The winter season is filled with social events and opportunities to enjoy your favorite seasonal activities. While you might spend a large portion of the winter skiing and enjoying other types of cold-weather fun, the truth is that you’ll likely be spending more time indoors than you have all year. Considering that people tend to gather more during this season, it’s no surprise that colds and other illnesses tend to experience an uptick. Taking a few moments to plan for ways to boost your immune system helps you stay healthy so that you don’t have to miss a single holiday party or wintertime sports activity.

Pay Attention to the Antioxidants In Your Diet
You indeed are what you eat, and the foods you put on your plate play a significant role in how well your body can fend off the germs you encounter as you shop for gifts and hug your loved ones at family gatherings. There’s no harm in occasionally enjoying a sweet treat or two, but you’ll want to focus on eating well the majority of the time.

Adding more fruits and vegetables to your plate is a great way to build up your immune system. As you do, remember that many of your favorite seasonal ingredients are also wonderful superfoods that are known for providing immune system support. For instance, pumpkin is filled with vitamin A, which can help your body get stronger at fighting off germs from the moment it enters your digestive system.

Vitamin C is also a powerful antioxidant that you’ll find in those delicious berries that you can add to desserts. In fact, filling up a bowl full of berries can be a healthy dessert option on its own that will leave you feeling healthier after a heavy meal. Cruciferous vegetables, such as Brussels sprouts and broccoli, are also excellent sources of this nutrient that helps promote healing in your body.

You might also want to consider adding supplements to your diet that include antioxidants that you won’t usually find on the family dining table. For instance, astaxanthin is one of the most potent antioxidants to be found in nature. You are probably most familiar with it as being the component that gives shrimp their pink color. Taking it in supplement form is the only way to ensure that you take enough into your body to support your immune system.

Use Immune System Supplements to Reduce Inflammation

Following an anti-inflammatory diet can help preserve your body’s energy resources to keep you healthy. If possible, spend some time learning about which foods trigger inflammation in your body. Dairy, meat products, and sugary treats are a few common contributors to systemic inflammation that you’ll come across frequently during the holidays. While you should do your best to avoid inflammatory foods, you might also want to consider using supplements to address any inflammation that arises within your body.

Antioxidants like astaxanthin help reduce cellular inflammation, but you can also do more. Our Immune Booster supplement contains cordyceps and reishi mushrooms to help reduce inflammation that strains your body’s immune system’s defenses. Notoginseng is another well-known supplement that has the benefit of decreasing inflammation in the blood vessels so that oxygen can get to your immune system’s cells more efficiently. When your body has less inflammation, it has more energy to fight germs.

Explore the Buzz Surrounding Bee Propolis

Honey has long been recognized for having antiviral and antibacterial effects. But there’s a new queen bee in town with everyone talking, coming straight from the same source. Propolis is made by bees using the buds of cone-bearing trees to create a resin-like material that forms their hives. It has similar germ-fighting effects as honey, and we’ve put it into a convenient supplement that makes it easy to enjoy its benefits since you likely aren’t consuming propolis in your normal diet.

Propolis is best known for having potent antibacterial and antiviral effects, and people are also using it for these potential benefits for their health.

• helping the body’s normal processes to regulate blood sugar
• aiding in the care and healing of cold sores
• easing inflammation and pain in other types of mouth irritation

Focus On Bolstering Your Personal Hygiene
There’s no escaping the fact that you’re still going to encounter a few germs, even if you work hard on avoiding people who are sick. In addition to boosting the effects of your exercise routine with notoginseng, you’ll also want to continue to practice the basic rules of infection control.

Make sure to wash your hands frequently throughout the day, especially if you’ve recently encountered a germ hot spot, such as staircase rails or door handles, out in public. You might also choose to carry hand sanitizer with you for times when you might not be able to access soap and water. For example, having a bottle of hand sanitizer with you on a hike is a great way to prepare to enjoy an outdoor picnic or snack.

Give Your Immune System a Break

Natural herbal supplements help to reduce the strain that your immune system endures as it works hard to fight off illnesses. You can help to increase the positive effects of your supplements by also making sure to get enough sleep at night. Practicing good sleep hygiene makes it more likely that you’ll be able to get those seven to nine hours of rest that your body needs to focus on replenishing its energy. Since your body tends to do the majority of its cellular regeneration while you sleep, going to bed on time is beneficial for helping the immune system do its job.

If you catch a cold, then make sure to continue using your supplements and other strategies for immune support. Continuing to fuel your immune system with antioxidants and taking things easy for a few days allows your body to heal so that you don’t have to miss a minute more than is necessary for your favorite seasonal activities.

From notoginseng to bee propolis, the season has arrived when it pays to focus on supplementing your holiday diet with healthy additions. Farlong Nutraceutical has an array of options for supplements that also come with the guarantee of being third-party tested to reduce the chances of pesticides and other chemicals interfering with the health benefits that they provide. As the winter season arrives, our goal is to help you stay well so that you can soak up all of those beautiful moments with your loved ones in good health.