Tips and tricks to boost your immune system this winter.

The immune system is responsible for fighting infections.

Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, quality meats, and dairy helps your body’s natural ability to fight infections.

An unhealthy lifestyle can weaken your immune system. Eating fast foods, sweets, over-processed foods, and low-nutrient foods can all make you more susceptible to viruses and bacterial infections.

Don’t worry, occasional eating junk food isn’t going to make you catch a cold! But what if you try to eat healthy and still get sick?

Here’s our list of ways to stay healthy this winter!

1. Take a good quality multivitamin. Even when you are eating healthy, it’s possible to miss some essential nutrients. Our food quality is declining reading every single label before you buy isn’t realistic. Read our posts on clean eating on a budget and on staples you can make for less.

2. Get more vitamin D. Vitamin D isn’t really a vitamin it’s a hormone that can only be made by getting sunshine. Spending 20 minutes a day in the sun without sunscreen will naturally increase your vitamin D levels. Sunscreen blocks the body’s ability to make vitamin D. The face alone can not produce enough vitamin D. During the winter months, it can be hard to expose enough skin necessary to create vitamin D. Taking a quality Vitamin D supplement when sun exposure isn’t possible will help keep the immune system strong, during the winter months. Usually, a multivitamin will have vitamin D in it.

3. Try to get quality sleep. Everyone is different in the amount of sleep they need. However, one thing that is important to everyone is the quality of sleep we get. Things like room temperature, noise, light, and mind rambling can interrupt our sleep. Vitamin D deficiency disrupts sleep as well.

• If room temperature is your problem and turning up or down the heater in the room isn’t an option, I recommend the bed jet. I am very cold-sensitive and can not tolerate longer than an hour of temperatures below 78 degrees. For many people, that is way too hot. The bed jet can warm or cool your section of the bed without affecting the room.

• If noise is your problem, try getting earplugs or a white noise machine. Listen to an audiobook while trying to fall asleep. Make sure the caulking around your bedroom windows is good. Old and loose caulking can allow noise, bugs, and wind to get in through the cracks. Thick black-out curtains can help dampen outdoor noise. It will also help with room temperatures and light pollution.

• If light pollution is your problem, black-out curtains may be your fix. These curtains, as mentioned above, could help with noise and will help with room temperature as well. Get a sleep mask. I use one it’s very effective at blocking out all the light in the room. It also helps with dry eyes. If you need to have night lights, try using red bulbs. The red light doesn’t disrupt your circadian rhythm. Your brain won’t think it’s time to get up. Stay away from the blue screens! The blue light activates the brain and keeps it in hyper mode while you are trying to sleep. Instead, read a book or listen to an audiobook.

• If mind rambling is your problem, it’s mine too. This one is the hardest to quickly and consistently fix. However, here are the things I do. They work most of the time.

-- Get some good cardio exercise before going to bed. Running is excellent. If you are not a runner, this may sound awful. I am not one anymore, but I often reminisce about my running days. Zumba is another great exercise. If you don’t have time to go to the gym, look for dance workouts on YouTube or dance around your house for at least 30 minutes.

-- This next tip the husbands will appreciate. Have sex. Having sex before bed is one of the best ways to clear your mind and relax your body. Make it romantic and give each other a message with coconut oil-infused lavender oil first. It relaxes you and gets everyone in the mood. You’ll sleep great.

-- Have a cup of tea. Budda Teas are my favorite. The company has well-thought-out blends for health healing, and it’s organic. Their winter blend is great for sore throats, boosting the immune system, and clearing the nasal passageways.

-- Finally, my last tip, and probably my best- list the things in your day you are grateful for. Follow that with the things you did that you are not proud of and things that worry you. Now, ask God for forgiveness and help. Give him your worries. Take several deep breaths and release your thoughts. Do this every time you wake up. The more you give to God, the less your brain worries about. I have a post and guided journal here.

4. Stay hydrated. Drinking .5 oz of water per pound of body weight keeps toxins, bacteria, and viruses flushed from the body. Add another 12 oz of water every 30 minutes you workout or are sweating. The body loses water at upwards of 48 oz of water per hour of extreme workout or sweating.

— Filtered water is better since it removes chemicals and additives in city water. We use a reverse osmosis system. If you are drinking filtered water, remember that it filters out chemicals and good minerals. I recommend drinking coconut water daily and/or adding Himalayan pink salt to your water to replenish the electrolytes that have been removed. Don’t buy the Gatorade! it’s loaded with sugars, food colors, and artificial and natural ingredients. Our Electrolyte drink is pure, simple, and delicious. It tastes a little like lemonade but not as sweet.

❤️The best homemade electrolyte drink and immune booster. Mix all and drink! 🙂

8 oz pure coconut water

2 tbl pure lemon juice

¼ tsp of Himalayan Pink salt mixed with Celtic Sea salt

5. Boost your gut health with fermented foods like Greek yogurt, Kefir, Kombucha, and sauerkraut. 70% of our immune system lives in our digestive tract. Eating fermented food and taking Digestive enzymes with probiotics and prebiotics. Is a great way to give your immune system an extra boost. Be careful to read the ingredients, many fermented foods have added sugars that are counterproductive to creating a healthy gut.

One of my favorite breakfasts is muesil with fruit and Greek yogurt.

6. Decrease your sugar intake! I know this can be a hard one for some people. But sugar really does weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to viruses. Sugar is added to everything, and despite the health warnings, companies continue to add ridiculous amounts of sugar to our foods. Sugar is addictive, and cutting it back can have negative side effects *at first. However, once you stop feeding the sugar monster your body will no longer crave the large amounts we consume in our diets. Try cutting sugar out slowly or try our 21-day no sugar detox. Read this post on ways to reduce your sugar intake.

7. Wash your hands regularly, but don’t go too crazy. A little dirt doesn’t hurt! It is possible to be too clean. We tend to over-sanitize everything. Our immune systems need to see germs. That is how it works so well. The more germs we are exposed to, the more germs our immune system knows how to fight off. Keeping things clean but not stressing over wiping every surface, remote control, and light switch cover daily will actually help your immune system function better. Create a normal cleaning schedule and stick to it.

Changing sleep habits, increasing quality food and water intake, and keeping your environment clean will help give your immune system a fighting chance at fighting germs 😉 Hopefully, these tips and tricks, help you boost your immune system.

What happens when you have done everything you can but still get sick? Sorry, it happens no matter how careful we are. At least your immune system is working, right? Read how you can decrease your sick time and help your immune system out. The best all-natural ways to treat cold and flu symptoms.

“The most powerful force to maintaining a good immune system is the power of positive thinking and not allowing yourself to be unnecessarily drained emotionally by worries and fears.” –Frederick Lenz

As always, Thanks for stopping by for some Salty Inspirations!