Today my daughter called to ask for my motherly advice for her friends who have small children who are consistently ill with colds and flu. Whenever their kids get together to play, the illness spreads like wildfire and they all end up passing it around to each other. She wanted to know what ideas I had for helping to build their immune systems.
My suggestion was to begin with some of the most obvious things, which we sometimes forget because our lives are so busy. Following are eight things which should help.
First: Have them wash their hands several times a day, especially after being out in public or with other children. You can also keep hand wipes in your car. Stay away from antibactterial soap,
Second: Give them several glasses of water per day to drink because water assists in removing toxins from the body and keeps them from becoming dehydrated. Filtered water tastes best and contains less harmful chemicals. Juices can be full of sugar and high fructose corn syrup so water is best. If you want to give them a treat in between, make fresh homemade lemonade with a bit of honey or make some herbal iced tea. If you do give them juice, make sure there is no added sweetener and water it down.
Third: Eliminate white sugar from their diets as much as possible. Sugar lowers immunity and causes many severe health problems, such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease and pancreatic cancer. It can also cause hyperactivity in children, which of course can drive their parents and teachers nuts. This includes high fructose sweetener. Make sure to read labels and stay away from all artificial sweeteners.
Fourth: Begin the day with a good breakfast. It sets the blood sugar levels for the day and they won't be dragging by the time they get to school. Stay away from sugary cold cereals and prepare hot cereals such as oatmeal, cream of wheat or buckwheat, quinoa, nine-grain, etc. You can also make your own waffles from some of these grains, freeze them and reheat them in the toaster when you need them. This will give you the opportunity to use grains from your food storage.
Fifth: Feed them organic fruits and vegetables. These help build the immune system and create healthy kids. Most fruits and vegetables are alkaline which can help balance the pH of the body and fight off disease. Processed foods are acidic and can break down the immune system very quickly. It is important to buy organic in order to avoid harmful pesticides that can also break down immunity. You may have to sneak these foods into a smoothie if you can't get your kids to eat them any other way. Otherwise, if you have some fresh carrots, broccoli, celery etc. at easy reach when they open the refrigerator, it may encourage them to eat more of these foods.
Sixth: Give them a high quality multi-vitamin with vitamin C that is made from whole food, not synthetic processing. These are usually only available at health food stores or online. (Avoid grocery and drug store vitamins.) Also include Acidophilus which is a probiotic that can help build immunity. From what I have read, illness begins in the intestinal track so it needs the beneficial "friendly bacteria" to fight off disease.
Aciophilus is found in yogurt, but most yogurt is loaded with sugar so you need to find an organic plain yogurt without the sugar. (Greek yogurt has twice the amount of protein.) You can add some berries and honey if you need to. Acidophilus is also available at the health food store in capsules which you can add to your children's food or chewable tablets.
Seventh: Make sure they get to bed at the same time every night. It's important to keep them on a schedule because the body repairs itself during sleep. If they don't get the right amount of sleep, their immunity will be compromised. It is also easier for them to fall asleep if their body has adjusted to a certain time every night. I also found that if you give them some quiet play time in their room before bedtime, it is easier for them to fall asleep.
Eighth: Give them lots of hugs because touch is so important for healing. You don't get to have them in your care for very long, so take advantage of this wonderful time you have with them and hug, hug, hug!
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I am glad I found your site! I am always interested in new food storage idea's. I try to buy organic foods when I can afford it but I'm on a limited budget. When my kids get sick Acidophilus is a great idea. As far as cold cereal goes, I make my own granola with oats, berries, nuts and wheat germ, and keep it in the refrigerator to add to cold cereal when I am too busy to cook. I avoid all the sugar cereals even though my kids ask for them at the store. They have an understanding that sugar is not good for them, so we only have it in moderation.
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