I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk about what we do in our house to avoid the flu and keep our immune systems strong. I'm not saying that we won't get it, but we're doing everything we can to avoid that happening. With other things, more is not always better, but in this case, it is!
- Anyone who knows me would think that something was wrong if I didn't put our vitamin regimen on the top of this list. We take vitamins from USANA HEALTH SCIENCES- great quality and we are getting everything we pay for there
- Probiotics- About 70% of our immune cells are in our digestive tract, so putting healthy bacteria to overpower the bad stuff is great. We take our probiotics every other day, unless we feel something coming on, and then we amp it up to every day- all year round.
- Vitamin D- Important in the immune health puzzle, and living in the Northern Hemisphere prompts us to take extra D every day - over and above what's in our Multivitamin. We notice the difference.
- Juicing with greens and bright colored fruits and vegetables infuses our bodies with health - and they are delicious. Click here for Dr. Oz's green drink recipe- it's SO good.
- We make chicken soup pretty often during the winter- with lots of garlic and fresh vegetables. It's not an old wives tale that chicken soup hastens recovery from a cold- or wards one off. I don't put noodles in my chicken soup because they get mushy when we freeze the leftovers. I make the soup, then add rice or pasta as we serve. The favorite in our house is brown rice.
- BEET the HEAT - a friend of ours brought this Beet Horseradish (the red one) back from Arizona for us. We loved it so much that we bought a case of it! Of course it has a horseradish kick to it! We joke that the flu won't want to come anywhere near us. We put this on sandwiches, with salmon, chicken or beef. We feel like it's the find of the year. GRATE ROOTS makes it and is just getting their website up. We called the owner from the number on the site and she sent it right out.
- Along the same lines, add jalapeno's, cayenne pepper and red chili pepper to your diet. Actually anything fresh and spicy.
- Add herbs to your cooking. Herbs, ounce for ounce, have a higher antioxidant count than many other vegetables
- Wash your hands often with soap and water. I'm am personally not a fan of those hand sanitizers if soap and water is available.
- Get plenty of sleep - this is sort of a no-brainer, but it's good for #10