The holiday season can be a time of delightful overindulgence that leaves you feeling not-so-delightful the next day! You are also more prone to colds and flu thanks to the perfect storm of sugar, lack of sunlight, dry indoor air, and germs.
In this article, I’ll share the exact supplements and habits that keep me healthy over the holidays!
Strategies for Eating & Overeating
If you tend to overeat or make regrettable choices at holiday parties, the best strategy is to plan ahead. Showing up at a party starving or full of nervous energy may lead to poor choices. Instead, ensure that you have access to healthy food so that you limit the unhealthy treats.
Strategies for How to Eat Right
Eat a healthy meal a home before arriving
Bring some healthy snacks to work and eating before your party
Bring a healthy dish to the party so you can have it there
Bring a healthy dessert item to the party, like keto chocolate balls
The main trouble foods for my body are wheat, dairy, and sugar. I can eat a bite of these things perhaps, but I can’t go crazy. I may tolerate it fine for party #1, but after party #3 I will be in an inflammatory tailspin of increased food sensitivities, headaches or stomach aches.
I also recommend you take a digestive enzyme with every meal, especially when that meal is a big mess of potluck food! Ours is Digest Gold and it’s my absolute favorite. Just take 1-2 before eating.
Options if You Do Overindulge
A) Supplements for Bloating
These supplements are well-designed to:
Provide essential ingredients to boost your cellular powerplant and give you more energy with every meal with Digest Gold
Provide unique and comprehensive digestive support, bowel regularity, and gastric protection with MegaGuard™️
Feed friendly bacteria and starve unfriendly bacteria with MegaSporeBiotic
You can use this kit as needed for overeating, sudden bloating or stomach upset. This kit can also be used for 1 - 2 months in cases of SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth).
For an overview:
MegaSpore: The recommended maintenance dose is 2 capsules a day. These can be taken both at once, or one taken with lunch, and one with dinner. Ideally the meal would contain protein. Once you have stabilized your gut, you could possibly take even less, like take 2 pills 3 times a week. If you are recovering from antibiotic use, a leaky gut, etc, you may need to take more MegaSpore for a while, like 4-6 weeks. If you're taking antibiotics, take at least 4 hours away from your antibiotic dose. When you first take it, start with 1 capsule (or 1/2 capsule if you are sensitive) and watch for reactions. Skip a day. If you have no adverse reactions, then you can move to 2/day (or 1/day next if you are proceeding slowly). Die-off symptoms are possible, i.e. bloating and loose stool. This is unusual, but if you have an abundance of unhealthy bacteria in your gut, you could get symptoms as these bacteria 'die off.' (If you experience die off reactions, I recommend you go slower and find a good binder such as this one to help clear toxins.) To learn more, read the patient handout here and check out the dosing guidelines here.
MegaGuard: Ages 8+: Take one capsule with lunch and dinner, or as directed by your healthcare practitioner.
Digest Gold: Take 1 capsule with each meal. More may be taken as needed. Consult with a physician prior to use if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medications or have a medical condition.
When the holidays are over, you may feel your gut needs a reset. Our Healthy Gut Starter Kit is an elegant combination of just two supplements: MegaSporeBiotic and Mega IgG 2000.
These two products are my two favorites for digestion and are the two most popular products in our shop.
Our MegaSporeBiotic is a spore-based probiotic supplement with only bacillus strains. These probiotic spores are able to survive to the large intestine, and the bacillus strains read the gut environment, starving unfriendly bacteria and feeding and even populating with up to 75 strains of friendly bacteria.
The Mega IgG 2000 is an intensive immunoglobin therapy that targets bacterial, viral, and fungal infections and waste products and gently removes them from the system.
A typical dosage (after titrating and as tolerated) is 2 MegaSporeBiotic with food and 4 Mega IgG 2000 with food.
Drinking Responsibly & Nursing Hangovers
Alcohol is a neurotoxin, liver toxin, microbiome disruptor, and blood sugar destabilizer. Yes, red wine has antioxidants, but there are other ways to get antioxidants!
Be that as it may, alcohol is a social lubricant that many people enjoy.
Here are a few ways to avoid a hangover if you do drink:
After one drink, have a glass of water before deciding to have another drink
Bring a fun beverage, like a nice bottle of kombucha, to enjoy instead
Have alcohol with less sugar, like a hard seltzer or a skinny margarita
Avoid low-quality alcohol and mixers
If you do drink too much, here are some ways to recover that night:
Have our GI-Detox (2 caps), Hi-Potency Multivitamin, and LV-GB Complex (1 cap) after the party. If you can only do one, do the GI-Detox. Adding the Hi-Potency Multivitamin, glutathione and LV-GB Complex will give you extra detox support. Glutathione is the master antioxidant for detoxification of everything. Our ACG Glutathione spray is super easy-to-take. Take 12 sprays that night and 12 in the morning.
Drink water with electrolytes. (I like Ultima brand.)
If you’re left with a headache the next day, use our Inflammation Repair Kit.
I love this kit. It’s great for common headaches and migraines too. It can also be used for brain fog and brain issues due to mold.
The normal dosage is: 1 teaspoon Pure PC (hold in mouth before swallowing), 1 teaspoon Chelated Magnesium powder in water, 2 gels Omega Concentrate. You may want to take with a bit of food or whole meal.
If you have a particularly bad headache or are in the throes of a mold flare-up, take another dose a few hours later.
Omega 3 is great for headaches and migraines. (2) Magnesium is also great for headache relief and our chelated magnesium is the best type of magnesium for headaches. (3)
Supplements for Avoiding & Addressing Colds and Flu
I have chronic Epstein Barr Virus, and my version is very flu-like. I have a harder time in the winter, often have swollen glands, and can get a full-blown virus easily. At least, that used to be the case!
My Anti-Viral supplements: Vitamin D, Colloidal Silver and Olive Leaf
I now have these weapons against cold and flu season.
Daily D with K for immune support (4)
Colloidal Silver Spray for immune-boosting and anti-viral effects (5)
Olive Leaf Concentrate for detoxification and both anti-viral and anti-bacterial effects (6)
When to Use
For me and my fragile immune system, I use these almost every day in the winter. You may choose to do the same, or you might just use it when traveling or when the flu is going around the office. Lastly, you can use once symptoms like a sore throat, swollen glands or aches have appeared.
Dosage
Dosage is 1 vitamin D capsule, 6-12 sprays of ACS silver spray, and 2 capsules Olive Leaf Concentrate. You can repeat this dosage 2-3 times a day in the acute flu. Vitamin D for colds is a great idea!
Note on Proper Vitamin D Levels
This Vitamin D contains 5,000 IU of vitamin D in an absorbable form. This is my recommended maintenance dose in winter. I usually have clients take 20,000 IU a day to restore low levels or while sick. (7)
If you are interested in getting your vitamin D tested, it is part of our Thyroid Plus lab panel.
This panel also contains:
A full thyroid blood test, including Hashimoto’s antibodies
Red blood cell markers for anemia
Markers of blood glucose, both short and long-term
A private consultation with a functional health coach for evaluation and recommendations
My Extra Anti-Viral Secret: Omega 3
If you are immuno-compromised like me, I’ll mention 1 more product you may want to add to your arsenal: Omega Concentrate.
Omega 3, especially our high-dose, clean version, prevents a virus from spreading cell to cell. (8)
What supplements do you use to stay healthy? What have you learned? Share with us in the comments below!
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP, is trained in functional health coaching and has worked with thousands of women over her career since 2004. She is the founder of Women’s Wellness Collaborative llc and HormoneDetoxShop.com.
Check our her easy 5-Day DIY Detox Guide here!