A2X Consulting

It’s that dreaded moment: your coworker comes into the office sniffling and coughing. Then she sneezes and touches the copy machine that the rest of the office also has to use. During cold and flu season, your workplace can become a breeding ground for germs whose only mission is to get you sick. Don’t worry, though, there are plenty of ways you can prevent yourself from catching the bug. What’s even better is there are all-natural and easy ways to keep you healthy throughout the cold and flu season.

No matter how diligent you already are about avoiding germs, you need to amp up your efforts during the cold and flu season. Wash your hands constantly throughout the day and have a bottle of hand-sanitizer for those times when you can’t get to a restroom. Be careful though as using sanitizer too much can actually lower your immune system once the germs learn to mutate and make it through the bacteria-killing agents. Properly washing your hands is the key to staying healthy. To wash them correctly, turn the faucet on after you’ve dispensed soap into your hands. Lather the soap up and clean your hands, between the fingers, the nail beds, and the wrist areas, for at least 20 seconds. A good way to measure this is by singing the alphabet song twice. Once you’re all clean, rinse the soap from your hands with the warm, running water and use a paper towel to turn the faucet off.

Boost your immune system through supplements and a healthy diet. Eat foods rich in vitamins C, D, and E, omega-3 fatty acids, and zinc. Good foods to keep on hand during the season are fatty fish (like salmon), leafy and dark greens, nuts, seeds, citrus fruit, and tomatoes. Other foods that contain a lot of antioxidants and will naturally boost your immune system are onions, garlic, mushrooms, herbal tea, beans, and berries. Most Americans don’t get sufficient nutrients for a strong immune system but by eating as much of these foods as you can and supplementing with a multivitamin can keep you safe against sickness.

A healthy diet full of fresh and whole foods will not only boost your immune system during the cold and flu season, it will make a difference all year round. Those who avoid sugar and fat and consume the right amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, and antioxidants are much less prone to all kinds of diseases including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and digestive diseases. Before you go in for your next diabetes testing, follow a diet full of these kinds of foods for at least six weeks and see how much your results change.

A healthy body will protect itself. Many of us seem to have forgotten the body’s incredible ability to heal itself when given the proper tools. During the next cold season, eat right and have proper hygiene and you won’t need to pump yourself full of synthetic drugs to function during flu and cold season.