As temperatures are steadily dropping, armoring my daughter and I for cold weather health attacks is in order. In today’s post, I share my top remedies I use to boost our immune system and stay healthy.
Staying healthy and being resilient against colds, and flus begins from the inside out. Here are 7 easy ways to stay healthy and quickly recover this fall.
1. Keep well-nourished: I like to start with our food and daily nutition. I believe that food can heal and is actually medicine. I’ve been on a journey to reduce our sugar and carbohydrate intake. From insulin spikes to inflammation, too much sugar is just NOT our friend. Avoiding too much sweets and processed products will make room for all the good things we do to stick. Instead, I am including more healthy fats, organic fruits and veggies and protein to our diets to help our bodies be resilient.
2. Get plenty of rest: Getting enough rest is important for your body to rebuild its defenses and replenish from a long day of working hard to protect you. I like to give my daughter and me a good dose of probiotic supplements before going to bed to boost our replenishing process throughout the night.
3. Stay clean: Keeping clean is important as we go about our daily routines in public to avoid picking up unwanted koodies. Most stores are very helpful providing cart disinfectant wipes at the entrance and hand sanitizer at the registers. The card key pad at check out, freezer door handles and shopping carts are all easy ways you can pick up germs and viruses. So, take advantage of sanitizers provided by shops. I also keep hand wipes, and sanitizers in my car and purse in case they are not available while we are out.
4. Stay hydrated with water: I can’t say enough about this one. Keeping hydrated with water helps circulate all the nutrition we take in, eliminate toxins, hydrate our skin and sinuses. If you are struggling to drink a lot of water, try adding a freshly squeezed lemon or frozen berries to your water. My daughter and I have a habit of using half of a freshly squeezed lemon to our water bottles before heading out. Fresh lemon juice is alkalizing and delicious.
5. Respond immediately: I always prefer more homeopathic remedies for common winter illnesses. However, the key to homeopathic treatments working best is to pay close attention to early signs of getting sick. The moment I feel the smallest irritation in my throat or nose, I reach for a tablespoon of raw honey or warm apple cider vinegar with honey if I am home. I also keep a pack of gum with xylitol in my purse to chew on when I start to feel ill. Xylitol is known to kill germs in the mouth.
Remember to pay close attention to your child’s complaints of a headache or a casual mention of a sour throat. Teaching them to quickly recognize and communicate cold symptoms early helps you get the jump on restless nights and days out of school being ill.`
6. Stay stocked up: Don’t wait to stock your home with teas, meds and supplements. While everyone is feeling their best, stock up everything from facial tissues to fever reducers while doing a normal grocery run. Getting up through the night and realizing you have run out of Ibuprofen and your child is running a fever can be a lot to deal with. If you are a single parent it’s even more important to keep the right treatments on hand so you won’t find yourself having to take a sick child to the grocery story with you in the middle of the night.
7. Moisturize often: Cold weather can be brutal to exposed skin. Be sure to moisturize after a bath. I like to add an additional all natural face moisturizer before applying my make up for added protection. Also keep a heavy skin protector on your lips and hands. Because I clean my hands quite a bit to avoid getting sick, I keep a hand lotion or mini container of Vaseline in my purse. In addition, use a face tissue that has lotion in it and keep the little ones noses based in the skin protector to prevent sores around the nose.
8. Word wise: I am a strong believer that what you say really does matter. Overstating the obvious annoyance with cold symptoms won’t help your health improve. When either me or my daughter are not feeling our best, we communicate our symptoms so we can get treated properly, but we avoid priding ourselves on how horrible we feel to others. Instead of constantly saying “ohh, I am so, so sick” we start planning the next few days out seeing ourselves out and about enjoying ourselves. My daughter and I help each other out of our misery by saying things like “you will be moving around before the day is out”. That attitude and conversation may not always be easy but it makes all the difference. By the end of the day we remind each other of how right we were.
I have included a short shopping list to summarize everything I have shared. Have a cozy fall and stay healthy!
Shopping List
- Braggs’ Apple cider vinegar
- Raw Honey
- Gum with Xylitol
- Herbal teas
- Ibuprofen + another pain & fever reducer like Tylenol
- Hyland’s 4 kids Cold’ n Cough Day and Night Value Pack
- Similassan cold & mucus relief
- Umcka Cold Care drops
- Umcka cold care chewables
- D3 Liquid (a daily supplement for us)
- Liquid Iodine (a daily supplement for us)
Skin Care
- CereVe healing ointment
- Vaseline
- Coconut oil
- Raw shea butter