8 Easy Ways to Prevent Getting Sick

No one ever likes getting sick and while even the healthiest of people will get sick from time to time, there are many ways to optimize health and effectively prevent getting sick so that you don't have to deal with sickness as often.

1. Optimize your diet with nutritious foods

- Food is medicine. Eat whole, real foods. Stay away from processed, greasy foods. Reading labels is key! Always check ingredients in labels, which can tell you which products have added sugar and chemicals that you may not have been aware of. Some of the food you may be eating might not even be food! It is just a bunch of chemicals put together to look like food. As a rule of thumb, try to limit your products to contain 5 ingredients or less and ingredients you recognize. If you don't recognize an ingredient, you probably shouldn't be ingesting it. Learning how to read labels is a skill and it can take time to learn but it's worth it! 

2. Hydrate with clean water

- Hydration is an important part of staying healthy but the quality of water we consume is just as important. Our tap water is filled with a bunch of junk that can suppress our immune systems and make us sick. It can contain toxic ingredients like arsenic, lead, fluoride, chlorine, etc... and a Brita filter just doesn't get rid of these toxins. The EPA attempts to clean up the water as much as possible for the public but often times, that's not enough. The Flint, Michigan water crisis is a perfect example of a community who had been drinking tap water and have had terrible health consequences. It is not enough to trust in public water. If you feel like you drink a lot of water but still suffer from headaches or dehydration, it could be the quality of water you're consuming. We use a countertop Berkey water filter with an added fluoride filter in our home, as fluoride is a neurotoxin. There are other great filters out there, even entire home water filtration systems, but you just have to do your research to find one that works for you and your family.

3. Skip the hand sanitizer and wash your hands with good ole soap and water

- Hand sanitizer certainly kills all the bad bacteria, which is a good thing… but it also kills the good bacteria, something we need in order to maintain a strong immune system. The good bacteria is what helps your body fight off infection when the bad bacteria invades it. Stick with the old fashioned method of washing hands with soap and water. Also avoid antibacterial hand soaps, as those do the same thing as hand sanitizer.

4. Make sure you have access to clean air

- Clean, fresh air is so important for our health. Our air has become so toxic with all the chemicals we are using in today's society. Try to open windows in your home as much as you can to circulate fresh air, add plants in your home, use a high quality air filter (HEPA filters work best), limit the use of chemicals used inside your home, skip the chemically laden perfume, and try diffusing some essential oils! 

5. Soak up the sun for some vitamin D

- Vitamin D is so important for a strong immune system. It is also very hard to get adequate levels of vitamin D if you are not out in the sun every day, especially if you live in an area where it gets cold during the winter. Sunscreen also inhibits your body's ability to absorb the sun and produce vitamin D. While it is important to protect your skin from damage from the sun, it is beneficial to get at least 15-20 minutes a day of direct sun without sunscreen to be able to produce vitamin D. If you suspect a vitamin D deficiency, it can be beneficial to take a high quality vitamin D3 supplement.

6. Get adequate sleep

- Sleep is so important for our health and many of us don't get enough of it. When we sleep, we are detoxing and detoxing daily exposures to toxins in our environment is crucial for our health. Check out my YouTube video on tips for getting a good night's rest. 

7. Exercise regularly

- You don't have to go crazy at the gym in order to exercise. Find something that works for you, something that you enjoy doing that boosts your physical activity. If you want to go crazy at the gym, feel free! While others may be content just going for walks, doing yoga, or lifting weights at home. 

8. Reduce your stress levels or at least learn to manage them

- I am the QUEEN of understanding that sometimes I can't change the amount of stress I'm under. Sometimes my stress levels are unavoidable and that's okay. When things do get out of control though, it is important to learn how to manage your stress levels. You need to find time to check in with yourself and calm yourself down. You don't want your body to be in a chronic state of stress. You can help manage your stress levels by writing lists of all the things you need to do, taking a warm bath with calming essential oils, engaging in a quick yoga session you find on YouTube, or sitting and meditating for as little as 15 minutes so that your body is able to take deep breaths and relax. Find something that works for YOU to reduce stress and calm down.

Stay healthy

Staying healthy requires balancing all aspects of your life, which may not always be easy to do. Sometimes getting sick is unavoidable but you will have much better outcomes if you check in with yourself and listen to your body.