By now we’ve all heard the basic suggestions to prevent swine flu (H1N1, as it’s been renamed…some docs are now affectionately calling it the “heinie” flu). The basics: use your elbow to cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough, wash hands regularly, avoid touching your face, don’t kiss any pigs, etc. It’s good advice, but there’s something missing in my opinion. Frankly, it’s impossible to avoid all the bugs out there if we are active members of society. I’m more interested in how to keep our immune system strong so we don’t get sick very often nor stay sick for long.

In my naturopathic medical practice, there are some basic things I recommend to my patients every fall as the sun both gets farther away and doesn’t stick around long each day. One is to supplement Vitamin D3. Note that the US RDA hasn’t been updated in a while and still recommends only 400 international units (IU) daily. I usually recommend 2000-5000 IU daily for adults. But the amount depends on your blood levels, so check with your doctor first before starting to use this fat-soluble vitamin. I like to see levels above 50 ng/ml, the name of the test is 25(OH)D. It still surprises me how many people, even in our sunny town of Albuquerque, do not have optimal levels of Vitamin D. We produce this vitamin naturally when we get sun exposure, so it would make sense for us to have plenty around here. But there are lots of reasons to be deficient…all work and no play makes us pale, weak, and heavy. Many of us avoid sun exposure via the daily use of sunscreen or covering up carefully, dark skinned people have an unavoidable natural sunscreen, and in the winter, we just don’t even have sufficient sun rays to make enough D regardless of our lifestyle and skin color… unless we ski naked, perhaps. There is fairly good evidence that the reason we get more colds and flu in the winter time is simply because we don’t get much sun, hence don’t make enough D, and our immune systems falter.

There is plenty of other basic flu prevention advice that is also just good daily care for our bodies. Avoid sugary foods and overeating in general, these holiday habits depress the immune system within minutes and keep it suppressed for several hours after the sugary onslaught. Instead, choose a high fiber diet with colorful veggies and fruits and drink plenty of clear fluids, especially water. Keep your body hydrated in the winter when we spend so much time in dry, heated buildings. Take probiotics either as a supplement or eat the foods that have these good bugs. They help immunity, digestion and reduce symptoms of cold or flu. To fill up on probiotics eat uncooked miso soup, kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchee, or yogurt. Get regular exercise, especially getting outside for fresh air, even in the winter. Get plenty of rest, go to bed earlier and get up later like the sun, especially if you’re feeling run down or at first sign of any infections. Gargle warm salt water twice daily to kill off any lingering bugs in your mouth and throat. And finally, do what you can to keep your peace, enjoy your friends and family, laugh and love and maintain your spiritual connections. Live well, be well.

Extra words/ideas about vit D:
Some doctors will prescribe 50,000 IU once a week or once a month. Since it is a fat-soluble vitamin, we store it pretty well, and taking a higher dose less frequently is a reasonable alternative. Finally, it is important to take D3 and not D2. The vitamin D you get from a pharmacist is usually D2, but the kind that we can absorb and use best is D3 which is readily available over the counter. The difference in quality is worth taking the right kind of D. There are lots of other important functions for vitamin D. For example, increasing bone strength and density, hormonal wellness, preventing depression, and preventing auto-immune disorders like multiple sclerosis (higher rates of this disease occur in northern lands with less sun).

"Keep the Bugs at Bay" by Karla Koch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.