5 Tips for Staying Healthy During Cold & Flu Season
Did you know chiropractic care can actually boost your immune system? Seeing your chiropractor regularly helps keep your body in proper function by allowing your bodies natural resources to work properly. Taking care of your body can be easy and beneficial.
- Eat Healthy
Easier said than done right? Actually no! Eating healthy can be very easy. Just focus on eating fresh real food. When I say real food, I mean good fresh meats and vegetables. Not frozen processed chicken nuggets or frozen burritos. Cook up some rice and eat a fresh veggie. Skip the ready-to-eat meals, boxed processed junk and eat some real food. Real food is hearty, meaning it will fill you up faster. It is also packed full of natural vitamins and minerals to keep your body in proper function. Fresh dark leafy greens have several healing abilities in them. They are packed full of vitamins A, C, K, folate, and calcium and iron. If you are like me and don’t love veggies, throw them in the blender with some orange juice for your morning breakfast. You can sauté them with some tomatoes and chicken broth and eat it on top of some chicken.
Here is my favorite way to sneak in some veggies, it’s great for adults and kids too!
Boise Breakfast Orange Juice
1 cup dark leafy greens
(I do a mix of spinach, kale, and mustard greens)
½ cup of ice
2 cups fresh orange juice
(Not from concentrate, and no sugar added. Remember, real foods! Buy the real OJ!)
Blend and enjoy! You won’t even taste the greens, I promise!
- Stay hydrated
Making sure you are drinking enough water may be the best thing you can do for you body. So many people spend an entire day without taking a single sip of water and they don’t even realize it! Drinking enough water can be a big adjustment for some people. As you start to drink enough water you will notice you are less hungry, your skin is more clear, you will experience less headaches, and your digestive system will improve. If you have not been drinking water you may find that you don’t enjoy the taste and have a difficult time. Try adding flavor to your water in good ways with real food. You can add lemon juice, cucumber slices, strawberry slices or fresh mint to amp up the flavor.
As a guide you should be drinking half your weight in ounces per day. If you weight 200 pounds, you should drink 100 ounces of water day. That’s almost a gallon of water. I know that seems like a lot, but as you drink more water every day you will find that you body craves it and it will get more and more easy.
- Exercise
Did you know exercise will actually boost your immune system? Exercise raises your heart rate, which gets your blood pumping. Circulation will improve your muscle function and boost your immune system! The days right before you get sick, when you feel like your about to get sick may be the most beneficial time for you to exercise! Even just 30 minutes a day is beneficial. You don’t even have to go to the gym. Take your dog for a walk, go on a beautiful hike in the Boise mountains or do some exercise at home while you watch TV.
- Chiropractic care
How does chiropractic care help your immune system? When your spine is not in proper alignment it can compress or disturb the nerves in your spine. Every nerve in your body has a specific job to send energy to every cell, organ, and tissue. When even just one nerve is compressed that energy may not be able to reach its destination.
What if your in Nampa and on the way to Boise and your car runs out of gas, but the gas needle never moved and you thought your tank was still full? Your car is going to fail and you will never make it to Boise. And the worst part is, you don’t even know why. Your body is the same way. Your chiropractor can help your body to function properly so all parts of the body can function as they are meant too. Here at Modern Chiropractic Center we will make sure your nervous system is functioning at its fullest so your body can combat bacteria and viruses, and keep you healthy all year long.
- Sleep
You body needs rest time to rejuvenate and heal. Getting enough sleep is vital to keeping yourself healthy and avoiding the cold and flu season. Give yourself a bed time and stick to it! Your body needs around 8 hours of sleep every night. My wife and I aim to go to bed every night at 10. When we sleep our body is able to repair our muscles, strengthen our heart and blood vessels. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says, “Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.” (Source: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why)
Your body has the ability and potential to heal itself and fight off illness, infection, and diseases. You don’t need drugs or fancy products to stay healthy. Take care of your body with real foods and proper care. The chiropractors at Modern Chiropractic Center, along with your help, can keep you healthy during the cold and flu season and all year long.
-Dr. Logan Baxter
