GOAL: STAY HEALTHY DURING SICK SEASON

It really bothers me that we have a time of year called "flu season."

I found myself wishing that there were no diseases and illnesses and no one ever had to get sick (unfortunately, we have to wait until the next lifetime for that). I was reminiscing on this past December-March when it seemed like my daughter, Nala was getting hit left and right with several different sicknesses. I'm super grateful that the greatest of our worries was a treatable sickness and not something more serious and incurable which many families have had to deal with but I still started feeling bad about myself and feeling sorry for Nala all over again. I began to regret that I started working part-time and wished I had continued exclusively breastfeeding her full-time instead of starting her on some solids when she was 9 months old. The feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy started creeping in again. Then I snapped myself out of it and realized that I'm not a bad mom just because my child got sick a few times!

I made the decision of going back to work because I had to since I could only rely on myself to bring in the money that we needed. I'm an amazing mom who takes care of Nala, spends time with her, teaches her, and makes tough sacrifices for her. I did the best that I could with the knowledge, experiences, and circumstances that I had at that time. Now all I can do is try my best to ensure her health and the immunity of our family. Moms & dads, this is a little encouragement for you and a PSA for all you great parents out there: YOU ARE NOT A BAD PARENT BECAUSE YOUR CHILD GETS SICK A FEW TIMES A YEAR. Here are a few things I'm going to be hyper-vigilant about in order to prevent us from falling victims to any illnesses again this season.

Drinking plenty of water
Nala, Earl and I already keep reusable water bottles with us to sip on throughout the day. Earl and I aim for about 2-3 liters of water every day and Nala drinks a lot more water now that she typically drinks from a regular straw. Those toddler-friendly straws may be spill-proof but it's tough to suck a good amount of water out of them. If you find it difficult for you to get enough fluids in, try adding some fruit or herbs to your water and always carry a bottle around with you so that you're always well-hydrated.

Consuming more fruit & veggies
Nala is a super picky eater. She goes through phases when she will be borderline addicted to one food. We've gone through an avocado phase, a banana phase, and a seemingly-never ending cracker, bread and pasta phase. Trust us, we've tried a lot of different tactics to get her to eat new things but we've failed a lot of times. I can create a delicious and super nutritious meal packed with variety and she'll eat whatever is the least nutrient-dense item on the plate smh. I think I've finally found the solution though... ketchup! Yes, she refused to eat her dinner yesterday until I put ketchup on it. Then she ate the whole thing! Weird, but true. I might start offering her 10,000,000 times as many different varieties of food each meal so that she can hopefully choose something she likes. Or maybe less is more and I'll just offer her one food and after she eats that I'll give her another dish. Hmmm... yeah maybe I'll try that. Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas. I'm also trying to start sneaking in the fruit and veggies by adding them to sauces and serving them with something I know she'll enjoy eating. As always, I recommend going vegan so that you automatically intake a large volume plant based foods and avoid a lot of the inflammation caused by consuming meat, dairy and other animal products.

Washing hands ALL THE TIME.
Yeah, I said it. I know there's a movement of people who enjoy playing in/ eating dirt in the hopes that it'll boost their immunity and I'm not totally opposed to that but there's nothing wrong with washing your hands. We'll be washing our hands when we wake up, before & after we eat, when we leave the store, when we get home, after we use the restroom and before we go to bed. POINT. BLANK. PERIODT! When we don't have easy access to soap and water, we'll be using our handy-dandy hand sanitizer!

Exercising at least 20 minutes per day
I know, it's super easy to not want to workout when the weather starts getting cooler. You might be thinking, what's the point? The cooler months are packed with holidays where people just eat, eat, and eat some more unhealthy foods. But, in the wise words of Fabolous, "You gotta grind all winter so you can shine all summer." Earl and I workout 3-5 days per week and Nala is definitely a busy body. Exercise not only helps you de-stress by releasing those happy endorphins, it can also boost your immunity. According to rd.com, "Your immune system responds to exercise by producing more of the blood cells that attack bacterial invaders. And the more regularly you exercise, the more long-lasting the changes become. U.S. research shows that people who exercise moderately on five or six days a week have half as many colds and sore throats as people who don’t." That's good enough for me!

Vitamins & Supplements
On top of everything above we'll also continue taking our vitamins and adding in some new supplements. Earl, Nala and I take a vegan multivitamin everyday. In conjunction with Nala's iron supplement, I'm thinking of also putting her back on probiotic drops which help promote a healthy immune and digestive system. Or we might try Elderberry or Astragalus which also help with building immunity. If anyone has suggestions or has tried either of those herbs please let me know in the comments!

Cold showers???
So anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely hate, to the depths of my soul, a cold or even worse, luke-warm shower. I need the water to practically burn my skin off in order to feel clean and totally relaxed. I know, my privilege is showing. I've been to other countries (even some places here in the US) that don't even have clean, running water and I've gone days without showering before while camping and I'm grateful that we have safe water in the first place. However, when I need a nice, hot shower, I need it to be nice and HOT HOT HOT! So the thought that I would even be open to taking a cold shower on purpose is surprising to me too. But, last year Earl was the only one out of our whole family (including extended family members who we came in contact with) who didn't get sick. The only thing that I can think of that he did differently than the rest of us was take cold showers religiously. Studies have shown that the shock of cold water can Help fight off common illnesses. I think I'm going to try at least one cold shower every week and see if that'll increase my odds of not getting sick and maintaining my level of optimum health.

What are you going to do to stay healthy this "flu" season?