5 ways to avoid getting ill this autumn

With the colder weather settling in and kids heading back to school everyone’s attention inevitably turns to avoiding getting sick. As I’ve touched on before, getting ill or the common cold is less about catching and more about groups of people detoxing at the same time, we begin to spend more time indoors, the heating goes on for the first time in a while and the body responds with a flurry of symptoms. 

However we still need to support the body in avoiding this form of detoxification to begin with. Having good immunity is all to do with having good health not an invisible forcefield of protection. As you’ll read in this article, simple changes to diet and lifestyle will help you avoid getting sick at the turn of every season.

1. Increase vitamin C intake 

Most people aren’t getting enough vitamin C, and I’m not referring to the fake ascorbic acid kind of vitamin C, I’m referring to the real whole food kind. Vitamin C helps fight oxidative stress which is a prime driver of illness in the modern age thanks to the prevalence of foods such as seed oils causing oxidation within our bodies. 

Vitamin C doesn’t just help fight free radicals it also helps collagen production, hormone health, energy production and even brain and mood support. But when we isolate vitamin C and develop it out of corn as in the case of ascorbic acid the effect isn’t quite the same, our body far more easily recognises real whole foods compared to synthetic isolates, we need the cofactors that come along with high vitamin C foods for them to work affectively, so ditch the vitamin C tablets and stick to real food such as oranges, orange juice, acerola cherries, hibiscus tea, rose hips, peppers and kiwis.

2. Eat fermented foods 

If we have a strong gut then the chances are that we will rarely get ill, the surface area of our gut is even larger than that of our skin. We are more in contact with the outside world with our gut than our skin. If we have poor gut health then we are in a comprised state, any increase in stress or exposure to chemicals will result in our body needing to initiate a detox, this comes in the form of a cold or the flu.

Good gut health depends on a few key factors, firstly the gut lining being sealed, secondly being free of harmful bacteria and pathogens and thirdly having an equilibrium of healthy bacteria. To improve the third we need to eat our probiotics, these are often foods that are pre-digested by the fermentation process. Think yoghurt, cheese and sauerkraut these all contain beneficial bacteria that helps our gut thrive and keep us resilient.

3. Hit the sauna 

If getting a cold is simply a detoxification process then pre-emptively detoxing is the way to avoid it and stay on top of your health. The sauna is a remarkable tool for us to cleanse our bodies and stay feeling our best. Similar to when we experience a fever during illness, the sauna can simulate this in a more controlled scale. Heat shock proteins get to work when we have been subjected to high temperature for long enough, this could be 10 minutes at 80 degrees celsius (176 Fahrenheit) for example. 

Regular sauna use, even just once a week can help your body detox on a regular basis, for added detoxification make sure you enter the sauna fully reseted and glycogen stores full, taking a binder such as activated charcoal before hand can help bind toxins in the gut. We are surrounded by toxins even if you do a pretty good job of avoiding them so to avoid getting ill, stick to regular planned detoxes like the sauna to avoid unplanned detoxes such as a cold.

4. Prioritise sleep  

You miss a nights sleep and then the next night you have a night of socialising with friends, then you wake up with a sore throat, was it the friends who passed something onto you or the bad night sleep you had? It undoubtedly is the lack of sleep, as I’ve mentioned numerous times in my articles, sleep is a core part of our health, we cannot regain lost sleep and if we already running on empty, a bad nights sleep can be what tips us over the edge into sickness. 

Prioritising sleep looks like, sleeping before 11pm (the earlier the better), avoiding blue light especially after sunset, investing in a high quality mattress and pillow both made of natural materials, having a wind down routine away from screens and bright light, as well as keeping your room dark and cool. Once you start treating sleep the same way you treat food your health and immunity will be so much better, we need deep restorative sleep to be resilient.

5. Source high polyphenol foods

Aside from making sure you have sufficient nutrients coming in such as Vitamin A, B vitamins and zinc, we can also turn to lesser known antioxidants and anti-inflammatories such as polyphenols. From coffee to extra virgin olive oil polyphenols are a powerful addition to a nutrient dense diet and healthy lifestyle. 

Research has linked polyphenols to lowering risk of heart disease, diabetes and even cancer. Polyphenols similar to vitamin C help fight oxidative stress but they also aid gut health by feed good bacteria and suppressing harmful pathogens. They also help to support the gut lining which as you are know are ware is key for fending off illness. 

Many extra virgin olive oils are actually tested for polyphenol content and even some coffee brands but you can also get polyphenols from dark berries, spices, herbs and cacao powder. 

Summary 

Falling ill is natural but falling ill every season isn’t. You can be healthy and still fall ill but this is more to do with taking too much on and becoming run down or burnt out. The average person isn’t sat at a baseline of good heath  which is why when the weather changes or they socialise more they fall ill.

Working on your health is all about becoming resilient, being able to do a lot and still stay healthy, everyone wants to avoid getting ill but few want to work on their health to gain this resilience, the choice is yours.