Stay Healthy This Cold & Flu Season With These 10 Immune Boosting Tips

With the holidays at hand, cold and flu season is in full swing. Rather than suffering through it using over-the-counter medications to only partially suppress those nasty symptoms, why not take steps ahead of time to boost your immune system and avoid getting sick altogether?

Your immune system is not located in one particular place – it’s actually a number of bodily systems that work together to keep pathogens from invading your body and causing disease. If an infectious organism does gain a foothold, your immune system is what fights it off – this is why you sometimes get over a cold more quickly, whereas when you’ve been feeling run down and unhealthy it may linger on for a while, as your immune system is not in tip-top shape.

Obviously, keeping your immune system strong and healthy is key to staying healthy yourself this winter – and throughout the year.

While over-the-counter medications may help suppress some of your worst symptoms temporarily, there is no denying that you still feel crappy when you’re sick. Try these 10 immune boosting tips to help you stay healthy this winter instead.

After all, prevention is the best cure, as we say in the natural health world!

1. Build up your gut health.… 80% of your immune system is in the gut. Start by eating probiotic rich foods and drinks such as kraut, kimchi and kefir….

Increasing probiotics in the gut will help to build up the good bacteria in your body and help greatly boost your immune system.

2. Proper supplementation. Alex and I love to supplement with several key products to help boost our immunity year round such as medicinal mushrooms…. We also take vitamin C powder in the form of simple ascorbic acid…. This is one of the most inexpensive ways to help boost your immune system. We also love the homeopathic remedies by Boiron especially if we feel like we are coming down with something.

3. Bone broth soup. This is really a hidden treasure. Bone broth soup is not only great for immune boosting but it is very healing to the gut….

4. Proper hydration. Staying hydrated helps with detoxification…. Try drinking purified water and organic herbal teas….

5. Optimize your Vitamin D3 levels. This has immune boosting and stimulating benefits. Many people are walking around Vitamin D3 deficient and this can cause your immune system to suffer….

6. Minimize coffee consumption. Caffeine is known to increase cortisol which can temporarily lower the immune system. If you are going to drink it, drink a cup in the morning and preferably organic. An even better option is to drink a good quality organic green tea in place of coffee.

7. Sweat it out. Try laying in the sauna or steam room for small periods at a time while drinking plenty of water & infusing Eucalyptus essential oils. This helps with detoxifying the body and increasing body heat which helps improve circulation.

8. Eat clean, nutritious food…. Limit grains and eliminate sugar if at all possible. Feed your body good quality lean proteins such as grass fed meats, organic chicken, fish or turkey. Increase your good healthy fats such as avocados, raws nuts and seeds and extra virgin first cold pressed olive oil… and fermented raw grass fed dairy such as cheese, yogurt and kefir….

9. Drink raw apple cider vinegar with the mother. We like to drink Braggs ACV. I put two tablespoons diluted with 8-10 oz. water first thing each morning upon waking….

10. Manage stress…. Stress is a silent killer and it definitely contributes to lowering immunity. Try managing your stress by taking time for things you enjoy, exercising daily (medium to heavy resistance training) and cardio as well as getting plenty of rest each night….
………………………………………………….

Check out the full article at MotherEarthNews.com for more tips…