Keeping Your Kids Healthy in Every Season
Our children rarely get sick, in spite of being around sick kids in school and preschool. It’s one of the things I am most thankful for, especially this time of year. I believe health is equal parts a blessing from God and the way we live. I know it is completely possible to do all the right things (Spoiler Alert: we don’t) and still get sick or have health complications, which is why we always recognize health as a blessing to be treasured. There are, however, a few simple things Nancy and I do to help keep our family healthy. Things that help keep us and our children from almost never getting sick with colds, flu, ear infections, etc. In this article, I want to unpack some of what we do to keep our family healthy and share practical tips that you can start using right away to better your family’s health.
What does it mean to “get sick”?
Before we get started, let me clarify what I mean by being sick. I’m not talking about things like having a runny nose, cough, diarrhea or being constipated. Our children get runny noses, especially Amelia. All it takes is a little bit of dairy and her nose will be running EVERY-where, but we don’t consider that being sick. To us, that is simply her body telling her that it needs to detox and cleanse and that her immune system needs better support. I remember one time when Annabelle ate a little too much unhealthy food one evening at an outing. That night she threw up, but even then, we didn’t consider her to be sick. Her body was simply rejecting what she ate because it wasn’t what she was used to eating and her stomach knew it wasn’t good for her. As soon as she threw up she went back to sleep and in the morning was back to her energetic self. The reason these kinds of things don’t mean someone sick is because they are just signs that the body is trying to detox and, if you work with it, you’ll recover almost immediately before becoming very sick.
On the other hand, things that I consider “being sick” are things like high fevers, stomach flu, ear infections, sinus infections, or anything that takes our children’s energy away. In my opinion, one of the easiest ways to tell if a child is sick is if they have lost their energy. Kids should be energetic and full of life. If one of our children has a runny nose one day and then the next day they have a high fever or look tired and drained they are most likely sick and need to rest and begin to treat the sickness.
There are a lot of things that can factor into keeping children healthy, but the three main areas we focus on are their diet, paying attention to the signs, and maintaining the right mentality about health.
Focus on their nutrition.
Children often get sick because they are eating too much heavy or nutritionally empty food and their system cannot keep up. If your children eat a lot of dairy products, sugar, gluten, or processed foods — no amount of healthy fruits and veggies will keep them from getting sick. In fact for most children, it would be better if they didn’t eat as much rather than for them to eat many of the foods they live on. You may not know it, but these common foods that kids love can be toxic to their body: mac and cheese, cookies, processed chicken nuggets, and more!
This is how dinner looks at our house. Nancy and I serve them a plate with a reasonable portion of the dish we are having for dinner and along with that we serve them a reasonable serving of salad or other vegetables. They will often eat the main dish first leaving only the vegetables. Our rule, however, is that they cannot have seconds until they finish their vegetables. Many times they will finish their vegetables and get more, but if they really don’t like the “green beans” they might only eat a few bites and then decide they are done. We don’t try to force them to eat them. They simply can’t have anything else if they don’t. The reason this is so effective is not because it gets them to eat more vegetables, it’s because it keeps them from overindulging on the heavier, less nutritious food. And if they do get seconds, having already eaten the vegetables, they will be more full and still less likely to overindulge on the heavy food. This might sound like a really simple strategy, but it’s very effective because a lot of times kids get sick simply because they cannot process all the junk food their body has eaten. Making sure they don’t overindulge keeps their digestive system from becoming overworked.
We are extremely selective with sugar and processed foods. We almost never let our children have candy other than a few completely organic brands such a Yummy Earth. Our kids love fruits and we let them eat as much as they want, whenever they want, within reason. This helps make sure they get plenty of nutrition and are never really hungry while still getting a “treat”.
Paying attention to the signs.
In spite of the guidelines we have in place, our children’s diets are far from perfect. Whether at school or at a birthday party, kids will eat things that aren’t good for them and they will also be exposed to bad colds and flus which can start to affect their immune system. In these cases, it is important to recognize the signs of sickness early. The most important signs we watch for are a runny nose, low-energy, diarrhea, and constipation. These are almost always the body’s first signs that it is fighting something off.
As soon as we see these signs we immediately change their diet:
Eliminate all dairy products other than butter
Eliminate all processed foods, even the organic ones
Eliminate sugar (limited amounts of honey or maple syrup are fine)
If they don’t feel like eating we don’t ask them to. Their system might want a break and we teach them to listen to it.
We give their system a break from eating heavy food that is hard to digest and instead we encourage them to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. We slice up apples, give them grapes, oranges, or whatever fruit we happen to have. Our children are used to it now and expect it.
Maintain the right mentality about health.
We teach our children to do the opposite of what people normally do when they start to feel sick. There are many studies in recent years that show the direct correlation between the mind and the health of the body. We work hard to keep their mind healthy. I believe that this is almost as effective as any other medicine.
When our children are coming down with something we almost never ask them to go lay down and rest if they don’t want to. This might sound like bad advice and it’s not that we don’t make sure they get plenty of rest, but if they are not asking to lay down and rest, we don’t ask them to. Instead, we look for fun activities to keep them interested and entertained. We might let them go play outside or play with their favorite toys. We try to get them laughing. When your children are laughing it boosts their immune system. When they run around and play their lymphatic system moves and their body detoxes more. When they are moving, their bowels are more likely to move and help them cleanse through their stool.
Our bodies follow our minds and create what we are feeling. If you help your kids feel healthy, they are far more likely to become healthy. Not only does the research show it, but it is something I have found to be true in my own life over and over.
These are simple things we practice with our family. I would love to hear from you what you do for your family's health or if you find these tips helpful. To some people these things might seem too simple to be effective and somewhat strange, but what’s important is what works for you. Some of you already have a lot of great ways to teach your children to eat healthy or ways to help keep your kids healthy and happy. It’s forming good practices and habits that makes all the difference.