy other bad guys. So the viruses, the bacteria and other harmful cells that could potentially become cancerous, and astragalus really helps to boost the activity of those natural killer cells, making sure that your body is prepared and ready for any kind of foreign invaders or attack on the body the viruses, the bacteria, so on and so forth. And it also helps to activate our macrophages, which are basically like these little immune cells that gobble up bacteria and viruses and all kinds of dead cells. So you can kind of see them as Pac-Man going through your body system and like, oh, there's a bad guy, there's a virus, I'm just going to gobble it up. So astragalus really helps to activate your macrophages, so they're going to be much more efficient at doing their job, which is awesome, right, we need them to do that. And then we have our T cells, and astragalus also stimulates our T cells to work better and restores their ability to function, which is going to be really, really helpful if somebody has been sick for a while or really really stressed, or this is a really great one for somebody that's recovering from chemotherapy. We need to stimulate those T cells because they are basically the guys that coordinate the whole activity of all of the other immune army members, so the macrophages, the natural killer cells, and so on and so forth. So it's pretty cool when you think about all the things that it can do.

Speaker 1: 16:06

And A stragglers. One of the secrets to its long term immune support is in the polysaccharides that it has, which are some water soluble medicinal compounds that help to regulate and strengthen the immune system. So I really love a stragglers and I think it's something that is totally worthy of bringing into your life and to your kiddos. And it's pretty easy. You can. It's like a root. It is a root and you can just add it into soups and stews will will really do a fantastic job of boosting or not boosting, but strengthening the immune system. I also like to put it into chai tea. So I make my own chai and then I have to decoct most of those herbs because they are really solid, dense, bark matter and berries and things like that. So I decoct them to break them down more, and when I add them into a chai it is just so freaking delicious and it's really hard for my kid not to love it as well. So consider that you can also use you know, powders and capsules and tinctures and all of that stuff too, but I like to think about the really simple and fun ways that you can add these into your life and fun ways that you can add these into your life.

Speaker 1: 17:37

So another one I want to talk about is ashwagandha, or withania somnifera, and this is an amazing immunomodulator and it's absolutely one of my favorite herbs to use and to talk about. Like, I use it on a very, very regular basis and the reason being is because not only is it going to support the immune system, but it's also a fantastic adaptogenic herb that helps with stress relief and, as I mentioned in the beginning of this episode, chronic stress is a key contributor to a weakened immune system. So if we can support the nerves with something like an adaptogenic, like ashwagandha, and know that it's also supporting the immune system, we are totally winning in all of the ways. So again, what ashwagandha is going to do is come in and balance, support and strengthen the immune system for long-term immune function right, it helps to make the immune system stay sharp and really ready to respond when you need it. So that can be incredibly helpful. And when we think about our kiddos in school, a lot of times they are kind of stressed and they're just doing the hustle from subject to subject and sports and all of the other pressures that they're having to feel in school. Supportive herb to get on board for your kiddos. And it also helps to stimulate white blood cell production, which you may know is absolutely critical for fighting off infections, particularly for people who have a weakened immune system or maybe somebody recovering from surgery or chemotherapy or things along those lines.

Speaker 1: 19:34

So ashwagandha in your day-to-day is a really, really great way to go. It's another one that can be really easy to get into the body. I use a tincture and take it on a very regular basis, but you can also find really good quality powdered form or capsules or things along those lines good quality powdered form or capsules or things along those lines. I'll link a few of my favorite brands in the show notes or in the blog post or blog cast, whatever I call it. For you as well, you can add ashwagandha into a smoothie. I like to use homemade coconut milk, a banana, some ashwagandha powder, honey and cinnamon and just blend that all together, maybe add in some greens for fun and or berries, and that could just be a really really great way to get those into your body as well. Yeah, ashwagandha for the win. I could take ashwagandha. Well, I do take ashwagandha every darn day and I am so grateful because you know I talked about it for its immunomodulating and adaptogenic effects, but it's got so much more beyond that that is well beyond what we can cover in this podcast episode today.

Speaker 1: 20:48

So I want to share another adaptogenic or, I'm sorry, another immunomodulating herb that you may want to turn to, and it's also an adaptogen. So there is that and it's really not an herb. But the reason I want to bring this up is because it's readily available in the grocery store for most people, and it's shiitake mushrooms. They are a powerhouse for the immune system and they have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. So what shiitake mushrooms are known to do is to strengthen and support the entire body. They also activate those natural killer cells and help inhibit tumor growth, fighting off various pathogens like viruses and bacteria, and even some of the bacteria that are resistant to man-made antibiotics.

Speaker 1: 21:43

So shiitakes are amazing. You can just add them into soups and stews. You can also stir fry them with things like broccoli. They are food. They're not only going to support the immune system all year long, they are also supporting that stress response through being an adaptogenic herb. They'll improve overall physical performance. They'll boost mental clarity. They are a bad mama-jama in all the ways. So I highly highly recommend getting more shiitake mushrooms into your family's diet and again, super duper easy, add them into soup broth, make something yummy, make a stir fry, use those shiitakes as much as you possibly can. You can also just go out and buy yourself like a shiitake mushroom log and grow these mushrooms for your family and then like, wow, here's this essentially close to free medicine. Sure, maybe you invested in a pre-plugged log or something like that, but hot diggity dang. It is so darn easy and they're delicious, right. And if you don't want to grow them again, they're in the grocery store. They are there and ready for you.

Speaker 1: 23:01

So I want to quickly talk about some immune stimulants as well. These are the guys that are going to come in and I think are best taken when you know that somebody in your workplace is sick. Maybe the kids at school are starting to get sick, maybe you're traveling, maybe you just get that first tickle in the throat where you're like, oh no, here it comes. That's when you want to start taking these immune stimulating herbs. And the first one you probably heard of a bunch because everybody loves it, because it's so easy to get our kids to take and it's elderberries. The other great thing about elderberries is they are everywhere. They're actually considered an invasive plant in many parts of the world. Wow, please invade my life.

Speaker 1: 23:45

Elderberries. I will say there are some elderberries and some the red elders that you don't want to take and some other cautionary measures to take around elderberries, um, you do want to make sure that they get cooked so that you're not going to get um nauseous or diarrhea or start vomiting from the seeds inside of the berries but outside of the various other things. To warn about elderberries, I just want you to know that it is such a strong antiviral. It's actually been proven to fight over 10 different flu viruses. Not only that, it's fantastic for shortening the duration of illness. So there have been studies done where they saw people that were sick and there were some people that got the placebo, were some people that got the placebo, some people that got the elderberry, and those that got the placebo were sick for six to eight days and those that got the elderberry went down to two to three days before they were already better. And I don't know about you, but I don't have time for anyone in my family to be sick for six to eight days. It's just really amazing and it's really cool because the elderberries actually strengthen our good cell walls so that the foreign invaders and the pathogens cannot actually penetrate that cell and get you or your kids sick. It's also really fantastic for sore throats and coughs and things along those lines. It helps to soothe that dry, raspy respiratory tract and it helps to break up any stuck phlegmy congestion that might be happening when somebody is sick. So it's truly amazing. It is a must have in our herbal arsenal and our family, no doubt. Yeah, make yourself some elderberry syrup. There's about 100 billion ways to make elderberry in great ways to get your kiddos to take it.

Speaker 1: 25:46

So another herb I want to talk about before the end of this episode is echinacea, and a lot of people know echinacea as this immune stimulant which it's phenomenal for. It is also an immunomodulator, but you're definitely going to need it in significantly lower doses. Echinacea is an antimicrobial, so it's going to fight off viral infections, bacterial infections and fungal infections. It's also a lymphatic herb, so it helps to drain the lymph tissue. So if somebody does have swollen lymph nodes or anything along those lines, you could really find a lot of benefit from using echinacea.

Speaker 1: 26:28

I will say one thing about echinacea. A lot of times people are like oh no, I'm sick, I'm going to take loads of echinacea now and when you do that, chances are that your symptoms are going to get worse before they get better. And the reason being is most of the symptoms that we're dealing with when we're dealing with colds and flu and things like that are the immune system at work. Like all of that snot that your body is producing, is the immune system trying to trap the foreign invaders and get them out of your body. Those fevers, that's the immune system raising the body's temperature to make it inhospitable for any kind of foreign invaders bacteria, viruses, whatever to want to stick around. They don't like the heat, so they die off, basically. So that's the power of our immune system. And just be aware that with echinacea you're more likely better off to take it right at that very, very first notice of any kind of illness. And again, if somebody around you has been sick, like, take the echinacea and dose up on it pretty heavily and chances are it's going to help your body to avoid getting sick, yay Winning.

Speaker 1: 27:47

And then, just quickly, I want to talk about another powerhouse that is actually likely in your kitchen cabinet right now, and it's garlic. Y'all so many people forget about the medicinal power of garlic, but this stuff is so incredibly potent. It is antiviral. It can fight off viral infections like a super champ. It's also an amazing antibacterial. There's studies out there showing that it is more effective against eight out of nine antibiotic resistant bacterial strains out there. So those bacteria that are like heck, no, your antibiotics aren't doing anything for me, something as simple as garlic can come in and be like oh yeah, well, I got you bacteria Like you are out of here, which is so darn cool to think about because it's just sitting there like right. I have it in my like produce basket on the kitchen counter tons of garlic.

Speaker 1: 28:45

I will say the best way to get this medicinal potency and the immune function stuff from garlic is to have raw garlic potency and the immune function stuff from garlic is to have raw garlic. So it's got this compound called allicin in it and that's what really activates these antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. And the allicin is available when raw, not so much when cooked. So if you've ever had raw garlic, you know that it can be incredibly hot and irritating and nauseating. The best thing that I like to do is to make a raw garlic honey, a fermented raw garlic honey, and then I will just eat those cloves of garlic.

Speaker 1: 29:27

If you pickle garlic. That's another great way to go. I love, love, love, love, love pickled garlic and I will just chomp on a clove. And it's been shown also. Not only does it fight off those bacteria, it's also really specific for lung and respiratory health. There have been some studies out there showing that those that eat three cloves of raw garlic per week have a 44% chance 44% less likely chance of getting lung cancer, and that's freaking huge. So make yourself some garlic honey. It is so darn yummy and you won't regret it. So hopefully this is giving you a good overview of like.

Speaker 1: 30:14

Okay, I can take these herbs all the time to support and strengthen and basically be like a workout for my immune system, so it stays strong all year long, and I can take these herbs to really boost and stimulate my immune system when things are really hitting the fan and everybody's getting sick. That's what I want you to be able to do. So on our next episode I will be talking about herbs for easing anxiety, particularly like highlighting life as a kid these days, dealing with school and societal pressures and all of the other pressures that kiddos have. So we'll be talking about that, and then the third part of this series will be about herbs to boost brain function. Also, I want to make sure that you know I am teaching a free herb class next week, wednesday September 18th.

Speaker 1: 31:11

I'm collaborating with the American Herbalist Guild and the South Jersey chapter of the American Herbalist Guild to bring you my Herbs to Thrive in School class, absolutely free. We're going to cover immune health, we're going to cover herbs to boost brain function and herbs to calm anxious nerves. So I would love, love, love to see you in that class. It is a live class, so bring your questions for me and let's have a good time learning and making herbalism spread like wildflowers. So I hope this episode was helpful for you. If it was, I would be oh so grateful if you share it with other moms that you think need to know and understand this information and, if you have time, I would be so grateful if you would just pop over to whatever app you're listening to this on and give me a five-star review. Let me know what you think of the show. Reach out and share it with me, because it makes it more exciting for me to share this information with you. So thank you again so very much for tuning into this episode. Definitely stay tuned for parts two and three of this series and join me in the upcoming live class, if there's still time for you once this episode is published, all right. Thanks so much and I hope you have a magnificent month.

Speaker 1: 32:43

Thank you so much for tuning into another episode of the Herbalist Path. Being on this journey with you is absolutely incredible. If you dig this episode, please leave me a review on your favorite podcast player and share it with your friends so that together we can make herbalism hashtag spread like wildflowers. On another note, I must mention that, while I know you're getting some good info here, it's important to remember that this podcast is purely for entertainment and educational purposes and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. While the information in this podcast is absolutely relevant, herbs work differently for each person and each condition. That's why I recommend you work with a qualified practitioner, whether that be another herbalist, a naturopath or your doctor. So thank you again. I am truly honored that you're tuning into these episodes and on the path with me to make sure that there's an herbalist in every home. Again, don't forget to share this episode with your friends so that we can make herbalism Hashtag spread like wildflowers.