It’s here: cold and flu season
It’s cold and flu season and if you have kids in school you may have already made it through 1-2 bouts of the common cold. You might start to wonder how to keep your child from getting sick or how to shorten their illness when they do. Every parent wants to escape childhood colds, in truth when a child gets sick the whole family is in upheavel with juggling work, other kids, maybe wanting to avoid getting sick yourself. I see you, moms and dads, when we get sick it always seems to last longer than for our kids. This time of year naturopathic doctors are giving out their best remedies and fire cider recipes to keep your family healthy. If that’s your jam, then please find one online. I don’t have a fire cider recipe, I’m a busy mom with busy kids, so I keep my medicinal cupboard pretty simple. I don’t want to spend lots of money on supplements when I’d rather spend it supporting my child’s immune system through their diet all year long.
So much of our immune system derives from the gut. Instead of daily immune boosters, I prefer kids are filled with healthy veggies, fruits, whole grains, and proteins. These provide the building blocks and cofactors that all our biochemical reactions and cells are made from, even our immune cells. These foods also feed our microbiome and a healthy microbiome means healthy digestion and absorption of nutrients, they even make some nutrients for us! If you have a picky eater, you will have to work harder to fill them with what they need each day. Believe me, it pays off in healthy kids now and in the future if they can eat vegetables, even limited choices. Keep in mind it takes 10-20 times of introducing a food for a child to like it, and they don’t have to like every vegetable just a good variety.
What else can you do? Get moving, make sure you and your family move your body at least 30 min per day, 60 min is advised for kids. Get plenty of sleep, manage stress, and look for joy. All these will not only benefit your immune system, they will improve your overall quality of daily life.
When kids do get sick, which is inevitable and maybe a little scarier these days with COVID in the mix of viruses as well, I do have specific foods and extra nutrients/vitamins that I employ to help their bodies as they burn through calories and nutrients fighting off illness. If you find yourself at your wit’s end with a string of illnesses and need more support, please plan a visit to the clinic and we can work together to support your family this fall and winter. It’s my jam to find ways to keep your family healthy and functioning.