Last winter and spring was brutal. Absolutly brutal. Not the weather (that was pretty mild), but our health. I've never experienced anything like it...one illness after another spreading through our little family. Let's see...there were colds (plural), the flu, the stomach flu, strep throat, pink eye, etc....And right now 3 out of 4 of us are sick (Lily is our only one holding strong). And in my hazy brain I find myself thinking that we just can't (physically, emotionally, financially) have another season of illness like we did last year...we just can't. And so I asked around for advice and I have hence forth come up with what I am calling The Cousins Stay Healthy Action Plan. And because I'm sure you are all dying to know...here is it:
1. Drink more water. You heard me right. I'm not a big water fan...just not. Thankfully Joe and the children are. But we all need to be because clearly my body doesn't ward off illness well in it's perpetual state of dehydration.
2. Start exercising more (or at all in my case). Joe has been great about this the last couple of weeks. Me? Well, let's just say that I REALLY value sleep (as in I have a really hard time getting up in the morning). I've been waiting for my toe to heal up and now that it is I promised myself I would start working out this week (that was, ironically, before I got sick).
3. Start taking our vitamins again. There is no explanation for it, but I've never been good at taking vitamins. Pretty much the only times I've done in regularly was when I was pregnant with my babies. To prove it I still have a nearly full bottle of prenatal vitamins that I will be taking (to use up...not because I'm pregnant). And the kids have been out of vitamins for months now...time to make a trip to the store.
4. Flu shots. I hate shots (who doesn't?)...but this year we are getting them. Last year none of us got them and 3 of us got the flu I believe (it's hard to remember since we were sick for months at a time). I know the flu shot doesn't always help, but it's still worth a try this year.
5. Hand washing. Eli is pretty much the only one who is good at this (he LOVES to wash his hands). My mom makes the most delicious, natural hand soaps so I have absolutly no excuse for this one. So, I'm cracking down on the hand washing.
6. Purell. Don't think I haven't considered rigging up a device to spray us down with Purell when we walk in the door. That might be a bit extreme, but I'm going to put a bottle in the car and squirt us all down every time we get back in from visiting just about anywhere (especially school...we might need a few squirts for that).
7. Taking vitamin D3 (2000 IU) daily. I've heard really good things about this from a few sources and I'm excited to see if it will help us stay healthy.
8. Taking 20mg of Zinc daily.
9. Eating less processed foods. This is something I've already been working on...eating more whole foods and more foods made by us...and trying to eat mostly foods with ingredients that I can pronounce!:) More and more smoothies with berries we picked and homemade yogurt coming up!
10. And if we do get sick? I'm going to get some Cold-Eeze to keep on hand at first sign of illness.
11. And there are a number of other things that people suggested...eating more garlic, taking elderberry, Airborne, Advocare, and using essential oils. I haven't had the time to really look into these yet, but I'm sure I will. For now I'll start with the top 10 and go from there. And I'm still open to suggestions.
Here's to a healthier year!
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