What if I told you that you don’t have to succumb to the inevitable cold, flu, and low energy of the winter? What if I told you that you can feel warm, healthy, happy, and energetic all winter long? It’s true! Every winter, we see our friends and family dropping like flies, addicted to cough syrup, not sleeping well, and feeling horrible in general, while we seem to be unaffected 99% of the time. Do we live in a bubble? No way! But we do embrace a few extra self care techniques, which we share below.
1) Call in the troops! We all need more good bacteria to fight the bad bacteria and viruses. A healthy gut microbiome is like armor against pathogens. There is a variety of ways to build your gut microbiome. Probiotic capsules are easy, but elementary my dear. The label might say “billions” of bacteria per capsule, but you get a gazillion more in fermented foods and beverages. So make a beeline to your nearest health food store and grab some tasty fermented veggies (like Real Pickles), kombucha (like GT), and Fire Tonic (like Mountain Rose Herbs). A spoonful of the veggies, a half bottle of kombucha, and just a shot of Fire Tonic will keep those germs from taking you down this winter!
2) Exercise to keep your immunity up, circulation flowing, metabolism stoking, and energy revving! Do what works for you – any style of yoga, Pilates, Barre, run, hike, weights, intervals, skiing, snow shoeing, or even just a walk. Make it your goal to move each day. For even more benefit, get outside while you exercise – the sunshine and fresh air will do you wonders. Your skin will glow, you’ll stay fit, and evade the cold and flu much more effectively.
3) Ayurveda, the oldest, continuously practiced health care system in the world, emphasizes the importance of regular, high quality sleep between the hours of 10 PM – 5 AM. This is when your body repairs, heals, cleanses, and reboots. Don’t cheat yourself of this! Habitual disrupted sleep, sleeping late, or taking naps does not compensate for good, regular, deep sleep during the night. To enhance your slumber, be sure to have a soothing night time routine, block out any and all sources of ambient light in your room, keep the room on the cool side, and avoid eating after dinner. Also, alcohol may relax you at dinner, but it definitely disrupts your vital sleep. So, it would be best to make alcoholic beverages an occasional treat, not a nightly habit.
4) Reduce sugar. Sugar cripples your immune system for up to five hours after ingestion. If you have a sugary breakfast, a sugary mid morning snack, dessert after lunch, a sugary beverage or chocolate in the afternoon, and dessert after dinner, you are taking your immune system down for most of your waking hours, and into the night. As you know by now, sugar is addictive, but it’s not really that hard to get used to less sugar in your diet. Consciously start eating less of it by choosing healthier snacks like vegetables and fruit, not adding sugar to your tea or coffee, and eating less desserts in general. The more you eat it, the more you want it, and the reverse is also true. You CAN change your tastes. To experience the joy of total freedom from sugar addiction, join us for our next cleanse!
5) Stay hydrated by sipping water all day long. This will keep your mucous membranes hydrated, which will then be able to protect you better against invading micro organisms. Two bonus side effects include much younger looking skin and energy through the roof all day long.
BONUS OPTION: Eat Juice Plus! This is the highest quality, most researched whole food supplement available. It helps you get the thousands of health promoting nutrients found in fruits and vegetables that you might be missing in your daily diet. It made a big difference for me!
Let us know how these tips work for you!
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