A quick recap of my story and why I do what I do
If you are familiar with my story and how I got to deal with immunity issues related to nutrition, then you know that I have dealt with countless doctors who were all to quick about prescribing my daughter with antibiotics. My oldest daughter, Sheli, started attending daycare after her first birthday and since then started having countless flares of what seemed to be strep throat infections. I do understand that kids have to get sick, but in our case she was literally ‘sick all the time’, which was so frustrating! I could not work, and she couldn’t go to daycare, which seemed like a huge expense for us at the time. Along with these annoying sore throats, she also had very high fevers and even seisures. It was really scary for both my husband and I, as we were parents for the first time.
At the time (back in 2010), I knew nothing about immunity, health and nutrition, however, I had always known that antibiotics should not be used unless you absolutely MUST (even though at the time I didn’t really know why).
Since then I have immersed myself in books and educational material on the topic of immunity and nutrition, I even attended nutrition school and became a registered holistic nutritionist.
I did that becasue I wanted my life back.
I wanted my sleep back.
I wanted to be able to go out with husband and leave my child with a babysitter.
I wanted to go back to work.
I wanted my daughter to go back to the daycare we paid a lot of money for.
I am so happy to say that I was able to completely remove all sore throats, runny noses and unessesary sicknesses from my child, and bring a better quality of life back.
Today I help other moms to deal with kids who are ‘sick all the time’, I do that through education, nutritional changed and a smart use of nutritional supplements.
In today’s post I want to share 5 things that will hopefully will give you some insight and understanding before you are blindly agreeing to whatever treatment your doctor offers for your child.
1. There is a difference between treating a virus (e.g. the flu) and a bacteria?
There is one distinction we, mothers, must understand and that is the distinction between a bacteria and a virus. Bacteria are treated with antibiotics, however, antibiotics do not treat viruses and can in fact make more damage than benefit to your child’s gut. Now, here is a fact – the flu (a.k.a influenza) is a virus – not a bacteria! Sometimes it is hard to know whether you child is having a virus or a bacteria, as symptoms may be very similar, but if your doctor gives your child antibiotics for the flu (I don’t know why they would), then you can intelligently pass on that.
2. Why antibiotic overuse is such a problem?
Since the flu is NOT a bacterial problem, we should NOT be overusing anti-bacterial products. Doing so only exacerbates possible bacterial problems down the road as these little critters can quickly adapt to our excessively clean environments.
Simpler forms of bacteria are turning into ‘super bugs’ with worse side effects and as a result much harder to treat and heal from.
These harder-to-kill “super bugs” are now sadly apparent thanks to the over-prescription of antibiotics and other measures of excessive cleanliness (e.g. Lysol, hand senitisers, etc).
3. The importance of vitamin D in treating the flu
Although the flu is more apparent during the cold season, the influenza virus is with us 365 a year.
February is usually when the flu season officiallty starts in the northern hemisphere and August in the southern hemisphere.
Interestingly, this is also when we spend more time enclosed in a room to get away from the cold, and as a result get the least amount of sunlight (and thus vitamin D) in each respective location.
Vitamin D is so important in this regard that many experts are starting to believe that flu outbreaks are CAUSED by a lack of the “sunshine vitamin”.
4. Staying clean from the inside is more important than staying clean from the outside
If the “germ theory” of disease is correct, then every single person exposed to the flu virus should get sick. Especially kids.
Obviously, this is not the case. My kids and the kids of my clients rerely get sick and that is not because they are special kids, but because we keep their guts and intestines clean and their bowels moving freely.
Why?
A clean and healthy internal environment is inhospitable to viruses and other pathogens. That’s where proper nutrition comes into play.
And that’s why I believe, mothers must know the basics of nurtition, to be able to minimise the occurences of unessesary sicknesses.
5. Kids with pets have stronger immune systems
Kids that are raised with pets (especially dogs) have been shown to have stronger immune systems and are more resilient to infections like the flu.
This makes sense since dogs acquire all kinds of micro-organisms while playing outside. Once exposed to these “natural critters” (by coming into contact with the dogs) at a very young age, the child immune’s system is able to recognize the micro-organisms and adapt accordingly.
However, although helpful, having a pet is not nessessary, so don’t worry you don’t have to run to the pet store just yet!
I’ve prepared a great resource for you which will help you to prevent colds and flus, download you free Cold fighting food guide for parents – 5 Foods That Practically Guarantee Your Kid Won’t Get Sick This Winter.
If you are ready to make some nutritional changes but don’t know what to do,
feel free to approach me, I am here to help you get your sleep back!