Fighting Flu Season & Boosting Your Immune System with Bryce Wylde

The flu/cold swept through this house last week.  Tara was patient zero.  She was feeling it on Halloween but was bound and determined to make it through all the festivities, and she did and then gave up after that.  She went through a myriad of symptoms – cough, cold, low grade fever – the works.   Then Adam got it and Caity and then the husband, and I have not totally died from it yet.   This photo sort of sums up my whole week last week.   ALL of the kids wanted their mom.   And they wanted to share their viruses with mom and sleep with mom, but even our king bed is not enough for feats like that, so their fave alternative is for us to camp out in the living room together.   For most of the week every night had everyone making beds all around mom.

But when mom ISN’T the cure all, you have to see what else will help your family.   Needless to say it was perfect timing to be able to have a phone chat with  Bryce Wylde, an Alternative Health Clinician, and TV host.  If you want to see some of his great advice, check him out on BT Vancouver.

It was a great pleasure to chat with Bryce.   As he said, it isn’t about ‘alternative’ medicine, but having a lifestyle with a diet and supplements that boosts your immune system and helps your body deal with the rampant amount of BUGS that can hit you and your family over the winter.  Especially when you have a kids in school and family members that commute via public transit.

His biggest message…gets LOTS of sleep and EAT A RAINBOW.   Make your menu your medicine cabinet for the family.

I asked what else we should be supplement our family with and he had a few good ideas.  He recommended A.Vogel’s Echinaforce, as one of his recommended brands of Echinacea.  He also recommended  Jamieson Vitamins’ Vitamin D can help to boost immunity since we here in Vancouver do NOT get enough sunlight.  He also recommended finding a good probiotic to help boost the bacteria in your gut as well as good old remedies like Garlic.

I asked about what we should search for when looking at the all the brands of health supplements out there.  Those supplements with a NPN or DIN number on the label have
been assessed by Health Canada.  This is a starting point when consulting your pharmacist or naturopathic advisor.  

I also asked Bryce what his views were on the flu shot.     His feelings lean towards them and making the shots work even better when you are already boosting your immune system should you still catch it.   According to Health Canada,  this year, the H3N2 has been the most common strain circulating in North America and Bryce feels that this years vaccine is well worth the ‘effort.’

But the shot doesn’t mean you won’t get sick.  It just helps you not get TOO sick.  And beyond the H3N2 there are loads of bugs floating out there including the common cold.   We all get hit, and again depending on how good your immune system is key to how hard it will hit you or keep hitting you and your family.

We were knocked down by it for over a week.   Not good.   But we did all the right things. Everyone kept up on their fluid intake and rested and slept as much as we all could.   Sleeping when congested is not fun and we have all tried the Breathe Right Nasal Strip can help relieve the congestion and snoring….it was LOUD last week in our house at night.

So go, wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough and sneeze and lets hope we all get through this season with nothing more than sniffles.