Beat A Virus With Food, Rest & Exercise!!

Hello everyone,

Of course, I hope that you and all of your families are doing very well and staying healthy. And as we come into cold and flu season, I thought I might give you a few ideas to help keep you all that way. I know that stating that food, rest and exercise sounds so obvious for staying healthy, but I wanted to give a little science behind it so that it makes it all more applicable.

First, food. You have to fuel your body to be healthy. It needs nourishment to be up and moving during the day, especially if you exercise. And the food serves as fuel not only for simple movement, but for processes inside the body, such as fighting off infections!! The cells that fight of viruses and bacteria need fuel to work. They also need certain foods to replenish themselves, and that would be protein. All cells are made up of protein, especially white blood cells, which are the cells that fight off germs, such as viruses and bacteria. So without enough protein in the diet, your body may run low on WBCs and not be able to optimally fight off infection. And if you are exercising on a regular basis, and not eating enough protein, you run the risk of running low on white blood cells very quickly.

Second, rest. When we sleep, our body repairs and recovers. This includes repairing tissue that was used during the day, just from moving around normally. And if you exercise, then rest and the food that you eat become even more important. As we rest, our body is now able to allocate more energy to fighting off infection. So getting even more sleep when you are feeling sick can be very helpful. Most importantly, getting plenty of rest and proper nutrition can help defend your body from an infection.

Third, exercise. Now, please let me say that when you exercise on a regular basis, your recovery is key. That means that your sleep and nutrition need to be optimal to stay healthy, especially during cold and flu season. Overall, exercise keeps your cardiovascular system running well, and keeps proper oxygenation of your blood. These are key in staying healthy.

As always, thanks for reading and if you have any questions, please reply and let me know. And if you have time and would like to leave a review on Google and help others find the office more easily, please click HERE. It is appreciated very much.

Have a nice day.

Dr Mckim

8154777718