Germ Warfare: Give Your Immune System a Holiday Boost

Eggnog. Fruitcake. Stuffy noses. These are all fairly reliable signals that the holidays have arrived. Cold and flu season usually peaks right around holiday time, in late December, and a bunch of winter-related factors put our immune systems at a disadvantage. Stale, dried-out air, holiday stress, and overindulgence all lower our resistance to the germs that we're more often exposed to during frequent holiday gatherings. Here's how you can give yourself a fighting chance this year.

Everybody knows that vitamin C is your friend, but what everybody doesn't know is that the massive doses you get in a vitamin C supplement are less bioavailable - that is, less useful to your body - than vitamin C that you absorb from actual food. So instead of taking a pill, stock up on C-rich frozen strawberries or papaya, or eat half a grapefruit for breakfast.

Bioflavenoids help protect the body from environmental pollutants, and carotenoids boost your numbers of infection-fighting cells. Make sure you get at least six servings of a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, and you'll be all set for both. Avocados, seeds and nuts are packed with vitamin E, which ups the body's production of B-cells, or bacteria-fighting cells. Pick up a handful of mixed nuts each time you pass the hors d'oeuvres table.

Skip the sweets though, if you can (sorry!). I know - gingerbread houses, cakes, cookies and pies are lurking around every corner this time of year. Unfortunately, not only will they go straight to your hips, they'll also knock out your resistance to germs. According to Dr. William Sears, an expert in family nutrition,

"Eating or drinking 100 grams (8 tbsp.) of sugar, the equivalent of one 12-ounce can of soda, can reduce the ability of white blood cells to kill germs by forty percent. The immune-suppressing effect of sugar starts less than thirty minutes after ingestion and may last for five hours."

Alcohol is a proven immunosuppresant too, so pass on that third glass of eggnog, or at least hold the brandy.

Garlic has proven immune boosting and antiviral properties, and selenium helps increase germ-killing and anti-cancer cells. Hit your local Italian restaurant when you're too tuckered out to cook, and try some nice garlicky shrimp scampi or roasted garlic lamb chops for a one-two punch. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are abundant in fatty, cold-water fish, rev up your white blood cells. Marinate some salmon steaks in garlic and lemon for a germ-busting triple threat.

If you do succumb to the germs and come down with the sniffles, a nice dose of spices might be just what the doctor ordered. Chili peppers, spicy mustard, onions and radishes all contain "mucolytics," which thin out secretions in your breathing passages just like expectorants from the drugstore. My Russian husband introduced me to tea made with honey, lemon and a little red pepper flake - about an eighth of a teaspoon will do you. I know, it sounds crazy, but it's worked wonders for me.

Let your common sense guide you this holiday season. Load up on fruits and veggies, and leave the brandy and cookies for Santa. You'll thank me when the kids wake you up at five in the morning hollering for presents.