Fall is here and along with the beautiful autumn colors and crisp breezes comes the beginning of flu season. The dreaded flu with its achy all over, fever, chills, run down feeling and sick feelings that go with it. What you do now to prepare your body for the onslaught of viruses heading your way will determine if you escape the flu or succumb to it.
Many think getting a flu shot is all you need to do to prevent from contracting the dreaded illness. While the shot may offer you some immunity it doesn’t provide a 100% protection. If it were only that easy – one shot and you’re in the clear, but we all know that getting a flu shot is just one of the many things we need to do.
Here are some other things you must do to keep healthy:
1. Wash your hands…..a lot – Become a bit of a germaphobe. Washing your hands and washing them often, helps prevent the spreading of germs and helps to keep us from contracting those germs in the first place. When our hands come in contact with germs on a surface then we rub our eyes or eat food with our hands we get the virus.
Many people don’t wash properly or long enough either. Soaping up and scrubbing good can help keep many of us from getting sick and we need to teach children how to scrape their fingernails on the palm of their soaped up hands to get to under the nails because we all know how kids love to put their fingers in their mouths.
You also want to scrub long enough. Singing the ABC’s is the right amount of time to scrub. If you can’t sing then sing to yourself in your head. If teaching children, go ahead and sing out loud anyway as kids don’t care if you can’t carry a tune and it makes the chore that much more fun.
Keep in mind that antibacterial soap is no more effective at killing germs than regular soap is. Using antibacterial soap may even lead to the development of bacteria that are resistant to the product's antimicrobial agents — making it harder to kill these germs in the future.
A good, gentle hand soap like our Hand Wash Concentrate is great for getting hands clean without stripping valuable oil and drying them out. Washing your hands often can dry them out, so use one that makes them soft and happy.
2. Get plenty of rest – It’s more than just feeling happy and less cranky, your immune system can be very negatively impacted by inadequate sleep.
School age children require at least nine hours of sleep each night so be sure that becomes a routine. And Moms and Dads, you need eight hours yourself!
You may say you can only dream about getting that much, but you need to set a good example and just think how much nicer you’ll be when you feel well rested and healthy! Who wants to be around a cranky, tired, sick person?
And for those occasional times where sleep eludes you, try our Gentle Sleep Complex. You’ll sleep like a baby so you won’t act like one when you don’t get enough sleep.
3. Clean with a germicide – Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces is very important especially during flu season or when someone in the household is already sick.
Attacking the commonly touched areas like handles, countertops, phones and even microwave buttons with a good germicide helps prevent the spread of someone else’s cooties thereby helping to stop the “sickness storm” that can spread in a home in less than a weekend.
Try our Basic-G Concentrated Germicide or our Germ Off Fragrance Free Disinfecting Wipes – a little goes a long way. They are convenient to use and what’s really great is Basic-G kills many of the viruses that cause the flu and other illnesses for up to 3 days on a hard surface--Lysol lasts for 10 minutes after it dries and Bleach lasts for about 1 hour after it dries. Take that germs!
4. Eat a healthy diet full of antioxidants and immune supporting nutrients -
Eat at least FIVE servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day.
That’s right FIVE! One tomato slice and one piece of flimsy iceberg lettuce on a hamburger with 3 pickles doesn’t really count so make sure it’s fresh fruit and vegetables if you can get it and frozen if you can’t. Go organic as much as possible especially on fruit where you eat the skins – grapes, apples, etc.
Eating a healthy diet is crucial to a healthy immune system. We all know eating right can help us lose weight and lose it in a healthy way as opposed to losing it from being sick where whatever we eat comes out both ends – ugh! Right?
5. Be sure you are taking supplementation to support immune health – You knew this was coming. Supplementing your diet with immune protecting nutrients is absolutely critical in ensuring a healthy immune system to help prevent getting sick in the first place.
I can personally vouch for these products that help keep my family from getting sick a lot less often than most people and for the few times we feel something coming on, they help us from getting as sick as other people around us are.
Here are our recommendations:
Ø Nutriferon – I can’t say enough about this product, it is great! You can read all about it on the website, but here are a few of its wonderful features - Exclusive patented formula providing our highest level of daily immune protection; The only supplement created by the discoverer of interferon which is critical to healthy immune function; Naturally increases levels of interferon; Proven by 4 human clinical studies.
Ø Immunity Formula I - Contains a blend of six immunoactive vitamins - vitamin A in the form of beta carotene, vitamins C, E, B6, B12 and folic acid; Mineral support for a strong immune system includes copper, selenium, and zinc. Zinc, vitamins E and C, and beta carotene also provide dietary support for healthy skin - your first line of defense.
Ø Defend & Resist Complex - To supercharge the immune system when you feel that first tickle, you only take it when you feel like you’re coming down with something and till you feel better. This product when taken when you start to feel something really helps to kick the virus “where the sun doesn’t shine” before it gets a strong hold in your body.
Ø Sustained Release Vita C ( or chewable Vita C) – We all know that Vitamin C is very helpful in the fight against illness as well as Zinc. Need I say more?
That’s it. Not really hard and most of these ideas I bet you already knew. It sometimes though needs repeating till we get it through our heads that preventing illness is really a whole lot easier and more fun than trying to deal with actually being sick.
Be one of those proud people that come through the flu season unscathed and don’t keep it a secret! Be sure to tell your family, friends and most of all your co-workers who we know are the worst offenders at spreading illnesses, right?
To Your Good Health,
Julie
*For more information on health and wellness visit our website – To Be Healthy
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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