Boost Your Immunity For Winter with the Naughty Naturopath Mum

Don't fear the flu season this year! We have for you expert advice to prepare you and your family!

I am very excited to be able to bring to you a guest blog post by the very talented and inspiring Naughty Naturopath Mum.
If you haven't discovered her blog yet, go check it out!
Alisha is amazing as she combines expert advice and healthy inspiration with a very refreshing realness that you appreciate so much a mum. You know when you read her blog and fb page that she is not just an expert in her field full of knowledge and talent, openly sharing this with you, her readers, she is also a mum. She is real life, her recipes and remedies are all family friendly. You know you can trust her and from the minute you read her blog you feel welcomed like you have sat down to a pot of tea with a very wise friend. Alisha's blog is a wealth of information and definitely one to subscribe too!
I am delighted to share with you...

Naughty Naturopath's Top Ten Tips for Boosting Immunity for Winter

1) Get your Gut Healthy! Most of your immune cells lie within the gut mucosal lining! So keeping that in tip
top shape will have you ahead of the game from the start, use daily probiotics in the form of capsules, powder, yoghurt, kefir, kombucha and cultured vegetables. There are many things you can do to keep your gut healthy and you can refer to a list of things to keep your gut healthy which is part of my gut health series, to read this list, go to http://naughtynaturopathmum.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/gut-health-heal-your-gut/

2) Garlic, Garlic, Garlic!

There is an active constituent in garlic called Allicin. This pytochemical or plant compound has ant-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-mircobial properties.

To get the allicin out of the garlic, crushing it so the juice comes out is the best way to consume. Add crushed garlic to your meals at the end of the cooking process so you don't damage the allicin properties. Stir into your soups, casseroles, stir fries, slow cooked meals etc. after they have come off the heat and just before serving. Add crushed garlic to olive oil and dress pasta, rice, vegetables and salads. It's also a component of my 'Jungle Juice' which I will give you the recipe for at the end of these tips.

I also treat all viruses with garlic. For people who can't ingest garlic in their diets or the Jungle Juice due to sensitive digestion or even little kids who don't like the taste, you can get it into the system another way!

Garlic Socks! Lol! Now before you say, "what the???" - Hear me out!

We absorb a lot via our skin and through the soles of our feet is very effective. So what you do is get some coconut oil (about 30ml) in a bowl and crush 1 clove of garlic for a child or 2 cloves for an adult and stir it around a little, then on nice clean feet, apply this oil and pop socks on. Leave overnight or all day if possible. It will go right through your system, you will even smell garlic on your breath the next day even without eating it! DONT PUT GARLIC STRAIGHT ONTO FEET WITHOUT MIXING IN OIL-

IT CAN BURN!

3) Vitamin C and plenty of it, you can get from your diet from foods such as kiwi fruit, citrus, berries and green leafy vegetables, pineapple, parsley, broccoli and capsicum.

I also love a product by Superfoods for Kidz called C Berry Blast and I use this to make into healthy tropical ice blocks or drinks for the kids. Taking an added Vitamin C supplement for your immune system daily as well as your dietary intake is still a good idea especially in the lead up to winter. It not only helps with Immunity but the health of your cardiovascular system and skin. You can take a Vitamin C tablet but make sure it is a good quality one sourced from rosehip or take a powdered food form, I have Acai Berry blend by Nutra Organics daily.

4) Zinc, an extremely important mineral for proper immune function. Good dietary sources are beef, ginger, oysters, whole grains and sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Also available in tablets and drops and often times you will find that you can buy Zinc and Vit C together.

5) Vitamin D, another pivotal vitamin when it comes to ensuring our immune system is working correctly and unfortunately these days, is found to be quite deficient in a lot of people. Dietary sources are fish liver oils from cod, halibut, herring and tuna (remember getting dosed with a tspn of cod liver oil as a kid?). It can be bought in capsule form these days as well as liquid. You will also find it in egg yolk, milk and sprouted seeds. Vitamin D is actually made by the synthesized action of sunlight on our skin so especially in the winter months, it is important to have skin exposed without suncream (GASP!) for at least 10 minutes. This will not only help with your body's production of Vitamin D but lift your serotonin as well (happy hormone!)

6) Herbs - There are quite a few herbs that help with not only reducing the likelihood of you getting sick but also help lessen the severity and duration should you catch a dreaded lurgy that's going around. Some herbs do this by increasing your white blood cell count (your first line of defence), the most popular ones are Echinacea, Andrographis, Astragalus and Olive Leaf Extract. Others do this by helping your body adapt to stressors as stress is a huge immune suppressant. Herbs such as these are Siberian Ginseng, Withania and Rehmannia. Herbs come in the dried form which you can take as a tea, tablets or capsules which are the next strongest and for the most effective, liquid extract form.

7) Sleep - This is a hard one, especially for parents with young kids but if you are not getting enough sleep, you will also have suppressed immunity. When we sleep, the body has a chance to repair our cells and remove waste to be excreted the next day. If we don't allow the body adequate time to do this, we are in a constant cycle of catch up, physically and mentally and that will take it's toll so get to bed earlier and try to aim for 8 hours a night.

8) Relax! Again, easier said than done sometimes but so, so crucial to keeping immune system functioning properly. Being in a state of stress means that our levels of cortisol and adrenalin are high which in turn suppresses immunity. These hormones can save our life as they are responsible for taking blood and nutrients away from our organs to the periphery of the body so we can fling ourselves into action! But of course, this leaves our organs and glands from being properly nourished and for short bursts of time that doesn't matter but for longer periods of time will of course be no good! So whatever you can do to keep those stress hormones down is like giving your immunity a shot as well. Exercise especially walking, yoga and tai chi, meditation, taking time out to do things you love doing and that relax you is like taking out an insurance policy on you staying healthy while others get sick around you!

This is also why I focus so much on the Australian Bush Flower Essences to help with our emotional and physical health. Everything that happens to us physically is due to the manifestation of emotions that have been buried and not dealt with properly. I often make immune boosting blends which often address anger and fear. To help with stress, I recommend Emergency Essence and Calm and Clear Essence. Please visit this link here to have a read about how these blends can help you clear emotional baggage and stay emotionally and physically stronger - http://naughtynaturopathmum.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/australian-bush-flower-essences/

9) Stay away from Sugar! I'm sure I don't need to tell you that eating a diet of fresh fruit, vegetables, lean meat, eggs, nuts, seeds, good fats and whole grains are food for you right? But did you know that when consuming refined sugar, it is not just added weight that you need to worry about? Sugar actually fuels all pathogenic activity in the body. Whether you are harbouring a virus, a bacterial infection or fungal overgrowth such as candida, the fastest way to make it bigger and stronger is to feed it sugar. You can actually starve these pathogens by keeping sugar out of the bloodstream so they can't get the better of you!!

10) Bone Broth - an amazing and nourishing way to keep healthy is to get into your bone broth! Make it a source of all your winter soups, casseroles, stews, risottos and simply drink a cup on it's own. Boil your kids pasta and rice in it if they won't have it any other way. You are building up your gut with amino acids from the bone and cartilage and repairing parts of your body that may be weaker and more prone to infection. Simply boil up organic beef bones or a whole organic chicken carcass with some bay leaves and veg in your slow cooker or a big stove top pot with lid and bring to the boil, well covered in water, simmer for as long as possible to get everything into the liquid, strain and freeze in portions to use in as many dishes as you can.

I promise if you try to do as much of this as possible, you don't have to do it all, but where you can, make some changes, and this will be the healthiest winter you and your family will ever have!

Jungle Juice!

Take as a preventative or use it to treat those nasty colds and flus, You will need -

1 orange squeezed

1 lemon squeezed

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tspn of horseradish

a pinch of cayenne or 1 small chopped red chilli, seeds removed

1tspn of raw unprocessed honey

1/2 thumb sized piece of ginger grated

Pop it all into a glass, top with boiling water and give it a stir and drink on down! Drink once daily as a preventative or 2-3 times daily when fighting a cold and don't forget to wear your garlic socks! ;)

Alisha also has a very exciting vitamin C tropical ice block that the kids will LOVE!
Get the recipe HERE

Alisha's Bio 

Alisha is a naturopath and SAHM to two little ones. She has worked in many areas of naturopathy including private clinics, training and education and healthfood stores.

She is passionate about spreading the word on starting the health journey from the home and educating children from a young age about this. Growing your own foods where possible, shopping at farmers markets and cooking and preparing meals with whole foods as a family and teaching our kids about balance in health. She promotes the 80/20 rule as she believes that mistakes and indulgence are part of a healthy balance in life and that extremism of any sort leads to mental and emotional imbalance. She makes and sells the Australian Bush Flower Essences to help mums and their kids get back to themselves.

Alisha blogs at http://naughtynaturopathmum.wordpress.com and her Facebook page is Naughty Naturopath Mum