Back to School: Boosting Your Child’s Immune System

Everyone knows when children start to return back to school and the weather starts to change, illnesses become more prevalent.

Viruses and bad bacteria will always be around - we cannot avoid them. However, we can fight them.

Naturally we all have good and bad bacteria in our bodies - the goal is to have more good bacteria than bad bacteria. Other key factors to our immune system are our nervous system and lymphatic system. When all three components are strong, our body is strong and can fight off the bad bacteria which make us ill.

There are 3 things that can give your immune system a big boost and there are 3 things which destroy our nervous system or lymphatic system and feed our bad bacteria which enable them to multiply. When the bad bacteria start to exceed the good bacteria we fall sick and if this is not fixed, we continue to fall ill.

TOP 3 Immune System BOOSTERS :

#1 VITAMIN C

To fight an illness you need around 1000-3000mg/day. The best way for the body absorb 100% Vitamin C is through natural organic fruits and vegetables. Alternatively you can give your children food based Vit C supplements

The top 3 foods are:

1. Acerola Cherry (Barbados) 1 cup = 1,644mg of Vitamin C

2. Red Bell Peppers 1 cup = 216mg of Vitamin C

3. Kiwis = 1 cup = 167mg of Vitamin C

#2 VITAMIN D3

The minimum recommended dose is 600 IU/day. The recommended dose to keep the immune system strong and support the respiratory system is 1000 IU- 10,000 IU/day.

The best source of Vitamin D3 is from the sun, for fair skin people 10 minutes of sun exposure to the skin (with no sunscreen) can give the body around 10,000 IU.

For darker skin, 20 minutes is recommended. It is important to not wash the body with soap after sun exposure as the body needs the skin's natural oil to absorb all of the Vitamin D3 from the sun.

If taking Vitamin D3 supplements, be sure to take them with good fatty foods, like avocado, olive oil, macadamia nuts, etc.

#3 PROBIOTICS (The good bacteria)

The recommended dose is 1 billion - 30 billion/day of multiple strands. Again the best source of probiotics is from food: fermented foods, kefir, kombucha, garlic and onions. Please note if taking probiotics from a bottle, they must either be alive and kept in the fridge or freeze dried and bio-fermented.

TOP 3 FOODS you MUST AVOID to keep your IMMUNE SYSTEM STRONG:

#1 ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS

Aspartame, Saccharin, Sucralose, Neotame, Acesulfame-K, Erythritol, Glycerol, Sorbitol, Sucralose

Basically anything that sounds chemical - DO NOT EAT.

Artificial Sweeteners are 200-1000 times sweeter than table sugar and excite certain neurons in the brain so much that they explode and die. Artificial sweeteners highly impair the nervous system and when the nervous system is weak, so is the lymphatic system and overall immune system.

STAY AWAY FROM “Sugar Free”, “Light”, “Low Calorie”, “Low Fat” labelled foods.

Simply Eat REAL FOODS!

#2 SUGAR and SIMPLE CARBS

Pasta, breads, cookies, cakes, biscuits, crackers and cereals.

Due to their simple chemical structure, they are utilized by the body quickly which quickly raises the blood sugar levels in the body. Boxed juices and all sodas should also be avoided due to their high sugar content.

You may be wondering why sugar is so bad - here is one fact:

- 100 grams of sugar reduces the ability for White Blood Cells to kill germs (bacteria/viruses) by 40%. This happens for up to 5 hours after consuming sugar or blood sugar enhancing foods.

This is an example of sugar consumption in a diet of a toddler within a regular day:

Honey Nut Cheerios ¾ cup 9g

Vanilla Almond Milk ½ cup 8g

Infant Formula 240ml 12g

Animal cookies (12) 6g

1 box apple juice 19g

1 spinach/apple/pear pouch 11g

1 cup pasta with sauce 22g

1 cup of green grapes 25g

Total = 112g of sugar

These numbers are not exact and are more of a ball park figure. It is most likely I have under-estimated these to be lower in sugar then what they actually are.

As you can see, it is very easy to consume 100+ grams of sugar a day. This could be one reason why your child may be falling sick a lot and simply cannot get better.

Also the bad bacteria in the body, viruses and outside bacteria that enter the body, feed on sugar and multiply. When this happens you fall ill.

According to the American Heart Association, the recommended daily intake of sugar for children is between 12-25 grams - that's around 3-6 teaspoons.

#3 COMMERCIAL MEATS, DAIRY and EGGS

The number one reason to avoid these is due to the antibiotics that are given to the animals. Antibiotics kill ALL intestinal bacteria, even the ones which contribute to a healthy immune system. When our good bacteria are destroyed, our bodies do not have a fighting chance when invaders come in and again, we fall sick.

So what can/should we be eating?

The good news is there are over 120,000 other foods you can eat!

It is best to consume Fresh Organic Fruits, Vegetables, Meats and Eggs.

It is very difficult to find fresh milk, so it is best not to drink it. Cow's milk is the #1 food intolerance in the world and is often the reason for constipation, aggravation of eczema and an increase of mucus in the respiratory system.

Here are some other great tips to boosting your immune system!

Move, walk, run, play, dance, yoga, etc. Movement helps to stimulate the lymphatic system which produces white blood cells to fight infection.
Do not clean out your ears with Q- tips, the wax is there to protect your ears.
Take hot baths with 3 drops of Frankincense oil or Tea tree
Diffuse Thieves (Young Living Blend) in the house daily
Keep the body warm and drink lukewarm drinks
Get at least 8 hours of sleep daily, for children 10-12 hours is ideal