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Cold and Flu Season Strategies
Tue, 02/01/2011 - 2:50pm
Winter is Coming. Is Your Immune System Ready?
posted on http://robinthomas.biz on December 6, 2010 by Robin Thomas
Winter can be fun. Who doesn’t enjoy building a snow fort in the backyard? However, winter is also a time when many dangers loom large. Whether from the cold temperatures, the shorter days with less sunlight, or even the large family get-togethers, your immune system is more susceptible in this season than any other.
Here are some helpful tips to make sure that you have the upper hand this year in the fight against winter.
■ Wash your hands frequently during the day, not just before meals or after using the restroom. You never know when germs have made their way onto your hands and are ready to invade your system.
■ Eat raw foods that are rich in antioxidants such as blueberries, apples, and pecans. You may not know it, but red, pinto, and kidney beans are also packed with immune-boosting antioxidants.
■ Exercising and increasing physical activity helps your immune system stay in shape too. Regular exercise can increase your body’s ability to deal with stresses and builds up stronger immune defenses.
■ Use a disinfectant spray in your workspace or areas where you or your guests may frequently visit.
■ Stay hydrated by drinking water instead of coffee or soda. Sugar can weaken the ability of white blood cells to defend against bacteria for up to five hours after consumption.
Along with these helpful tips, be sure to take advantage of USANA’s unique line of immune health supplements.
■ With the highest quality grape-seed extract and the antioxidant protection of vitamin C, Proflavanol® C100 (Item #110) offers a powerful support for a balanced immune function in a unique Hybrid tablet.
■ Probiotics help sustain healthy immune function by promoting healthy bacterial growth in the gut. USANA® Probiotic (Item #108) is a blend of patented probiotic bacteria that is clinically proven to promote a natural balance of beneficial microflora in the gut.
■ Our bodies use sunlight to make vitamin D, which is an important nutrient to maintain overall health. Taking USANA’s Vitamin D supplement (Item #109) ensures that, even in the darker days of winter, you still get the vitamin D your body needs.
■ Sleep has many restorative functions, including boosting your body’s internal defense mechanisms. USANA’s Pure Rest™ melatonin supplement (Item #141) helps support the body’s natural sleep and wake cycles.
The previous article was originally posted on http://usana.com introducing key supplements to support immune function.
Be Well! Robin
__________________
Robin started contributing to Lumigrate in August 2010. "Meet Robin Thomas", a topic in our biographies/vitae forum is at http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/meet-robin-thomas to read all about her journey, which was greatly influenced by the need to help solve her youngest son's significant health challenges. For those who want just the overview here: After working over 22 years in medical research at the University of North Carolina on chronic inflammatory diseases she switched her focus to preventive health in 2004 when she was introduced to USANA Health Sciences. Robin is passionate about helping others improve their health, have more energy, manage their weight, and improve their skin.
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"I dream of a world free from pain and suffering. I dream of a world free from disease. The USANA family will be the healthiest family on earth. Share my vision. Love life and live it to its fullest in happiness and health."
-Dr. Myron Wentz, Founder and Chairman, USANA Health Sciences
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Part of my appreciation about a person's health care team being so many of the providers you see on a routine basis (such as I've included in the You model on the home page of Lumigrate.com -- the foundational concept about empowerment as a patient/consumer) comes from my experience with my aesthetician years back who wasn't worried about workin on me once when I had a cold or flu bug of some sort coming on the day of my long-scheduled appointment. I was taking so many things over the years and switching things around since if can't afford to do EVERYTHING everyone was suggesting to me. She reminded me that she attributed it to how she eats, exercises AND takes probiotic every day.
So I started back on that product and then later when the naturopath you see in video on Lumigrate, Christopher Lepisto, did a seminar about gut health and about how much of your immune system is in the gut, at least all I was doing was learning MORE and having reminders and confirmation about what I was doing right/best.
The one thing I'd like to interject is that only recently I have learned from a pharmacist when talking about my compounded hormones and what I take as supplements for health that vitamin D (which is technically a hormone yet still being thought of and treated as being a 'vitamin' in general) doesn't uptake well from the intestines even under the best of circumstances with health of the digestive tract, so I've added in a sublingual drop. For information on that, here's the link to the product on the ITC Compounding and Wellness Pharmacy website: itcpharmacy.com/store/cart.php
I continue to take it in pill form as it is included in my bone builder supplement plus I also work to get sunshine, or what I call 'the vitamin D machine in the sky'. I also want to give some respect related to the immune system to FRESH air. Communing with nature and having a good state of being mentally, which I obtain from being outdoors with nature, I believe also adds to wellness of the immune system and ALL those thing add up!
Thanks, Robin, for having posted this, it's a really nice piece and addition to what was here at Lumigrate in this Forum. As you'd say 'be well'.. and as I'd say 'Live and Learn. Learn and live better! ~~ Mardy
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!