Our 6 Never-Failing Tips For You: Get Your Body Ready To Beat Flu Season
*Cough cough*... it's here.
Are you one of those people who loves the coldest time of the year and gets quickly excited by the -way too early- Christmas lights hanging all over the city? Or are you someone who would rather hibernate through this season and skip the next three months of carrying a beyond suspicion amount of tissues?
In any case, it’s time to accept that winter is around the corner, and for some of us, this might mean the undesirable flu is chasing us to start its most desired yearly performance. Or maybe you’re reading this too late and one of the big ones has already caught you and is up in your head by now, feeling like it’s getting cozy to stay forever.
Like grandma said: a stitch in time saves nine. Of course, the most interesting thing to learn is how to prevent it from happening in the first place. Is the flu something inevitable that gets you because luck chose someone else, and that is ready to spoil Christmas? Well, all we can assure you is that it will stay away from the strongest immune systems. That’s what we’re looking for: the healthiest version of ourselves that can beat or prevent anything that wants to keep us in bed.
Get ready to start taking notes! These sick (pun intended) tips we’re about to give you, will boost your immune system and help you prevent or speed up your recovery from the flu.
Why does this keep happening to me?
First of all, let’s look into what actually makes us catch the flu, besides its unfortunate existence, or what it is that we’re skipping and should really introduce in our routines in order to avoid it.
Are you still trying to figure out how to be someone who feels healthy and has a balanced lifestyle? Are you instead spending uncountable bed days wondering why you keep getting sick? That’s what we’re here for: we’re going to give you some basics to learn why this might keep happening to you.
Here is where we need to start understanding the truth about the typical sayings that we have heard during all our lives, together with basic concepts to note.
And, in case you were wondering, yes:
Of course, it had to be the first one. If you’re often tempted to drown your nose in a bowl of ice cream, or really enjoy your popcorn movie nights, this might be one of the first reasons you’re more prone to catch the flu. Your body might be missing some of the necessary nutrients to function at its best.
- S for Sahara dry organisms.
Yes, we could have started with another famous saying, “drink two liters of water per day”. Truth is, you need to stay hydrated in order for your organs to keep doing their thing, but some people are under-hydrated because they struggle to reach this goal on a regular basis.
Keep reading to discover all the other wonderful ways to hydrate besides drinking just that: plain boring water.
- Mayday! Burnout on the way.
Here comes the part where you have to read: “stay calm” and think: “oh, thank you, I feel much better now”. We’re sorry, but the best lifestyles are those filled with healthy food and habits, but also healthy emotions. That means, you need to avoid stress as much as you can, and even though every so often it gets tricky to stick to a schedule that sums 30 hours in 24, take time to organize and enjoy stress relief.
- Work it out.
It’s hard to keep up with society’s expectations for you to become a fitness guru. But believe this: this unreachable point is far from defining how healthy you are. Just keep in mind that sedentary life does help viruses to attack you, so move it a little bit in ways that you’ll enjoy: dancing in your living room or taking stairs every time you’re tempted to go on an elevator or mechanical stairs.
- Shine bright like a diamond.
We know you love taking showers or hot baths (hopefully only every once in a while -we’re trying to save the planet here-), this one is about something else.
Hygiene is important to keep illnesses away from us. We’re talking dirty hands full of germs that can go near your eyes and mouth, or poor oral health. Make sure to brush out bacteria from your teeth for at least one minute every time.
Tips, tips, tips!
Now, what if these five points we mentioned are already checked on your list, but you are still catching the flu every year?
We got you covered. There are many “extra” things to try in order to avoid getting it every time or speed up recovery for the ones who got here too late.
Because it looks like viruses leaving us alone is far down their to-do list, and they will instead always be around, all we can do is to give you some tips. There could never be enough tip lists, right? ¡Take notes!
1. Wakey wakey, eggs and… veggies? Yeah, much better.
Your daily intake of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals has to be enough for your body to function at its best, and avoid the risk of illnesses or health problems in general. This applies to everybody, it’s like general rules or a basic to-do for survival in the best possible conditions.
That being said, eat your veggies people!
You might have always heard about having to “eat our greens” but what about our blues? Our reads? Our purples? Yes, we do love a good old -never failing- green tea, or a spinach, apple and celery smoothie, but life can get much more colorful than that.
Think of colors as powerful antioxidants. The more colors, the more you’re boosting longevity, and therefore, prevention of illnesses.
If you’re in deep flu season and it looks like it’s your turn to catch it, it will one hundred percent benefit you to include colors in your diet and fight the virus.
Again, it’s what we’ve always heard of: “eating 5 pieces of fruits and vegetables per day”, but in that sentence, can you see color specs? Exactly, green is overrated. 
Whoever said salads are boring obviously hasn’t tried our Asian Chicken Salad. All the veggies, all the color! Available on our Madrid menu
What? You never heard of the… or was it drink and drive? Anyway, we really want your body to thrive through your liquid intake. As we said, there’s way more than plain boring water. There are plenty of ways to get your recommended daily amount of liquid into your body that are more colorful, but what’s more important: they are tastea (yes, again, pun intended).
Tea is water, we all know that. Consider your tea as such but make it tastier, and count on your teacup as another of your drunk glasses of water of the day.
We need to keep praising green tea: it is and will always be the one and only OG antioxidant tea. Yet, if you’re trying to beat this evil flu that seems to be very comfortable living in you, try to add some ginger and make the very famous ginger green tea.
Another option? Try other alternatives such as the slippery elm tea to soothe your throat, the licorice root tea if you have a sweet tooth, and the marshmallow root tea which is very anti-inflammatory. For anti-inflammatory teas that you’ll most definitely need for your sore throat, try out our Foxy tropical tea, just landed on our website.
Other options include matcha or chai lattes and just warm brews to soothe throat ache, and avoid cold brews at all costs. That would definitely make your virus mad and make your situation worse.
Made from a mix of spartan rose, japanese green tea, turkish mint, croatian chamomile and a touch of the tropics with sweet pineapple
This one was easy. But juices, which can sometimes look like they’re only squeezed fruits and vegetables, are also water! Think about it, did you think the juice that comes out of an orange has 0% water? Well, it’s more like... 80%.
Now imagine making your juices and smoothies rich in fruit variety and squeezing all that liquid magic out of them, cleansing out the virus off your body. Sounds like a delicious revenge plan to us! Our personal favorite: the impeccable Gab’s Celery Immunity Green Juice.
Time for our favorite: broths and soups. This should become your ally for your main meals when you have the flu. Bone broth has become very popular due to the high benefits in collagen intake. Truth is that this time collagen will also work its magic on our body but what is going to be really beneficial for us during the flu, is the minerals and the warmth of any broth that will help to soothe a sore throat.
The only thing that would feel like it includes water and that could be good for you, but that you absolutely need to avoid is coffee. We’re very sorry, but unfortunately, caffeine is going to boost your metabolism in a different way than the one we’re looking for in this case.
3. Warm hands, warm heart.
Exactly. Because “warm hands cold heart” is the opposite of what we are trying to do here. Why do warm hands necessarily have to mean a cold heart? In this case, curling up in your blanket and staying at home ensuring a nice temperature for your body, will for sure make your heart warm up. If you get lucky, the virus might also feel hot and decide to leave for once.
When you need to leave your bed for cooking or switching to the sofa, make sure to have your feet protected from cold floors and well... everything your mum would say, just do that.
Staying cozy while you’re cooking for your sick self and feeling stylish at the same time is possible. It’s hard to believe but wait until you check out our Shagadelic funk and retro rainbow-print floral collection and wear it for yourself while others still have to wait to visit until the flu says bye-bye.
4. Speaking of…
Sounds great to be in your kitchen cooking for yourself dressed in a 60s fashion outfit, but what is it that you’re going to cook? Yes, you can follow the rainbow diet (you know, all the antioxidants and blues and greens we talked about earlier), but it is crucial that you maintain a balanced diet that also includes healthy sources of protein and carbs for energy.
You might feel a strong lack of appetite, but it’s still important to eat your meals and keep your strength.
We get it, you’re demolished. Standing up feels like an impossible nightmare, and cooking for yourself sometimes can be worse than eating snacks, just by the stress of thinking about the process.
If the terms cooking housewife are zero percent connected with you, you will definitely detest it even more when you’re sick. In that case, we also got you covered. Remember, our always safe and 100% flu approved and gluten-free menus can be delivered to your door at any time.
5. D is for vitamins.
Yes, you read that correctly. The world of vitamins and food supplements is definitely something to explore and dive into if you find that interesting. But there is something undeniable: vitamin D can be another one of your allies when you’re sick.
You know, for sure, this terrible bone pain you get when you have the flu? Well, vitamin D is definitely destined to help you with that.
Also, if you’re getting sick due to a deficiency in this vitamin, it could also lead to poor bone growth, cardiovascular problems, and overall, a weak immune system. Certainly, something to check out in your blood tests if you’re someone who gets ill easily.
Vitamin D does come in great supplements such as the ones that include D3, which is better at raising your blood levels of vitamin D.
Although, you can get vitamin D from your meals too if you include egg yolks, mushrooms, salmon, canned tuna, and beef liver into them.
6. Moisture is in the air.
Add moisture to the air, literally. Breathing dry air can make your symptoms worse. A vaporizer or humidifier is great for these occasions, and it really helps loosen up the pressure on your nose. We know you just felt that.
Also, it has been proved that an indoor humidity level of approximately 50% shortens the time airborne flu remains infectious.
Try adding a few drops of some essential oil like the eucalyptus one to help open up your respiratory conduct and make you feel less congested. Try some lavender, to relax and de-stress, because we know by now it is really something to avoid stress if we want to keep sickness away from us.
And this should do! Save this great list of to-dos for when you’re feeling sick, or just make them your mantras and live by them all year to ensure the healthiest immune system that will fight anything at all times.
There is a lot to celebrate in this new quarter, so stay strong and succeed, and in less time than expected, summer will be here again for all of us who miss it already.
