How Not To Get A Cold {Video}

I am totally stoked (and yes, this is a bit of a brag) when I say that I’ve not been sick this cold and flu season. More impressively, I’ve done this while having a toddler in daycare! In the video below I share how I have managed this. Hope it helps you stay healthy the rest of the season.

Wishing you healthy thoughts,

Rachel

*Transcript below

You can get more information on vitamin D here.

You can read more about the importance of sleep and how to improve your sleep here.

And you can purchase Elderberry here.

Transcription:

Rachel Alvarado:
Hey guys. So today I want to talk to you about some of the tips I use to not get sick. And guess what guys, I really have not been sick this season, which I think is really impressive. Now, I have a two year old and she's in daycare part time, and so she comes home with all the germs, all the boogers and she just is a little booger machine, and she wipes it all over me. I'm like a human tissue. I don't know. Anyways, parents you can relate. And so, when you have a kid that's in daycare or a school, you are exposed to so many germs. And so how do you say, well... Because getting sick obviously sucks. Well, there's only been a few days this season where I've started to feel like I'm coming down with something, and I exercised these tips I'm about to share with you. And I completely knock it out and I'm completely fine the next day, like 100% the next day, you would've even never known I was sick.

Rachel Alvarado:
So, I want to share this with you so that you can feel your best because it's still cold and flu season. So, what do I do? Obviously the first thing I do is eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. So, what do I mean by a lot of fruits and vegetables? So, okay, national dietary recommendation is like five servings a day. Double this. Okay. Double this. That is just completely inadequate for what your body needs. So, I'm talking 10 to 12 servings at least a day. Now, if I start to feel like I'm getting sick, I will also have a green juice or smoothie or something like that, and try to just pack in extra nutrients to help bolster my immune system. And, I mean, obviously fruits and vegetables, they're going to be full of vitamins, minerals, all those great things for your immune system.

Rachel Alvarado:
But they're also having these vital chemicals in them and these compounds that help fight viruses and bacterial infections. So, for example, make sure you're including a lot of garlic and onion because they do have antiviral and antibacterial properties. So, making sure you're including those and you're just getting a lot in. If you start feeling like you are getting sick, I would definitely add in a green smoothie or green juice. Disclaimer: Don't have too much fruit in those or else it's just too much sugar. So, do that. Now, what else do I do? Okay, I make sure I get a lot of sleep, obviously. But you're like, but I'm a parent, how do I get enough sleep? It's really hard and I totally understand. However, I mean, do what you can. Communicate with your partner and try to figure out how you are able to get some sleep. Maybe bring a babysitter in if you're a single parent or find out something you can do.

Rachel Alvarado:
And a lot of times as a culture we're like, Oh, I'm just coming down with something. So, we want to push through it and be like, look at us, I have a little cold but I'm pushing through it. Don't do that. First of all, you're contagious. Even if you're not full blown sick, you can still be contagious. So, that's not helpful to anyone. And second of all, knock it out before it becomes something bad and you're miserable for a week. Knock it out early. Get some sleep. Take care of yourself. The people that you work with are going to appreciate you not coming in while you're contagious, and then you're going to appreciate yourself more for taking care of it and not having to get full blown sick. So, maybe that's going to bed early. Maybe that's rearranging your morning schedule so you can sleep in. Maybe that's taking a few hours off in the middle of the day to take a nap. I don't know what it is, but find out how you can get some extra sleep in because it's so important.

Rachel Alvarado:
All right. What else? Vitamin D, I know I talk about vitamin D all the time, but that's because it's really important. So, vitamin D obviously is really good for your immune system. In the winter time a lot of us are not getting enough vitamin D, especially if you're in the upper two thirds of the United States. The frequency, the light frequency, I mean, it's not even at the frequency you would need to synthesize vitamin D. So, get tested for vitamin D and supplement accordingly. Huge. Very important. All right, what else? Avoid alcohol. I know. Okay. So, when in a holiday season, all that stuff, we're thinking a lot of alcoholic drinks, right? And alcohol interferes with almost every single vitamin and mineral in your body. It either depletes it or it interferes with the absorption of it.

Rachel Alvarado:
So, that can definitely do some damage. And so it's hard. It's hard on your body. And if you feel like you're getting sick, you need to avoid alcohol. Even just one glass of wine, avoid it, because it can definitely weaken your immune system. And so if I am around a group of people and there's some people sick, I just completely avoid alcohol if I'm around sick people. Because I know there's a good chance that my body's going to start fighting off whatever these people around me had. Or obviously, if I've had that beginning signs of cold I completely cut out any sort of alcohol. Again, even just a glass of wine can weaken your immune system. So, I recommend avoiding that.

Rachel Alvarado:
Okay. What else? Oh, elderberry syrups. I love me some elderberry syrup. I talk about elderberry syrup all the time. I think people start rolling their eyes when I bring it up, because I'm always mentioning elderberry syrup. But that's because I swear by it. And it's not something like voodoo magic thing. So, native Americans have been using it for like forever to help with colds and viruses. But recently scientists have been doing studies on it and they've been doing a lot of studies in particular with like influenza, and they realize that elderberry syrup completely inhibits the influenza virus from being able to replicate. That means when in the presence of elderberry syrup, the flu cannot make little more flu viruses. It completely stops it. So, that's really important, and that helps stop the spread of it within your body so your immune system can just completely knock it out.

Rachel Alvarado:
So, elderberry syrup, good for viruses, especially the flu that scientists have noticed or research. So, anyways, I do elderberry syrup and a lot of times I put it in my tea. I buy my elderberry syrup usually at Costco, because they have it there and Costco is amazing. So I buy it there. But you can buy it like Whole Foods, Sprouts, so many different places. I mean, elderberry syrup is really pretty easy to find. I've also started having these elderberry gummies just because sometimes I just couldn't have the syrup. I don't know, I just couldn't stomach the idea of having syrup anymore. So, I started having these gummies and I love it. It's the mykind Organics by Garden of Life. I swear by these, these are fabulous. There's some other gummies out there, but I think these are the best because they have no gelatin and no added sugar.

Rachel Alvarado:
Do be mindful of what the serving size is on these, there are four gummies, and if I am just taking them regularly, then I just have the four gummies or whatever. But you can talk to your doctor or whatever, and you can always take more if you do feel like you're fighting something off. So, you can up that and it usually just completely knocks it out. All right, so I hope this helps. I hope you're able to stay healthy the rest of cold and flu season because we're not done with it yet. And I hope you have a good one. Bye guys.

*For full disclosure, I am an amazon affiliate and will receive a small profit from any purchases made through my site. This does not affect the price in any way.