With winter weather well and truly upon us, there’s a risk of catching a cold. There is probably at least one person in your office at this moment coughing relentlessly or school pick up has become a game of ‘dodge the sick kid and the germ buddies’. Whatever the situation you’re in, you can apply some very simple food, health and lifestyle measures that will strengthen your immune system and stop a cold in its tracks.
1. Food is medicine. Replenish with the new seasonal local produce, organic or chemical free, whole fruit and vegetables. Other nutrient dense, healing foods include:
- Cultured or lactofermented vegetables. These goodies seem like the new kids on the block in nutrition but they have been around since humans learnt how to preserve food. Rich in good bacteria, lactobacilli, the good guys, protect your immunity and also happen to enhance digestion and increase vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as natural antibiotic substances. Dose: 2-3 tablespoons per day with meals.
- Soups and Broths made from a base of bone stock. Traditionally used by every culture to heal, restore and repair, their goodness comes from the gelatin, minerals and cartilage and marrow. Check out my previous blog on Medicinal Soups and Broths for winter and how to make a basic bone stock. Drink 3 cups before each meal per day.
- Coconut oil. Rich in a substance called lauric acid , this is converted in the human body into monolaurin, which is helpful in dealing with viruses and bacteria that cause diseases such as herpes, influenza and cytomegalovirus. It also helps in fighting harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and helicobacter pylori, and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia. Dose: 3 tablespoons per day added to food as a salad dressing with lime juice, cook veggies in it or add to smoothies and yoghurt. Choose organic and cold pressed kinds.
- Fresh and dried, organic herbs & spices to naturally enhance your food and fluids with delicious flavour as well as provide plenty of immune boosting properties. Garlic, thyme, ginger, turmeric root and sage are the most potent!
- Organic chicken liver pate, home made of course, to replenish with vitamins and minerals such as iron, Bs and fat soluble vitamins A and D. There are not many foods as nutrient dense as this extraordinary and delicious delicacy.
2. Sip on herbal tea. Certain herbs have immune boosting properties such as olive leaf, lemon myrtle leaf, peppermint leaf, cinnamon bark, turmeric root, thyme leaf, echinaceae root and sage leaf as well as hydrate your body. Make sure you buy these ingredients as organic teas and check out my previous blog on how to use herbal medicine effectively.
3. Keep your energy moving and avoid stagnation by exercising and dry brushing. The lymphatic system, which does not have it own circulatory pump, relies on the circulatory system to pump immune cells to and from your lymph nodes
4. Vitamin D. Get out of your dark, air-conditioned office and take a walk in the sun and fresh air daily, preferably at midday. Midday sun is where we get our sun dose of Vitamin D. Even if is 15 minutes worth or less with fair skin.
5. Rest and create a healthy rhythm. Reflect, be and quieten as nature does. Wind down earlier and wake with the sun. This is how the mind and body restores itself.
6. Address gut function if you have poor digestive health. An imbalance in microflora will make you more susceptible to infections. This accounts for 75% of your immune system. Seek expert advice from your health care practitioner on how to address this concern.
