3 Ways to Stay Healthy During the School Year
Thank you Council For Responsible Nutrition for sponsoring this post. I am proud to be one of the 170 million Americans who take dietary supplements each year!
School is not just a place where KIDS learn and grow. As many moms, teachers and classroom mentors have come to find out, school is also a place where GERMS grow.
If you spend a lot of time in classrooms, you’ve probably experienced first hand that staying healthy during the school year can be a challenge with all of the various germs and illnesses that are transferred.
But by focusing on important healthy habits, parents, teachers, and students can work together to stay healthy during the busy school year. There’s never been a more important time to make wellness and self-care throughout the school year a priority.
3 Ways to Stay Healthy During the School Year
To stay healthy throughout the school year, it’s important to pursue healthy habits such as exercising regularly and maintaining a balanced diet.
And in addition to the basics like washing your hands, or covering your mouth when you cough, here are some easy dietary supplement tips that can be added as part of your healthy lifestyle to help you stay healthy during the school year:
1. Taking a daily multivitamin. There is no such thing as a perfect diet! Dietary supplements help fill nutrition gaps and promote overall health and wellness for the many Americans who cannot get enough essential nutrients from diet alone. Vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients play essential roles in immune functions and pathways, and they are required at appropriate amounts for a healthy immune response. The multivitamin is the most popular dietary supplement, with 73 percent of supplement users taking one, according to a 2017 survey from the Council for Responsible Nutrition.
2. Supplementing with healthy fats. Even with the best, most balanced diet, I find that many people (myself included) are lacking in healthy fats. Because of this, some type of healthy/essential fat supplement is an important part of staying healthy during the school year. I recommend healthy fats on a regular basis as a part of a healthy lifestyle. Most women know how important fish oil can be as a hedge against inflammation, but did you also know that it can boost your immune system? Essential fats are those which the body can’t produce on its own—they must be eaten—and it must have them for optimal function.
6 Benefits of Fatty Acids:
- fight inflammation
- boost immune system
- lower blood fats (aka triglycerides)
- reduce blood pressure
- increase HDL cholesterol (the good kind)
- lower both LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) and blood pressure
- fight depression
3. Taking a probiotic. Probiotics can help to boost the immune system and ward off inflammatory responses in the gut. 70-80% of our entire immune system resides within the gut, and the lining of the small intestines is full of lymph nodes. When necessary, inflammation in the intestines creates a pathway for the immune system to carry out an attack against invading viruses and bacteria. However, when inflammation is present but not needed, illnesses such as allergies, flu and chronic infections can occur. Probiotics offer a beneficial defense against the effects caused by this unwarranted inflammation.
In addition to the tips above, if you begin to come down with the start of a cold or flu, dietary supplements can be helpful.
Be sure sure to get adequate vitamins & minerals:
- Vitamin C: with a small amount of food. Cut back on the dosage if stools become loose or you experience gas and cramping.
- Zinc: once daily with a small amount of food. This can be continued for 1-2 weeks without depleting copper stores.
- Glutamine powder: (this is also in our BCAAs) take while sick. Glutamine is needed by your white blood cells to fight infection.
- Allicillin: This is a concentrated garlic compound that is wonderful to fight viruses and bacteria.
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of taking care of yourself so that you can take care of others. Taking dietary supplements allows for me to take a proactive role in maintaining overall wellness so I’m healthy and present for my kids all school year long. Remember that dietary supplements play an important role in good health, but they are meant as supplements to, not supplements for, other healthy habits. Be sure you’re focusing on other healthy lifestyle habits like staying active, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep as well.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.