>More tips for flu prevention!

>Fears of pandemic, both legit and overdone, are all over the emails and the newsletters. The latest came from our healthy living advice source: the Lifestyle Enhancement newsletter. Here’s the advice, along with my serious and not-so-much responses, of course.

Yogurt for probiotics
We went through a lot of yogurt when Amigo had his tummy troubles. He was eating it every day, sometimes twice a day. He then graduated to chewable acidophilus tablets, or yogurt culture without the yogurt, as the nurse practitioner told him. Now that he’s healthy, he eats yogurt a few times a week to regulate his tummy chemistry. I’m eating a little yogurt; that’s an area I could increase.

Citrus for Vitamin C
Amigo and I both take daily vitamin C supplements, and I pack fresh fruits in my lunch bag. When winter comes and along with it the music department fruit sale, we order oranges and grapefruit galore. Lately I’ve been cooking and baking with fruits, and I hope that will increase our vitamin C intake a little bit.

Mushrooms for Beta-glucan
What the heck is beta-glucan? Is it like the Betazoid race on Star Trek? Or is it more like glue in a can? Didn’t they call that stuff paste long ago? Mushroom paste. Now there’s a concept.

Seafood for selenium.
This category is a little tougher for us Midwesterners. Locavores have to go for Great Lakes fish, not ocean harvests. Freshwater, not saltwater. Do they still provide selenium? And why am I humming Tom Lehrer’s “Periodic Table of the Elements” song?

Green Tea for — what was that? Oh, she said Catechins.
Cat-a whatsits? I find green tea relaxing on a cold and stressful school day, catechins or no catechins. It doesn’t add to my doublechins, either.

Nuts to, er, for Vitamin E
I’m putting nuts in more of my baking. Does that count? It might not be enough. How about Nutella?

Our locavore effort has been helpful in encouraging us to cook from scratch, use fresh ingredients, and feed the family more vegetables and fruit. I think I’ll just keep it up and use my neti pot regularly. Oops, TMI. Sorry for that image. Go back to Tom Lehrer. He’ll make you laugh, germs or viruses or perfect health.

P.S. Spellcheck didn’t like this post. Catechins? Beta-glucan? Acidophilus? Yikes.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

5 thoughts on “>More tips for flu prevention!

  1. >This is a great post! Including regular food into your daily diet instead of relying on vitamins and cold medicine.

  2. >Speaking of Tom Lehrer, "I got it from Agnes!" (My second-grader asked me what, exactly, did he get from
    Agnes, and I said it was the flu.)
    I really like the idea using Nutella to boost my immune system. Brilliant.

  3. >Great post but I won't eat mushrooms, seeings as I'm deathly allergic to mushrooms I don't think it matters how healthy they are since I would be dead and all. 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *