In February and March, we Swedes see it as normal to stay home with sick children (or for that matter, to be home with a cold or stomach bug ourselves). But does it have to be this way? How can we best support children's health and immune system, so they can have more energetic days even during the winter months?
Here are 5 important habits from the book "Friskare Barn" by nutritional medicine expert Peter Wilhelmsson. Unfortunately, the book is no longer available for purchase, but you can find many different health lectures by Peter himself online. Peter is one of the most knowledgeable nutritional medicine experts in Europe today.
1. A good atmosphere in the family
A good atmosphere at home is perhaps the most important thing for children's long-term health. Is there something everyone enjoys doing together, or something you feel you need to talk about? A simple and fun exercise could be expressing appreciation to each other at the dinner table, or taking turns choosing a destination for an outing one Sunday per month. What can you do today to treat your children a little extra special?
2. Play and exercise
It sounds completely obvious but can be easy to forget in our connected society: Children need to play and move every day to feel really good. They often do this spontaneously, especially when they're small. But as they get older, there's a risk of getting stuck in front of some type of screen a bit too often. Then they may need a little structure from the adult world to remember how good it feels when you do something creative or physically challenging.
3. Nutritious food as a foundation
There are many different diets and food theories out there, but they all have one thing in common: Nutritious food based on real ingredients is the best for both adults and children. Teach children to make candy from dried fruit instead of white sugar. Show them that salad and berries are delicious by having them out on the table often and asking if they want some. Eat vegetables yourself and the children will want them too.
4. Minimize or avoid these things
For optimal immune function, it's equally important to minimize things that are disruptive to the body. The most common disruptors in our children's eating habits today are: sugar, wheat flour, most dairy products, cheap oils like soybean oil and peanut oil (often added to processed foods), as well as chemical sweeteners, additives, and flavorings. There is a wealth of studies showing quite remarkable results among children when one or more of these sources of imbalances in children's diets have been minimized or completely avoided.
5. Supplements as needed
Virtually all people, including children, need supplements in their diet today to reach optimal levels of nutrients and help the body handle the extra challenges we humans have created for ourselves in the form of environmental toxins, exhaust fumes, electromagnetic stress, artificial food, etc. So even though we should always strive for both ourselves and our children to get our nutritional foundation from real food, we need to add high-quality nutrition in the form of high-quality supplements to get the best conditions.
Peter Wilhelmsson therefore recommends that everyone give their children an adapted multivitamin, as well as a green drink of some kind as often as possible. In addition to this, it can be of great help with essential fatty acids (Omega 3), friendly gut bacteria (Probiotics), and D-vitamin during the winter months.
Additionally: Vitamin D for the whole family
Late winter and early spring is the time of year when we Swedes have the lowest levels of vitamin D. Not so surprising since vitamin D is only formed when we expose a larger part of our skin to the sun's rays between May and September here in Sweden. A little spring sun on the face isn't enough, even though exposing eyes and brain to sunlight has many other health benefits.
So a good time to supplement with vitamin D is right now. Some nutrition experts believe that optimal levels of vitamin D can help prevent "cold seasons" by optimizing our immune system and general health.Vitamin D is something everyone needs and is one of the supplements that's safe to give to children (but obviously in an adapted dose according to the child's weight). Therefore, we recommend focusing on child-friendly supplements during this period, with particular attention to vitamin D, so you can stock up the pantry for the whole family until May when the sun shines properly again. For children under 10 years, we recommend VitaShines D3 Spray.
