Two of my kids are sick today. I feel myself coming down with a cold. Over the past year I've found that if I take preventative measures when I feel myself getting sick I can almost always avoid it. The number one preventative measure is to avoid sugar:
Eating or drinking 100 grams (8 tbsp.) of sugar, the equivalent of two- and-a-half 12-ounce cans of soda, can reduce the ability of white blood cells to kill germs by 40 percent. The immune-suppressing effect of sugar starts less than thirty minutes after ingestion and may last for five hours. -Source-
I have found that to be true over and over. My kids can be around other sick kids all day, but as soon as I give them cheerios and milk for breakfast, they instantly have a cold. I know they are sick this time because they have eaten at least one peice of candy per day since Halloween. A steady stream of sugar does not make a healthy immune system.
Today after the kids went to bed for the night I really wanted some chocolate. I was too tired to make myself a delicious treat so I just settled on some chamomile tea with honey.
Meanwhile Toby eats sugar daily and is never sick. Neener neener neener!
ReplyDelete(That's not to say I'm thrilled with it. But his teachers give him treats when he behaves, and school lunch sometimes is sugary. And forget about when he is with my mom and grandma - they load him up on all sorts of crap. That one makes me furious.)