Keeping Your Kids Healthy During the School Year

It is the time to keep kids healthy during the school year as it is now back in session!

Here are 4 ways to you can help keep your kids healthy during their school year.

Sleep

Make an evening a ritual. Have the kids take a hot bath, add some essential oils like lavender, and perhaps have them sip a cup of Sleepytime tea while in the bath ( this is great for teens).

Next, pick out their favourite book, crawl into bed, and begin reading. If you are up to it or have a child who has difficulty settling down try the wonders of hydrotherapy and magic socks. Hydrotherapy is relaxing and will help induce sleep.

Hygiene

Wash hands: with soap and water! It’s simple to forget at times but don’t – this is the number one cold and flu prevention tip.

Movement

Keep the kids active as it increases circulation and gets every part of your body the nutrients it needs. Moving our bodies can also bring joy and happiness, and lots of play can relieve stress, which is a good thing after a long day at school.

Healthy Foods

Raw Honey

 Boosting with b vitamins, antioxidants and an array of antibacterial properties that help stimulate & support your immune system. Add to teas, toast, and smoothies. This is my favourite raw honey ( and they ship).

Garlic

Robust in flavour, antibacterial, and antiviral strength. It gives bacteria and viruses a good fight! Begin adding more garlic to all meals.

Mushrooms

Not my favourite as a kid; however, they are a healthy food to bring into your child’s diet. Now there are powders (even hot cocoa) that are flavourless so easy to mix into smoothies, yogurt and even teas.

• nutrients: selenium, vitamin d, iron, and b vitamins
• immune system boost:mushrooms may enhance the body’s immunity leading to more vital defense systems against invading bacteria, viruses and fungus
• packed with antioxidants that help fight free radicals in the body

Hydrate 

Water helps flush away the unnecessary stuff – germs, toxins – in your body. It also aids in keeping the mucus membranes moist, so germs have a  significant challenge of sticking and getting in the body.

Other preventions to help keep your kids healthy

1. Avoid sugar: read HBD: Battle with the Bugs– explains why and kids get it.
2. Quality Supplements: Nordic Naturals fish oils, and an excellent multivitamin

xx

dr. heather

PS A little more on mushrooms

I enjoy learning about food history, and mushrooms have a great story. Their fungi family is Basidiomycotina, and the word mushroom evolved from the Gallo- Roma mussiro to mussereroun.

But what is intriguing about the mushrooms is what the ancient Egyptians’ hieroglyphics 4600 years ago said. The pharaohs of Egypt enjoyed the flavour of mushrooms immensely and declared their food for the royals and that no commoner was allowed to touch them.

In other cultures, many thought that mushrooms had the potential to give humans super strength, another reason royals savoured them for themselves.