There are a few key things you can do right now to boost your immune system and decrease your chances of getting any and ALL viral illnesses this fall and winter.
The goal here is to have such a strong and healthy enough immune system in place that it doesn’t matter if you sit next to someone who has the flu on the bus…
…it doesn’t matter if you turn a doorknob right after someone who has a stomach bug touched it…
… it doesn’t matter if you are in line and the person in front of you keeps coughing on you…
…the healthier we each are individually, the less any viral illness will spread.
And really, the cold and flu season just serves
to heighten our awareness of things WE *CAN* DO
to prevent the spread of disease,
to strengthen our own body,
and to teach our children how to take
charge of their own health.
The more steps we are all take to reduce the transmission of disease and the more we are proactive about the robust health our own immune system, the less viral illnesses we will get… reducing the enterovirus and the flu and the URIs and other viral infections we might have otherwise gotten this winter.
It’s possible to make this winter be the winter that you are so aware of your inner health that you don’t pick up a single viral illness, no matter what sea of disease you navigate as you go through your normal life this season.
Here’s how:
1. Decrease your sugar intake.
I started off with the hardest one (for me at least!) because sugar directly suppresses the immune system and leaves you more susceptible for picking up communicable illness.
I have a massive sweet tooth — I’m taking L-Glutamine in order to decrease my sugar cravings and you can too.
Consider giving less sugary snacks to children when you send them off to school this fall and winter and you will be ensuring that their immune system stays as high as possible when surrounded by their classmates germs.
2. Increase your restorative sleep.
You NEED restorative sleep at night to keep your immune system working optimally during the day.
Nighttime is a time of not only repair and process and release but also a time of resetting to meet the next day. Studies show that sleep deprivation causes everything from slowed metabolism, to brain atropy, to decreased immune response.
1. Have a goal of 9 hours of quality sleep a night if possible…
2. Invest in an indoor Grounding product so you can deepen your restorative sleep at night…
3. Take some melatonin if you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep…
4. And read this blog post I wrote with loads more tips on getting a restorative full night of sleep!
3. Allow yourself to retain some extra weight.
This is a little known fact but as I blogged about from the medical literature last year… but having extra weight on helps you survive overwhelming infection.
There is a reason that newborns and the elderly are the most likely to die from the flu and other viral illnesses — their energy and metabolic reserves are generally less than that of a vibrant strong older child and adult.
Especially in the winter, we are meant to have a little extra cushion of weight to hibernate on.
Allow yourself this — now is not the time for starvation diets.
4. Colloidal silver spray.
This is a wonderful antiviral remedy that you can use immediately after a suspected exposure to a viral illness.
If you found yourself standing next to someone in line who coughed nonstop over your shoulder — go ahead and spray your oral mucosa with some purified silver and instantly decrease your chance of picking up their pathogen.
You can keep colloidal silver at your desk at work, in a small spray bottle in your purse, and in your suitcase to use as protection during travel.
5. Immune boosting supplements.
My three non-negotiable favorite immune boosting supplements are:
Vit C (1,000 mg a day)
Vit D (1,ooo IU a day)
and probiotics (1 – 5 billion CFUs a day)
At least 70% of our immunity starts in the gut — but I still have yet to see other health care practitioners recommend daily probiotics as a way to protect against seasonal viral outbreaks.
6. Eat your antivirals.
Eating immune boosting foods such as garlic and oregano can help you boost your immunity to viral illnesses naturally.
Cinnamon and raw honey are both highly anti-viral as well, and have the ability to stop viral illnesses in it’s track!
Try this recipe daily to boost your immunity and take an extra teaspoon full whenever you’ve had a known viral exposure when out and about in your community:
Anti-Viral Cinnamon Honey
Ingredients:
Organic Ground Cinnamon
Directions:
Mix 1 Tablespoon of Organic Raw Honey with 3/4 teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon. Eat 1 teaspoon as needed!
This makes three servings — enough to take three times a day during known viral exposures or at the onset of any viral symptoms.
You can eat a teaspoon of this cinnamon honey straight, you can use it in your nightly or morning tea, spread over toast (the perfect winter breakfast!) swirl into your breakfast oatmeal, and you can use it to dip fresh fruit into for the added anti-oxidant boost!
This is one antiviral remedy that children ususally take with a smile. (Do not give honey to children under 1 year of age.)
7. Wash Your Hands.
The #1 thing you can do, even if you can’t do a single other thing on this list,
is WASH YOUR HANDS!!!
Wash your hand before eating, before touching your face, before rubbing your eye, after blowing your nose, whenever you come home from being out and about, and before bed.
Just washing your hands more frequently than ever can be the one step that prevents the widespread epidemic of ANY viral illness, any season!
8. Stop Worrying.
The point isn’t to become fearful of every single person and every single surface you encounter, but to proactively boost your own health so that you could walk directly through an entire street of people with the flu and still not get it.
This is absolutely possible.
Exposure does NOT equal active infection.
The reality is that you are likely to encounter someone with a cough or sniffle today.
Or someone feeling nauseous.
And instead of feeling like the next victim of this or any other illness, you should *know* that our bodies absolutely and 100% have the ability to be exposed to nasty viral illnesses and NOT BECOME ILL WITH THEM.
This is natural for us.
It is natural to be surrounded by pathogens, including viruses, and to NOT BECOME INFECTED BY THEM.
It just takes a healthy immune system, lots of hand washing and good hygiene.
Follow the previous 7 steps listed above and #8 — stop worrying — will take care of itself.
If you can help share this information with others than together we can help stop the spread of the flu and other seasonal illnesses before they have even begun.
The key is empowering each other with positive, helpful, supporting things that we can do every day to dramatically decrease our chance of becoming sick with communicable disease.
It’s not realistic to sequester yourself away from all exposures.