Top five tips to staying healthy this winter
You see it, you hear it, cough cough, sneezing all around you. You see people sharing how their families are sick. Tis the season to get some sort of respiratory illness. Lets try to stay well this time of year! Here are my top five tips to doing just that so you can spend more time doing what you love.
Drink plenty of water: water is key, we need it to survive and many symptoms like headaches and being tired are related to being dehydrated. I recommend drinking at least half of your body weight in ounces of water daily or up to 100 ounces. If you workout hard and sweat a lot of drink coffee then this is a must! I also recommend a good water filter or purifier. I don’t trust what is in the tap and I don’t really know what is in those plastic water bottles. I also just read that atrazine can be in water bottles which is a weed killer. gross! Plus if you are not recycling those are ending up in our oceans.
Get plenty of sleep: Sleep is so important to healing. Our immune functions clean up the trash at night and are more active so getting to bed around the same time every night is key. Aim for 7-8 hours of quality sleep and limit screen time 90 minutes before bed to make sure you can fall asleep well. Other sleep tips, keep the room cold and dark and remove your phone or other electronics from the room
Eat Whole Foods: processed foods and sugars can really stress our body and contribute to elevated blood sugars and inflammation. They are also not the right foods that our gut bugs like to eat therefore our gut health will not be quality on a diet like this. Since most of our immune system functions come from our good gut bacteria it makes sense to eat the foods they like! These are Whole Foods like a variety of vegetables, fruits and whole grains. Try to eat 5 different veggies a day. Whole grains like beans, lentils, quinoa, brown rice are also good for you as well. Eating the rainbow of colors every day is a good goal to aim for.
Exercise: moderate exercise most days of the week can really boost our immune system. Studies even suggest that physically active people report fewer colds than those who do not exercise. This can be weight training, fast walking, jogging, interval training, or other activities like yoga/pilates. To me moderate means you are breathing hard at times and working up a good sweat. Not chatting on your cell phone on a leisurely walk. If you can get outside for some of these exercises in nature that is even better!
Take key supplements: I take certain supplements daily but tend to add a couple in the winter or increase the doses of some if I feel like I am getting sick. Key supplements I recommend are a good probiotic to boost our gut health, methylated b vitamins, vitamin D3, vitamin C and zinc. Dosages may depend on what you buy, but buy from a quality source and follow the directions on the labels. A good rule of thumb for D3 is around 3000-5000IU daily.. For zinc 20mg, for vitamin C 1000-2000mg. You can also add in some elderberry syrup and astragalus for some extra help during the winter time. I also love a good herbal tea called throat coat, and hot water with lemon and honey.
Now of course if you do get sick and are not getting well in a sufficient amount of time please check in with your doctor but hopefully you can avoid that this time around.
Cheers to health and happiness!