If you want to avoid getting the flu this winter, follow these proven techniques for boosting your immune system, fighting off germs, and keeping your body healthy.

A few simple recommendations
1. Get enough sleep: Your immune system functions much better when you get enough sleep. Most people really need about 8 hours per night for optimal health. If you’re body is fatigued, it simply won’t be able to fight off the flu virus (or any other infection) very well.

2. Exercise regularly: Exercise helps keep your immune system strong. In fact, a recent study showed that mice who performed mild exercise as soon as they were exposed to the flu virus had much lower death rates.

3. Avoid sugar: Even small amounts of sugar can significantly impair your immune function, making you more susceptible to a flu infection. A large amount of sugar, such as the amount found in a normal can of soda, hurts your immune function for hours.

4. Drink lots of pure water: Keeping your mucous membranes well-hydrated is a key to helping them fight off viruses. Shoot for about eight 8-ounce glasses per day.

5. Reduce stress: Too much stress has a highly negative impact on your overall health and, over time, it will make you much more susceptible to a flu infection. Studies show that prolonged stress is at least partially responsible for 90% of all illness and disease. Regular exercise and sufficient sleep both help reduce stress levels. Also, meditation is a proven stress-buster that is easy, enjoyable and can be used on a daily basis.

6. Wash your hands often: Also, carry a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer with you and use it frequently, especially after you touch anything that others have touched recently (like doorknobs).

7. Eat immune-boosting foods on a daily basis: A healthy diet, including a few proven immune-boosting foods, is one of the best ways to avoid catching the flu. The best flu-fighting foods are:

Fresh, organically grown fruits and vegetables – Brightly colored fruits and vegetables are packed with healthy phytonutrients that can strengthen your immune system, lowering your susceptibility to the flu virus.
Fresh raw or lightly-cooked garlic – Garlic has strong natural antiviral properties that can help to fight off a flu virus. Also, garlic provides a strong boost to your immune system, especially when eaten on a regular basis.
Green Tea – Like garlic, green tea has shown the ability to both kill viruses and to stimulate the immune system to fight off flu infections, especially when used daily. Try to drink 3-6 cups of strong green tea per day during the flu season.
Cayenne Pepper – Cayenne has a long list of health benefits and is believed to be a mild immune-booster. Also, cayenne contains large amounts of natural vitamin A, considered to be an important “anti-infection” nutrient.

8. Keep your hands away from your face and head: The flu virus enters your body through the eyes, nose, mouth, and possibly even the ears.

9. Get fresh air every day: During the winter the dry heat from indoor heating systems dries out your mucous membranes and makes you more susceptible to viruses. If you can, during the day, crack open a window or two to give your body some relief.

10. Drink little or no alcohol during flu season: Too much alcohol impairs liver and immune function, which leaves you open to all kinds of infections. Heavy drinkers are especially susceptible to flu infections. Also, alcohol dehydrates your body which is always bad during flu season.

11. Don’t smoke and avoid smoke-filled places: First and second-hand smoke significantly impairs your immune system. It also dries out your nasal passages and paralyzes cilia, the small hairs in your nose and lungs that help keep out viruses.

12. Take regular saunas: Many experts believe that taking a sauna several times a week can help to keep you from getting the flu. Many people, especially in Europe, takes saunas just for this reason. The air you breath in a sauna is too hot for cold and flu viruses to survive.

“Eat your breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day!”
Did you know that people who don’t eat breakfast are less able to concentrate/learn, get less iron (an important nutrient) in their diets, and are more likely to have a higher body mass index (BMI), which is a sign they may be overweight.
On the other hand, people who eat breakfast do better at work, are more likely to participate in physical activities, and tend to eat healthier overall. So tomorrow morning, don’t run out the door on an empty stomach. Fuel up with a healthy breakfast!

What Should You Eat?
Any breakfast is better than no breakfast, but try not to have doughnuts or pastries all the time. They’re high in calories, sugar, and fat. They also don’t contain the nutrients everyone really needs. And if you have a doughnut for breakfast, you won’t feel full for long.

Just like with other meals, try to eat a variety of foods, including:
- Grains (breads and cereals)
- Protein (meats, beans, and nuts)
- Fruits and vegetables
- Milk, cheese, and yogurt

Easy Breakfast ideas
First, the traditional ones:
- Eggs
- French toast, waffles, or pancakes (try wheat or whole-grain varieties)
- Cold cereal and milk
- Hot cereal, such as oatmeal or cream of wheat (try some dried fruit or nuts on top)
- Whole-grain toast, bagel, or English muffin with cheese
- Yogurt with fruit or nuts
- Fruit smoothie, such as a strawberry smoothie

And now some weird (but yummy) ones:
- Banana dog (peanut butter, a banana, and raisins in a long whole-grain bun)
- Breakfast taco (shredded cheese on a tortilla, folded in half and microwaved; top with salsa)
- Country cottage cheese (apple butter mixed with cottage cheese)
- Fruit and cream cheese sandwich (use strawberries or other fresh fruit)
- Sandwich – grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly, or another favorite
- Leftovers (they’re not just for dinner anymore!)

Quick recipes if you’re rushed for time
- Single servings of whole-grain, low-sugar cereal
- Yogurt
- Fresh fruit
- Whole-grain muffin
- Trail mix of nuts, dried fruits, pretzels, crackers, and dry cereal

Our world is full of toxins. They are in the air we breathe, in the foods we eat, and in the water we drink. While our bodies naturally work to get rid of these toxins, the high levels of pollution that we have today can be overwhelming to our system and, as we age, more and more toxins build up. These toxins lead to illness, disease and even death. Luckily there is something that we can do to help our bodies and that’s to be sure to eat foods that detoxify the body naturally.

One thing that you can do if you want to help your body in the detoxification process is to be sure to pick organic foods whenever you can. Organic foods are grown without chemicals and pesticides so eating them will not add any extra toxins to your body. While non-organic foods might be less expensive, they are usually full of toxins from the pesticides used to grow them and when you eat the foods, toxins go right into your body thus adding an extra load on your detoxification system. Spending a little bit more on organic foods now will probably save you a lot of money in medical bills later on.

What to eat to detoxify your body

One merely needs to look at nature to find the foods that detoxify the body best. Fresh fruits and vegetables (organically grown, of course) are among the best detoxifiers. Onions, cauliflower and broccoli are particularly good and artichokes are well known for helping detoxify the liver.

When eating fruit for detoxification purposes you want to be sure to use fresh fruits either the whole fruit or in a juice but eat it by itself at least two or three hours before or after any other types of food. All foods are good including melons, berries, citrus fruits, bananas, apples and nectarines.

While we often think of parsley is just a garnish for our plates it actually is a great detoxifying food as it is a powerful tonic that flushes the kidneys.

Garlic is well known for its health properties in one of these is that it is a potent blood cleanser that aids in the detoxification process. Garlic is best eaten when it is raw – mash up a clove and wait 10 minutes for active chemicals to activate and added on top of your pasta or bread for healthy treat.

Along with fruits and vegetables, there is a variety of herbs that are wonderful for detoxifying the body. Milk thistle, dandelion, marshmallow, turmeric and ginger are but a few.

Making sure that you eat plenty of foods that detoxify the body as well as doing a periodic body detox will help to offset the accumulation of toxins that can be so harmful to your health.

Example of a diet to detoxify the body

Here is a suggestion for a detox diet that should last three weeks. You will find out that it’s not that strict.

First let’s start with what we’re trying to avoid. We want to avoid Caffeine, sugars, alcohool and any processed food.

Food Intake, you can have an unlimited Fresh Vegetables, pick and mix from any of the veggies in list.
Collard Greens , Dandelion greens, Mixed greens, Mustard greens, Red, yellow, and green peppers, Onions, Mushrooms, Spinach, Carrots, Cucumbers, Celery, Radishes, Kale, Broccoli, Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts, Asparagus, Cabbage, Artichokes, Red beets

With these vegetables, make plenty of salads with unlimited fresh vegetables. Yes you can use balsanic Vinegar with Olive Oil for dressing.

In terms of fruit intake – Eat twice as many vegetables as compared to fruit during the day, pick from this list of fruits:
Apples, Oranges, Bananas, Grapes, Berries, Melons, Tomatoes. Do avoid avocados

Everyday, drink sring Water ( at least 8 glasses per day )

Yes you can eat meat : You can eat about twice daily ¾ oz of unseasoned lean meat, fish or poultry. Do avoid red meat, go for white.

In the salad you can add 1-2 eggs per day

In terms of drinking do have plenty of milk shakes, it will keep your blood sugar levels constant and prevent you from being moody. Have a shake 2 to 3 times a day.

In shops you can also find some capsules to flush away bad stuff from your system, for example Gastro Fiber capsule or Cleanse capsules. Go into a natural health shop and ask.

Finally to flush out toxins you need some exercise ! Walk 4 x per week ( 30-45 minutes )

Good luck and give me comments about this.