Winter is coming! – 8 tips to increase your resistance
The temperature outside drops and we turn on the heater inside. During the colder period of the year the 'r' is in the month. These are the months when you are most at risk of catching a cold, the flu or another virus. Typical winter health complaints that you are more at risk of if you have insufficient resistance. Fortunately, you can do something to reduce that risk: increase your resistance. Even if you are losing weight, it is important to maintain your resistance during the cold months. With these 8 tips you will certainly succeed!
Tip 1: Make sure you get enough vitamin C and vitamin D
Sufficient vitamin C does not prevent you from becoming infected with a winter virus, but it does ensure that you recover faster and that your complaints are probably less severe. You can get vitamin C from citrus fruits, but also from vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli and kale. Vitamin D also plays a major role in your resistance. Your vitamin D levels are often too low in winter due to a lack of sunlight. This can cause all kinds of complaints, including fatigue and depression. Vitamin D is, for example, found in oily fish, dairy products, margarine and low-fat margarine and vitamin D supplements.
Tip 2: Eat enough fiber
Fiber is an essential source of nutrition for the microbiotics in your intestines. Bacteria that enter your body and want to settle are combated by microbiotics. If you want to improve your resistance, eat enough fiber! Did you know that most people do not consume enough fiber every day? An adult should eat between 30 and 40 grams of fiber daily. Fiber, for example, is found in whole grain products, vegetables, fruit and legumes.
Tip 3: Drink enough
It is always important to drink enough, but especially if you eat a lot of fiber. Drinking enough fluid also improves your immune system. The advice is to drink 1.5 to 2 liters of water every day.
Tip 4: Eat more of the good fats
It is extra important to consume a lot of good fats during the winter period. Good fats are polyunsaturated fats. These fats boost your immune system by inhibiting inflammation in the body. Unsaturated fats help your body in the fight against pathogenic bacteria and viruses. You can find them, for example, in olive oil and oily fish, such as salmon.
Tip 5: Exercise regularly outdoors
Exercise is of course good for you and your resistance. But exercising outdoors cuts both ways. You catch sunlight, which is important for maintaining your vitamin D intake. In addition, exercise in the open air stimulates your blood circulation and puts your lungs to work. It really gives your fitness a boost and also helps you sleep better at night. Speaking of fresh air... If you spend a lot of time indoors during the day, open a window for fresh air. The ventilation ensures that virus particles do not linger and your mucous membranes do not dry out.
Tip 6: Get enough rest
Anyone who has no problem sleeping enough during the summer months will find that this is much more difficult in the winter months. Too little rest affects your resistance, especially in the winter months. So try to plan your agenda less full, go to bed an hour earlier and try to sense when you need time for yourself. A healthy mind is a healthy body!.
Tip 7: Wash your hands regularly
This tip is one that we have of course heard a lot over the past year and a half: wash your hands regularly with hand soap. It is not without reason that we hear it so often because it is a very important one. Why? Viruses and bacteria are transmitted by contact through the hands. Without realizing it, you spend more time on your nose, mouth or eyes every day than you think. If there are bacteria or virus particles on your hands, you can easily infect yourself this way. By washing your hands regularly you significantly reduce that chance.
Tip 8: Eat less sugar
The last tip is certainly not the most important! To help your body stay strong and healthy during the winter period, it helps to cut down on refined sugars. These sugars can be found in pastries, cookies and sweets, but it is also the sugar in the sugar bowl (both white and brown). This type of sugar causes high inflammation in the body. These inflammations lower your immune system, which makes you more susceptible to viruses and bacteria.