Once
cold season hits it's important to work overtime to stay healthy. Colds and flu are bad. Colds and flu while you're trying to take care of your baby are double bad. With that in mind, here are some immune boosting tips that can help keep you healthy so you can spend more time doing the things you need to.
Eat garlic: Garlic can fight colds and even bacterial infections. One
recent study notes that folks who took a daily garlic supplement came down with 24 colds during the study period while the folks who didn't came down with 65 colds. Additionally research shows that garlic can lower blood pressure and cholesterol which keeps you healthier overall. To gain the immune boosting power that garlic offers you need to eat about 2-4 fresh cloves of garlic per day or if that seems out of reach try taking 600-900 mg garlic supplements on a daily basis.
Relax & sleep: We all know that
relaxing with a newborn, or even an older baby is hard, but during cold season you really need to try and relax and
get plenty of sleep. This helps your body to stay in tip-top shape so you can deal with whatever comes along. Learn how to
entertain your baby while you relax.
Take a probiotic:
Probiotics fight all sorts of
nasty bugs and bacteria that cause colds, diarrhea, vaginal infections, GI disorders, urinary tract infections, and more. Beside helping to prevent these issues, probiotics can also reduce the severity and length of these issues. You can take one or two capsules daily of a supplement that contains Lactobacillus acidophilus or Bifidobacterium (a real probiotic supplement will need to be refrigerated). Note, while it sounds good to eat yogurt for probiotics, you'd actually have to eat literally hundreds of containers to get the same power as a supplement so unless you REALLY like yogurt take the supplement.
Exercise: During the winter we tend to
slack more on exercise, but this is no time to slack.
Exercise not only fights that baby bulge but research shows that regular exercise can lower the risk of colds by 50%. However, keep in mind that too much exercise can have the opposite affect. Research also shows that seriously prolonged bouts of exercise can lower your immunity. What you should do is balance it out.
Exercise regularly - that means
moderate exercise five days a week.
Spice up your food: There are many super
healthy herbs and spices that you can add to your holiday dishes (or everyday dishes to boost immunity and stay healthy. In fact, you can even
add some spice to your baby's food!
Also learn how to cope when both your and your baby are sick.
