FEATURE — A new school year brings along with its happy beginnings and joyful days full of soccer practices, award ceremonies, sleepovers, new friendships, new memories and more. However, a new school year also brings days full off sickness due to the common cold, seasonal flu, allergies, etc.

So, what can you do to help your child this school year? Follow the number one tip and checklist below so that your child has more time to make memories rather than getting sick on and off throughout the school year.

Digestive Health

Always remember this fun fact when you cook or buy food for your children:

*70-80% of your child’s immune system is made in their gut. Therefore, the foods you feed them on a day-to-day basis heavily impacts how strong or weak their immune system will be the following few months. The fall and winter seasons tend to be full of sugar, dairy, processed carbohydrates. It is also the time of the year that I see the most pediatric patients for the common cold and flu.

Therefore, it’s important to begin strengthening your child’s immune system now for the upcoming flu and common cold season. You can begin prepping their immune system beforehand. Start now when the new school year begins. Your children will be coming into contact with new germs, friends, critters and more. Begin by feeding them healthy meals full of vegetables, fiber, healthy fats, and proteins. This will allow their gut to make the important innate immune system factors. So that when they do come into contact with this year’s flu strain, cold virus, or coronavirus….their bodies can fight it off faster and more effectively. Rather then being sick for 1-2 weeks, their bodies are prepped to heal within 1-3 days. Imagine! Not having to call off work and spreading the sickness from family member to family member this year. Prevention begins here, with what’s on your child’s plate.

Checklist for Your Child’s Daily Meal Plate:  (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

• 50% vegetables
• 20% protein
• 20% healthy unprocessed carbohydrates
• 10% health fats

What does this look like for daily meals?

• Breakfast before school idea: egg bites meal prepped (spinach, kale, bacon, eggs, grass fed organic cheese or vegan cheese, grass fed butter) with coconut water.
• School Lunch idea: gluten free wrap with free range turkey slices, cucumbers, microgreens, and mayo/mustard. Cut into small circles so it’s easy for your child to eat and more visually appealing. Snacks along with this meal: carrots, hummus, gf crackers, HU chocolate squares, pickles, apples, berries, etc.
• Dinner idea: tomato basil soup with a side salad and sourdough grilled cheese (grass fed organic cheese or veggie sandwich for vegetarians).

Tips

• Always have your children help you meal prep and cook meals. Even young children can help wash vegetables and fruits. This allows them to interact with the food and helps them touch, smell, and taste the food they are consuming. This ensures that they also get to learn what a healthy diet and lifestyle looks like.
• Allow one day out of the week (preferably a day you need a break) for your children to pick what they would like to eat. This can be anything from outside or something you can make at home together such as pizza, burgers, etc. Allow them to see that while they eat clean often, they also get to have a day where they can splurge. This helps teach children moderation and responsibility while also preventing eating disorders from taking place in the future. Positive reinforcement!

Now that we have covered the most important tip in strengthening your child’s immune system for this upcoming school year, lets discuss the first aid kid I always recommend for all my patients to keep at home before the new school year begins.

New School Year First Aid Kit Checklist:

• Arnica gel: for cuts, bruises, and well for kids being kids.
• Calendula lotion: for those times your child comes home with a rash that’s itchy and irritated, burns, and more.
• Elderberry Syrup: My number one recommendation for all my pediatric patients to always have on hand. Great for when your child begins to complain about a sore throat, allergies, sinus congestion and more. You can even be preventative by giving them 1 serving when the common cold or flu is going around town or their school. Not recommended for children under the age of 1.
• Wet sock therapy: keep the essentials for this therapy in your first aid kit so that when your child gets a fever, you don’t turn to Tylenol. Tylenol suppresses the immune system and decreases the body’s most powerful antioxidant, glutathione.
• Nux Vomica 30C: For when your child tries to eat dirt, other kid’s lunches, etc. and complains of stomach pains, vomiting and or nausea.
• Kisses, Hugs, and Rest: Because the basics are the most important for healing.

Remember that children are resilient ! Give them the opportunity to be so by helping them develop strong and healthy immune systems. Complete these checklists before this new school year begins.  Cheers to a new year full of happy, healthy, and thriving children.

Written by HARJOT SINGH, Naturopathic Doctor.

Contact information: [email protected]