Are you ready to thrive this holiday season instead of just surviving? Managing stress, increasing energy, and maintaining immune health are year-round challenges for all of us, but even more critical to focus on during the busy holiday season. This is why it is so important for us to take of ourselves by eating healthier, exercising, drinking enough pure water, getting enough rest, and filling in the gaps with nutrients our bodies need to protect ourselves from those nasty viruses and flu bugs. We CAN prevent these common issues we see this time of the year.
The most important thing we can do is to build a healthier immune system and there are a lot of factors that can make a difference in helping us to improve this. Did you know that at least 70-80% of our immune system stems from our gut? So many people struggle on a daily basis with imbalanced gut health. This starts at birth for many… sad to say. Babies are being put on reflux medications from the get go. We see so many cases of IBS, Diverticulitis, candida, Crohn’s, and reflux issues and if these are not addressed in a way that focuses on root causes, we continue to have these issues even when being medicated and risk the development of more serious health issues.. Medication can help calm symptoms, but it does not heal or take care of the reason why that imbalance is there in the first place. Some other issues that can happen as a result of an imbalanced gut are allergies, asthma, ADD/ADHD, autism related symptoms, memory impairment (brain fog), autoimmune issues, Thyroid disease, cancer, and the list goes on. Pretty scary huh?
The good news is that we have scientific support based on clinical research on how to address these issues and promote healing. Supporting gut health by avoiding certain foods in the diet such as sugar, white flour products, moldy foods such as peanuts and vinegar foods, dairy, spicy fried foods, and even certain higher glycemic fruits can help, but we also want to be putting the necessary “good guys” back into the gut to start healing it and preventing and improving on the health issues I mentioned. Probiotics are a huge plus and it matters what probiotic you use as not all of them are good and guaranteed to deliver the proper amount of bacteria in the right area of the intestinal tract. I work with clinically supported probiotics that guarantee the delivery of the necessary bacterial strains needed to have a healthy gut. Most probiotics on the market are not manufactured well to survive stomach acid. Stomach acid kills acidophilus and other strains if not protected. I am happy to share with anyone interested in learning more. There are some additional key nutrients such as vitamin C, garlic, alfalfa, and zinc, and some other key immune building nutrition that is clinically supported that I would recommend in boosting the body more as well. Not all supplements are created equal and work, so this is where you have to make sure you are using the highest quality supplements that are backed by clinical testing and strict quality testing to make sure you have a pure, safe and effective product. I am happy to share information about this area as I do study and get information from the “Science Experts” in this field who provide third-party information for me to pass onto others. I am grateful to them!
So, my challenge to you all is to thrive this holiday season and not just survive it. Don’t miss out on all the fun this season with family and friends.
Happy Healthy Holidays!
Tricia