The 12 Healthy Tips for Christmas

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🎄Concerned about keeping your children and family well to enjoy the celebrations and beauty of this holiday season? This month’s Wellness Tips will focus on tips and supplements to help your children stay healthy during this holiday season.
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1. 💦Adequate water 
1/2 ounce per child’s body weight (filtered water preferred) Keeping well hydrated helps to flush out bacteria, viruses, and toxins from the body.
2. 🛏️Adequate sleep
Sleep is important to sustain a healthy immune system, provides rest for promoting a happy attitude, and allows the body an opportunity for rejuvenation and proper growth.
American Academy of Pediatrics Sleep Guidelines:

• Infants: (4-12 months) 12-16 hours including naps
• Toddlers: (1-2 yrs) 11-14 hours including naps
• Preschoolers: (3-5 yrs) 10-13 hours including naps
• Grade schoolers: (6-12 yrs) 9-12 hours
• Teens: (13-18 yrs) 8-10 hours

3. 🍎Healthy food choices with lots of veggies and fruits
The diversity of fruits and vegetables in the rainbow of colors helps to provide needed vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and many immune and infection fighting properties.
4. ✴️Probiotic rich foods
These super foods include non-sweetened yogurt, kefir, kimchi, and fermented kraut. They provide needed healthy probiotics to provide a healthy intestinal microbiome that supports a resilient immune system. 
5. ❎Low sugar diet
Added refined sugars and artificial sweeteners can negatively impact the infection fighting properties of the immune system and negatively impact a healthy gut microbiome, allowing an increased vulnerability to illness. The American Heart Association recommends children have less than 25g added refined sugar daily.
6. 🏀☀️Adequate exercise and fresh outside air (bundle up warm) 
A good healthy amount of exercise is important for children to have proper immune functioning, proper bone and muscle growth, self regulation, and improved appetite and sleep. Adequate outside healthy air exposure can help the lungs clear toxins, strengthen the immune system, and also improve children’s appetite and sleep.

• Toddlers and preschoolers need 3+ hours of exercise daily
• School age children and teens need 1+ hours of exercise daily

​7. 👩‍💻Limit screen time
Too much screen time can negatively impact children’s behavior and mental health and may contribute to ADHD symptoms.
8. Adequate vitamin D
Vitamin D is very important for overall immune health essential during the cooler months of the year for those of us living in the northern latitude. There simply is not enough sunlight during the cold weather months for adequate vitamin D. 
9. Extra vitamin C 
A little extra vitamin C may help support the immune system during cold and flu season. Several quality options for children’s vitamin C supplements can be found in the children’s health section at this FullScript link.
10. Adequate zinc
A little extra zinc may help to decrease the chances of viral infections or shorten the duration of a viral upper respiratory infection.
11. Beta glucans
Beta glucans are a type of soluble fiber that can strengthen the immune system and help slow down virus replication. My favorite children’s beta glucan supplement is NutriDyn’s Kids Chewable Immune at this NutriDyn link.
12. Elderberry
Research has shown elderberry to have antiviral properties and may be helpful in fighting flu viruses or decreasing the length of influenza viruses.

One of my favorite supplements for children for cold/flu season is ViraKid which contains Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Zinc, and an adequate amount of Elderberry all combined in one kid-friendly chewable supplement. ViraKid is found at this FullScript link at a discounted price in the children’s health section. (You will need to click the request practitioner authorization function to order this supplement.)

There is an assortment of other quality practitioner approved immune strengthening, cold/flu, and elderberry supplements for children available in the children’s health section at a discount at this FullScript link. Fullscript accepts FSA/HSA on eligible supplements.

Does your child struggle with frequent illnesses, recurrent infections, immune struggles, or allergies? Wellness 4 KIDS is here to help for a healthier New Year! Contact us to schedule your FREE Pediatric Wellness Discovery Call.

🕯️May you and your family have a beautiful and blessed Christmas celebrating the reason for the season, and may you have a healthy New Year ahead! 

Reminder: For your child's safety, it is recommended to purchase products directly from the manufacturer or a healthcare professional company, not third party e-commerce sites, due to recent research and reports of products being tampered or adulterated on those sites.
Reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35947382