Immunity For the Upcoming School Year | Herbal Goodness

It's back to school time! Whether you are doing public, private or homeschool it's that time of year when bugs hit their high. What can you do for immunity for the upcoming school year? Plenty! Here's how you can keep your family healthy in six easy steps.

1. Water

Make sure the main source of liquid in your child's diet is water. Purest you can find. How does your water stack up? Make sure it's filtered or from a pure source. Distilled or Reverse Osmosis is best. The least amount of chlorine, bacteria and other chemicals found in tap water the best! Make sure to set a reminder to change your water filters on your tap and fridge! Water is life. Water hydrates your cells. Keep hydrated this school season.

2. Vitamin C

Vitamin C sourced from whole foods is best because it will be more readily absorbed. Yes vitamin C supplements boast about more mg per dose but it's an isolate of the vitamin C molecule and not WHOLE vitamin C. Baked potatoes, citrus fruit, papaya, green herbs, and berries have vitamin C. RAW is best but when you can't do raw then lightly steamed is the next best thing. Vitamin C increases when you cook a potato! Who knew?

3. Zinc

Again, don't take a supplement unless you don't have access to nuts, beans and whole foods in your area. Many seeds also carry this wonderful vitamin. Raw sunflower seeds and papaya have zinc!!! Zinc helps with immunity and helps keep the body strong.

4. Fish Oil/Omegas

There are some sources for omegas including flax, borage, sea buckthorn, hemp, salmon oil, cod liver fish oil, and lambs quarters. Many of these plants can grow in your flower bed. We grow our own flax and lambs quarters and they are drought friendly too! Omegas keep your brain healthy, lubricate your joints and ligaments and support a healthy heart! Why did I include this in immunity? Because a healthy heart and brain are just as important, especially for the school year.

Read: The Top 5 healthiest Oils for Cooking

5. Sunlight and Working Out

Ten minutes of sunlight at peak hours (11 am to 2 pm) will increase your vitamin D and also lowers your chance of depression and moodiness. Sunlight is also good for your eyes and waking yourself up! Working out those muscles and staying active is really important for your immunity. Fresh blood being pumped through your body refreshes your entire system. Staying flexible and fit (even kids) will help ward off illnesses due to being stationary. Kids with obesity are ill more often and have more doctor visits.

Read: Education this summer sizzles in Africa

6. Vitamin D

Vitamin D is one of those things that I would recommend supplementing because we just can't get enough unless you are outdoors from 11-2 in your birthday suit every day. Find a good D3 source that is kosher and that you trust! Vitamin D helps with immunity and can really help you stay well. Sometimes you can find a D3 and Omega supplement paired together for kids. Perfect! I'll leave you with some amazing BENTO Box Lunch Ideas! Other moms will be jealous!!!

Suggested Read: Healthy Snacks to Pack in Your Childs Lunch or 5 natural immune boosters for kids

 Related: A Guide to the Fitness Classes that are Taking the US by Storm