How Our Family Stays Healthy

11/13/2014

With cold and flu season in full-force, it is important to be taking proactive measures to boost immune systems and fight potential infections effectively. With a few simple steps our family has managed to stay healthy and avoid most illnesses. Here’s how we do it:

1. Real, Whole Food

We eat a lot in our house. And what we eat is varied and whole. We try to find foods that are closest to nature and have had the least amount of processing done to them. We enjoy whole milk, healthy oils like olive oil (in homemade salad dressings) and coconut oil in everything else. We embrace fats like avocado, oils, cheeses, butter and whole milk and try to find those with the least amount of processing and additives – never low-fat.

We buy organic fruits and vegetables and free-range eggs and meats whenever possible. We focus a great deal on fruits, vegetables, seeds and fats. We make our own salad dressings and avoid refined sugar when we can. Raw honey and organic maple syrup replace sugar in most of our recipes.

Our favourite way to get more fruits, veggies, and good fats into us are smoothies or salads packed with a variety of vegetables, avocado, pumpkin seeds, cheeses and topped with homemade salad dressing. Yumm!

2. Probiotics & Fish Oil

Probiotics are pure gold. Probiotics are essentially good bacteria that guard your gut and keep out the bad bacteria. Probiotics are also really important to take during pregnancy to help prevent baby from developing allergies.

Please know that not all probiotics are created equal. I would advise against buying in bulk anywhere like Costco and would only purchase from a trusted naturopathic doctor or from a reputable Vitamin & Supplement Store.

Fish oil is amazing for pretty much everything. Bones. Skin. Brains. Fish oils, like probiotics, are also important in pregnancy for baby’s brain development. As with probiotics, not all fish oils are created equal. See a naturopathic doctor or trusted Vitamin Store.

3. Elderberry Syrup

Elderberry syrup is amazing and it tastes great! Whenever we feel a cold or flu coming on, we start taking the syrup and it usually nips it in the bud right away. It is definitely worth looking into to help keep your family healthy!

A good night’s sleep, minimal stress, exercise and a lot of water are also important to keeping our family healthy.

How do you keep your family healthy?

~chelsey