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I don’t know about you, but I have felt like my family and I have been so sick this year already! Every time some one gets over an illness, someone else gets something! Except my husband who ironically never gets sick! The only thing I hate more than actually being sick, is seeing my babies sick. So I went on a hunt to find some things I can incorporate into everyday life to help boost our immune systems.
Not too long ago, I use to drink Emergen-C every day. I stopped taking it when I learned about some of the additives and sweeteners that are included with it. Also, if you’re taking it for the vitamin C alone, you might as well just eat an orange. I feel like Emergen-C is a default that people use and they just assume it will keep them healthy. Don’t get me wrong, Emergen-C has some good qualities, like zinc and B vitamins, but it also has some unnecessary toxic ingredients.
When it comes to being sick, living a healthy lifestyle is going to keep you the healthiest. Things like eating healthy, exercise, drinking water, and getting enough sleep are going to be your best line of defense. For the most part, my family lives a healthy lifestyle so I wanted to try to find some other ways to supplement our immune health. So what did I find?
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is amazing on so many different levels. When our bodies are in sunlight, vitamin D is produced. Researchers have found that vitamin D plays a role in activating T cells in our body and helps balance our immune system. Balance is important when it comes to our immune system because while we don’t want our immune system down, we also don’t want it working in over drive all the time. Balance is always key!
Depression has also been linked to vitamin D deficiencies. Around this time of the year it gets increasingly hard to get outside and in the sunlight because I am getting to work before the sun comes up and the sun has already set by the time I get home. It can be easy to fall into seasonal depression when this happens. Depression has been linked to lower immune function. So the best advice I can give is to get as much sunlight as possible!
Elderberry Syrup
It has been about three weeks now that I have been giving my kiddos elderberry syrup every single night in their juice. Elderberry syrup is packed full of antioxidants that can help boost your immune system to fight colds, the flu, and all those nasty things! I have been using Mary Ruth’s Organic Liquid Elderberry Syrup and my kids have not complained one bit! I like it because it has clean ingredients in it and it’s organic. If you search Pinterest as well, there are quite a few elderberry syrup recipes!
Garlic
This one surprised me a little because my husband always jokes with me that garlic is the cure for everything. Turns out, he wasn’t far off! Garlic helps boost the immune system by helping the immune system fight off germs that are associated with the common cold and flu. Not only that, but having a diet rich in garlic can reduce the amount of time you stay sick. So even if you do get sick, garlic is still helping you!
Gut Health
I have talked about gut health before and you can find my blog post about it here! Gut health is so important because it controls a lot of what happens in our body. Some ways to improve your gut health are to start taking a pre/probiotic, eat a well balanced diet, and incorporate fermented foods into your diet. Fermented foods are an awesome way to get probiotics into your gut naturally without taking a supplement.
Get In Nature
The link between health and nature is real!! It has been found that nature can help fight a wide range of diseases and also boost the immune system. Ming Kuo from the University of Illinois explains that nature acts as a multivitamin and gives our body much needed nutrients. She also explains that when we are in nature, our body switches from “flight or fight” to “rest and digest” mode.
So if you are feeling like you need a bit of an immune boost, try to incorporate some of these things into your routine!