Say Goodbye to Sick Days

As the cold weather is hitting most of the states, it is a good idea to start practicing some healthy habits to charge up your immune system and try to keep the colds and flu away.  What are some ideas that are easy to adopt to stay healthier this winter?   

      1.       Wash those hands – out shopping, going to school, going to work, up and down escalators, staying in hotels?  Germs are everywhere so wash them away.  Hand washing is the first step to keeping colds and flu at bay.  In 6 Tips for Avoiding Cold and Flu, Dr. Pocinki recommends, “Wash your hands as much as you can stand, and then some more—especially after wrapping up a visit with someone’s who’s sick.”  If you aren’t near a sink, use hand sanitizer.  Carry some in your purse, or store some in your glove compartment.  

2. Power Up Your Immune System – having a healthy diet will help build your immune system but some foods are especially powerful in warding off colds and flu.

a.     Choose purple/blue foods – who knew that some foods like purple (or red) grapes or blueberries have some powerful anti-germ properties.  For even more of an immunity boost, enjoy a bowl of mixed berries.   

b.     Mushrooms – add some mushrooms to your salad or pizza.  Mushrooms provide some B vitamins and the mineral, selenium.  Being low in selenium makes your more susceptible to getting a more severe flu. 

c.     Wheat germ – this used to be the “health food” years ago and should be again.  Full of nutrients like zinc, B vitamins and antioxidants plus fiber, protein and a heart healthy fat.  Use some in baking, or sprinkle some on your morning oatmeal for a nutrition boost to your day.

d.    Yogurt – those probiotics in yogurt have many health benefits, including lowering the severity of the common cold.  Look on the label for “live, active cultures”.

e.    Vitamin D – we all know vitamin D helps make our bones strong, but new research indicates vitamin D actually helps your immune system to develop some proteins to fight off bacteria and viruses.  The National Institutes of Health notes that people deficient in “D” are more susceptible to infection.  To boost your vitamin D intake, drink real milk at meals, pack some yogurt for lunch.  If you don’t like milk, then add some calcium-fortified OJ to your morning.

f.     Tea – drink some hot tea.  Choose whatever kind you like:  green, black or white.  Why tea?  Tea provides some immune boosting and disease-fighting antioxidants called polyphenols and flavonoids.  Doesn’t matter if you choose caffeinated or decaffeinated, you get the benefits of these antioxidants.

g.     Carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie – these orange colored foods are loaded with beta-carotene which our bodies turn into vitamin A.  Beta carotene can boost your immune system and may slow down the aging process.  It is also great for healthy skin.

3. Exercise – walk the dog, walk with some friends at lunch or before/after work.  Dr. David Nieman from Appalachian State University who teaches disease prevention, says, “A brisk daily walk is the single most powerful thing you can do to prevent illness.”  His research has “found that people who exercised five days a week for 20 minutes or more reduced the number of days they were sick by 43 percent.”   

Walking the dog is good exercise

Some easy ways to boost your immune system this week.  Try all of them to help ward off the colds and flu this winter season.

Sources:  .  In 6 Tips for Avoiding Cold and Flu, berries, National Institutes of Health, disease-fighting, says,  Image sources:  washing hands, wheat germ,  dog walking