How to boost your family's immune system throughout winter
My kids have been sent home because of a runny nose. At 12 degrees and no central heating mine would be runny, too. Reason enough to share some tips on:
How to boost the family's immune system throughout winter
Did you know that your gut is home to approximately 70% of your immune system?
With that information in mind. Food and nutrition should be considered your first line of defense.
What you put into your stomach and subsequently your body impacts your wellbeing greatly. You can feed the friendly gut bacteria and boost your immune system or feed the little opportunistic buggers. Imbalances can lead to sickness.
How can you boost our immune system?!
Avoid mucus forming and inflammatory food such as: -dairy -processed food -gluten -soy and GMO products -refined sugar and syrups -food colouring -food additives and preservatives
What should you eat?
A fresh food diet consisting of alkaline forming food, which is anti-inflammatory and immune boosting.
-fruit and vegetables in all colours of the rainbow, especially red and purple, which are high in antioxidants
-go green: make your own green juice rule of thumb: 3 parts green veggies such as celery, cucumber, cabbage +1 part fruit (e.g. Kiwi, green apple)
-drink more water and ditch the sodas and store bought juices. Great way are unsweetened, herbal teas such as Hibiscus or Reishi
-eat collard greens and cruciferous veggies (such as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower)
-favour plant based protein
-mushrooms: From Portobelo to Reishi, they all have the ability to mark invaders in our body.
-buy fresh or frozen products over canned ones
-add garlic and onions ((mince one raw clove of garlic, mash it into avocado, banana or cooked potato add 1 spoonful of raw honey, 3x daily until you feel better)
-Add fresh herbs to your meal such as oregano, basil, thyme or cinnamon
-One of natures best kept secrets are bee products. Besides royal jelly, honey and bee pollen the most outstanding bee product is Propolis, natural antifungal and antiviral components.
-Aloe Vera, a once sacred plant, especially in Egypt, is a real plant power house. It's synergy of more than 200 ingredients make the pure inner leaf gel of a mature plant a real immune booster.
From theory to praxis. Here are my local & seasonal superheroes,
loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants
-chicken or bone broth
-hibiscus (unsweetened tea)
-pomegranate (seeds or self-made juice)
-potatoes
-apples
-citrus fruits
-kiwi
-berries (especially wild blueberries, cranberry)
-beetroot
-artichokes
-papaya, pineapples
If you feel the need to supplement your diet then here a few thoughts.
Add more natural Vitamin C to your diet, which is an antioxidant.
Did you know, even though you take 100% in form of a supplement, the body can only absorb a fraction at the time?! It would be advisable to search for a product that discharges the Vitamin C throughout the day in smaller doses. Look in products for a mix of ascorbic acid of a natural source.
Especially with inflammation and first signs of infections, Zinc can be of great benefits. Important is to increase bioavailability. A great option is liquid Zinc sulfate in conjunction with Vitamin C or quercetin.
Vitamin D3 with Vitamin K combination is a great support in winter. As the days are short and often cloudy we spend more time indoors and absorb less sunlight. A Vitamin D boost can do wonders for mood and immune system. Liquid forms are preferred.
Nature´s little helpers It does not need to be hours in the gym but you need to get your blood and lymphatic liquid flowing to increase the natural detox process. There is nothing better to boost your immune system than fresh air, a bit of morning sun and a walk or activity outdoors.
Top tip: 10 min jump on a trampoline or alternatively the good old skipping rope.
Extra benefits are associated with walking in a forest or at the beach. Read here about the importance of grounding yourself: https://www.empoweredbyninaboons.com/post/are-you-grounding-your-children
Stress is a real gut health killer.
In ancient times when we would be confronted by a fight or flight situation, such as a bear chasing us, we would literally run and burn off the cortisol and adrenaline, produced by our adrenal glands.
These days we sit at our desks and sofas, scroll through social media and get stressed by data overload. The brain doesn’t know the difference between a real threat or merely the imagination of it, whilst reading about it.
So, where does the cortisol and adrenaline go, if we don’t run anymore?
Well, a big part of those hormones is reabsorbed into the gut. However, the gut can only do one thing at the time rest&digest or deal with stress. Here a few simple tricks in regards to stress management https://www.empoweredbyninaboons.com/post/1-simple-trick-to-induce-calm
Ever heard the saying sleep heals all wounds?
Sleep is one of the most underrated home remedies of our time.
Work with your circadian rhythm (body clock) and not against it. There is a programmed inner clock with designated times for healing, recovering, resetting and renewing. Most of that happens while we are asleep.
Interrupted sleep cycles or not sufficient sleep disturbs these processes.
A rested sleep is of utmost importance for our health and wellbeing. If you have difficulties falling asleep, staying asleep or not feeling rested after sufficient hours of sleep, then your circadian rhythm is disturbed. In that case time to get help, early help can fix the problem easily.
If you feel overwhelmed with the responsibility of your and your family's health, you can follow us on social media or book your individual 1-to-1 consultation.
Last but not least...
To support immunity during winter, let me share 2 family friendly recipes.
Base recipe for tea:
2 cups hot water
Grated ginger (fresh) or fine pieces
Cinnamon bark
Teaspoon turmeric
2 spoons of raw honey or pure maple syrup
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Steep for 15 minutes
Add juice of 1 lemon (freshly squeezed)
Drink 3 times a day until feeling better.
The kids friendly version:
Use base recipe for tea and let it cool off.
Freshly squeeze one orange (not store bought juice)
Use 50 ml add 10ml of tea (as kids don't like huge amounts, we offer smaller portions with higher frequency masked by orange juice )
Offer every 2 hours.