How to Boost your Immune System

Well, as much as we want to pretend it isn’t going to happen, with the colder months brings more sicknesses.

It’s what many, especially parents dread about the winter weather.  There’s a good chance there will be a sickness, or two, or more in your home during the fall and winter season. And if you have multiple children that sickness can drag on for weeks if everyone gets hit with it at different times.

All that time spent indoors when summer ends,  hanging with others has a way of making those germs spread, sometimes fast and furious.   But, we have to live, so avoiding coming in contact with germs is unavoidable – unless you decided to never go out again which, obviously that isn’t an option.

I mean, sometimes i wish it was, because, who doesn’t love to be all cozy at home with their candles and lattes and fires going in the woodstove all winter?

But…SOMEONE has to go out to buy the groceries.  And since my oldest still has 4 more years before she can drive I guess that someone has to be me.

Man, wouldn’t it be nice if we could eliminate colds and flus?

Well, this post is not going to tell you how to eliminate colds and flus completely because frankly, that would clearly be untrue.

However, even though we can’t make flus and colds disappear for good, there are ways you can boost your  immunity so that youand your family may have a better chance at not being hit so hard with sickness this season.  You may be sick less than usual, or when you do get sick it doesn’t last as long.

But I swear, it’s like God knows moms can’t get sick.  Years ago my whole family got hit with a pretty rough sickness.  It hit them all in the span of an hour, and lasted for days.  My husband was so sick he couldn’t even get out of bed.  For days.

I was doing what all moms do in that situation.  Feeding the family liquids and cleaning up….well…you know…..

Basically, I was in the thick of it.

And I didn’t get sick.  At all.  And while I was sure to drink a lot of green smoothies at that time, I wasn’t the picture of perfect health.  I am convinced God knew if I got sick there’d be no one to take care of anyone!

We’ve spent some seasons very sick, and others not as much.  I do notice that the more proactive I am in boosting immune systems, the better we fare.

For quite awhile now I’ve been dealing with some weird health issues.  But you know what I have not dealt with in years?  The flu.  I can’t remember the last time I got the flu.  Even when I get hit with a cold I don’t get knocked off my feet.

This year I’ve decided to up my game and add some things to strengthen my immune system even more, but also that of my children’s.  I hadn’t put such a focus on boosting their immune system in the past because I always figured “kids are kids and they will get sick anyways.”  This year I decided to change my tune and focus on strengthening their immune systems and so far we’ve all managed to stay healthy.

Now before I get into the list, let’s just state the obvious.  I am not a doctor, or medically trained in any way.  I am just sharing what has worked for us and my own personal opinion.  It’s always best to consult your doctor.

WAYS TO BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

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HAVE A GREEN SMOOTHIE A DAY. 

Green smoothies are my favorite weapon when it comes to getting my children to eat more vegetables.  I fill those smoothies with spinach or kale and they love it.  But they also help me eat more vegetables.

The fruit in the smoothie covers the taste of the greens and so you can’t even taste the spinach or kale.  If you are worried green smoothies will never go over with your child or that you won’t be able to handle it, start out heavy on the fruit and just a little bit of greens.  You can increase the greens slowly.  Our basic green smoothie is a banana, a cup or so of frozen fruit, a couple handfuls of spinach or kale, and either water or almond milk, and sometimes I add plain homemade yogurt.

USE ESSENTIAL OILS.

Many essential oils are antibacterial and can help boost your immune system.  My favorite right now with so much illness going on all around the world is ONGUARD (click here to check it out).   The Healthline site has this to say about Onguard:

“In a 2010 canine study, researchers found that On Guard weakened the influenza virus in canine cells that were infected. They also discovered that the oil can prevent the virus from being able to replicate as strongly. Although the virus was still able to replicate itself, it didn’t produce as many viral proteins. This weakened the virus and made it easier for the immune system to attack it.”

Three of my favorite essential oils to boost immunity is lemon, oregano, and, of course Onguard.  Lemon and Onguard have cleansing properties that help purify the air when diffused. You want to make sure you are using high quality essential oils to promote a healthy immune system.  Oregano is a pretty popular one people use to boost their immune systems.

We also like to use eucalyptus to diffuse at night when congested.  To promote healthy sleep any time of the year we like to diffuse lavender.  There are many ways essential oils can help boost your immunity. You can read about which ones we love and how you can get some yourself here.

EAT HEALTHY FOODS.

Along with green smoothies, encourage the family to eat their fruits and vegetables. Limit their junk food and sugar intake. Make sure they are drinking plenty of water.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten sick and then I look back at what I’ve been eating for the past few weeks and it has been things that are junk for my body.  When I’m eating well, even if I get sick I just don’t get hit as hard.

KEEP MOVING. 

Exercise is a great way to boost immune systems.  6 years ago, before my husband changed careers, he worked in an office.  He would often get a really bad flu or two every year.  After he changed careers to one that required him to move and do manual labor every day he rarely got very sick.  He changed nothing else but his level of exercise due to his job and it greatly decreased the amount and the level of sickness he gets every year.

Sometimes we think the kids are getting enough exercise because kids are…well, kids.  They move a LOT!  But when the colder weather hits and more time is spent indoors it’s easy to just not be getting the exercise we need.  Send the kids out to play, go for a walk, jump on a trampoline, or take a trip to the park, and be sure to join them to keep yourself healthy.  Whatever you do, keep moving!

TAKE ELDERBERRY SYRUP. 

Elderberry syrup is an amazing antioxidant that is known to help upper respiratory infections and to boost immunity.  If you feel like you or your child has a sickness coming on, you can try some elderberry syrup.  It may reduce the severity of the illness.  Not sure where to find elderberry syrup?  Grab it here on Amazon or make it yourself with this recipe.

GET PROPER SLEEP.

We need adequate sleep to keep ourselves health. Kids also need lots of sleep, especially if they are coming down with something.  As much as we’d like to, we just can’t burn the candle at both ends and stay healthy.  Make sleep a priority for the whole family this season.  Have everyone go to bed at a decent time.  Your body will thank you!

 

WASH YOUR HANDS.

Your mother was right.  Washing your hands does help prevent the spread of germs.  Keep reminding your little ones the importance of washing their hands, especially during cold and flu season.

ADD SUPPLEMENTS.

A good quality multivitamin and a probiotic are helpful in boosting the immune system. Vitamin D is also a good one to take in the winter. Sometimes we like to think we don’t need supplements, but especially as we get older our bodies can really benefit from them.

LESSEN THE CHANCE OF COLD AND FLU

Applying these 8 ways to help boost your own immune system may lessen the amount and severity of the flu or colds.  However, it doesn’t mean you won’t get sick at all.  But wouldn’t it be great if you were sick for just one or two days instead of four?

On top of that, these ideas can only improve your quality of life, not take away from it.  So really, in the end you lose nothing.

That’s the great thing about applying more natural solutions to our lives.