1. Diet - Garlic, ginger, plenty of cooked vegetables, nourishing broths all using the freshest organic produce you can find. Avoid too much sugar, alcohol and coffee.
2. Sleep - The importance of sleep cannot be over emphasised! If you can, get 8 hours, yes 8 hours. Make it a priority, and try to go to bed at the same time every night and remember that your body is busy detoxifying and rebuilding during the night. The hours before midnight are possibly the most important ones in which to be asleep.
3. Hydration - Drink plenty of water! Hot drinks are a good way of keeping up you hydration levels - especially when it gets cooler. Herbal teas, lemon, ginger & honey all work a treat.
4. Stress - Stress uses up nutrients and leaves you open to infection through your emotional reaction to what's occurring. You can drop your inherent immune guard when you are emotional. So it may be difficult, but if you can minimise your stress it can be really helpful in keeping your immune system strong.
5. Supplements - It pays to boost your immune system with selected supplements. Amongst the best are Vitamin C, Echinacea and Horseradish. But the hero of them all is Propolis!
Propolis is the cement that holds a beehive together. The bees create it from their own secretions mixed with the resin from trees. The bees use it to seal holes in the beehive, making it watertight against infections and repelling the foreign bacteria and viruses. Greatly prized in Chinese Medicine for its anti-bacterial and antiviral properties it can often stop a cold in its tracks or at the very least minimise the symptoms and length of the infection. More than this, Propolis helps you build immunity so that you stay cold free and resist new infections during the worst of the flu season.
