Navigating Health & Wellness During the Holidays | Q&A with Dr. Josh Axe

'Tis the season and I'm sick with COVID How can I heal naturally and quickly? I feel so dried out when I have our heater on. Do you have any suggestions for that? The cold weather makes it so tempting to stay indoors. What are some fun ways to get outdoors and be active during the winter months?

I feel like I always lose track of my morning routine and habits in this season because it just gets so busy. How can I stay on top of my health habits and self-care practices? Hey, everyone. I'm Dr. Josh Axe, and welcome to today's episode where I'll be answering your questions on all things health-related around the holidays.

And we got some great questions regarding COVID, colloidal silver, staying indoors versus outdoors, how to keep holiday stress down over the holidays, essential oils, and so much more. All right, first couple questions I had come in. And by the way, if you've got questions, feel free to ask them right now if you're watching via YouTube. All right, first question.

'Tis the season and I'm sick with COVID How can I heal naturally and quickly? Well, one of the things that's very different about COVID than certain other types of coronaviruses, which has been a type of cold virus throughout history, is that it affects our blood a little bit more. Sometimes it can cause some clotting and also affects the lungs, as many colds do.

But you wanna really work on your cardiovascular system and take herbs, vitamins, and supplements that help.

I would say for starters, Zinc has been found to be probably the most important, zinc followed by vitamin D. Now, there are certain types of viruses and colds that vitamin C tends to respond better to, but with COVID in particular, I believe from what I've read that zinc is the most important followed by vitamin D. So when you're looking at vitamins and minerals, those 2 should be at the very top.

Now, in addition to that, you want to take some things that help move and strengthen your blood. Beetroot juice powder would be very good. Turmeric and ginger would also be very good. And then herbs that support the lungs and other areas like elderberry and echinacea would also be some I would like. Quercetin is another good one.

So if I'm going to give my top 5, I would say zinc, vitamin D, beetroot juice powder, ginger, and echinacea would be 5 of the top I would recommend for that in particular. Now, there are also blends you can take. There's wellness formulas. There are blends that have a lot of these herbs and vitamins in them, so that might be something you consider taking as well.

And then I also want to mention, outside of supplements, I think it's really important that you get plenty of rest. Try and get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. I would also say the ideal meal, one of the meals that Chelsea and I eat anytime we're not feeling the best with something like a cold or flu or COVID, we will do a bowl of chicken broth soup. We'll add ginger, we'll add garlic.

We actually love to do rice noodles or a little bit of rice, and then mostly chicken, celery, carrots, onion. But doing that sort of soup, you can add a little bit of miso there as well.

But doing essentially a miso immunity soup or just a classic chicken vegetable soup is something you could eat over and over and over again, and one of the better things to consume there for that particular condition. Remember this. Foods that are light yellow in color tend to be the most immune boosting, and foods that are red are going to help the blood.

And so, those are the 2 areas you want to focus on in particular with COVID And so, foods that are red, again, I mentioned beets being at the very top of the list, is going to be one of the best there as well. And then things like raspberries are fine, cranberries, those sort of foods.

But in addition to that, those light yellow foods, garlic, onion, Uh, miso, chicken bone broth, uh, ginger are going to be the best food you can eat. Next question: does silver or colloidal silver help with the cold? Uh, yes, it does. You know, colloidal silver is a natural antibiotic, and so it can kill bad bacteria. It also has antiviral properties.

Most colds are viral, and so silver does have antiviral properties. What I would do is do whatever the recommended dose is, 3 times daily, of colloidal silver for the duration of your cold as part of a natural treatment protocol. Okay, next question. I feel so dried out when I have our heater on, and specifically during the winter months. Do you have any suggestions for that?

Yeah, this is really common when we're in seasonal changes, especially in going from fall to winter, or just during the— in the middle of winter, most people feel— start to feel dried out, right? There's less humidity in the air, which is why.

So one of the first things you can do is you can get a humidifier in your bedroom and in your kitchen, whatever area of your home or workplace you're around the most often, you can have a humidifier running and put in oils that also support moisture in the body, like ylang-ylang or Roman chamomile or lavender.

But those are oils that are going to be mostly the more floral oils are going to help bring a little bit more moisture to the room as well. But I would say, just generally speaking, have a humidifier going or something that has, you know, brings some humidity with essential oils. That's going to help.

Now, in addition to that, I would just, you know, regularly, anytime you get out of the shower, put on body lotion, put on ChapStick regularly. I mean, you just naturally need to hydrate externally as well. And then the next thing you need to do is hydrate internally. You make sure you're getting good fats in your diet, whether it be avocados or olives or coconut.

On a regular basis and getting good hydration. So taking a hydration supplement and drinking plenty of water will also keep you hydrated. Another thing too, if you're eating a lot of spicy food— now warming foods like cinnamon and ginger, those are okay, but really spicy foods, those tend to dry you out more as well. So you need to be careful not to get too many spicy hot foods constantly.

Getting more of those healthy fats and vegetables and fruits. Will also help moisten the body. And so, those are my top tips to not get dried out here. And one other thing, when it comes to lotion, a lot of times we get more of these conventional lotions that are most— more plant-based. The oils that are actually the most moistening for your skin are animal-based fats.

And so, beef tallow is the best. And so, if you have really, really dry skin and get aged and weathered skin, You want to get tallow or beef tallow, and you can mix that with other things like shea butter and essential oils and sort of create your own blend, or just buy it online.

But, but beef tallow, because that animal fat is most similar to your body's own fat, where plant fats aren't as similar to your own skin and the oils that your, your own body carries. Well, beef tallow is— it's almost identical to the own oils you're going to carry on your body. So, it's actually going to be more hydrating. Okay. To your skin to use something like a tallow. Next question.

The cold weather makes it so tempting to stay indoors. What are some fun ways to get outdoors and be active during the winter months? Well, one of the things that we'll do in our family is, one is if you have kids, play outside with your kids, get bundled up, you know, go on an outdoor playground, but just do something with them that's active.

It could be building a snowman if you have snow outside. So listen, if it's snowing, Well, the answer is go play in the snow with some kids, right? Get out and get active. Go snowboarding, go hiking in the snow, just do something in the snow. The snow can make everything more fun, building a fort. But if it's just cold out and there's no snow, the other thing I would say is going for a walk.

And I would say, make it fun and active. Just say, I'm going to go on a 20-minute walk and I'm going to put in some of my favorite music. So, listen to some music you love. Christmas, you know, your favorite Christmas carol mix or a pump-out workout mix or something that's like a Christian praise and worship, whatever it is, something that, that you really enjoy. And listen, go old school.

Like, I love the music from the '90s, and so I'll go back and make a playlist from the '90s of just songs that I love. And it's sort of a reward for getting outside. And so get outside and just go for a walk outside of your house or go for a hike. Go somewhere that's great in nature. You know, Chelsea and I, as we lived around different parks, that are, that, that are close by.

Like, we love to go places and, and sometimes do nighttime walks after dinner that have Christmas lights. And, and even our neighborhood, so many people in our neighborhood in particular put up Christmas lights. And so, we'll do that with Arwen and our family and go for walks and make it sort of a family thing that we do together. And by the way, going on walks is incredible for your health.

There's an ancient Asian, um, uh, a prescription for 1,000 walks after a meal, or I'm sorry, 1,000 steps after a meal. And if you take 1,000 steps after you eat, it helps support your metabolism and improves digestion of your foods. And so, there are loads and loads of benefits of a walk right after you eat. And this could be breakfast, this could be lunch, this could be dinner.

In fact, one of the best things to do at the workplace, and a lot of our employees at Ancient Nutrition would do this in, in the winter, Is they would eat lunch, you know, for about 30 minutes, and right afterwards they would go on a walk with a friend around the building a few times for about that 15 to 20 minute mark.

And it's energizing, you're getting a little bit of sunshine there, but it's really, really important for immunity. So my best tip is walk around your neighborhood, go for a hike, do something active, you know, that's fun outdoors in the snow, bring your kid to a park. But, but those would be some of my top tips for being active outside, or turn it into a workout.

I saw a guy the other day who had These 5-pound leg weights on, and he went on a, it looked like about a 15-minute walk and also had 5-pound dumbbells in his arms. And so he kind of took his walk to a whole nother level in terms of having a little bit of extra weight added to get a good work, even a better workout in, or a more challenging workout while he was on a walk.

All right, next question here. I feel like I always lose track of my morning routine and habits in this season because it just gets so busy. How can I stay on top of my health habits? In self-care practices? Well, you know, I think, I think a lot of times it's, it can be— there, there's 2 things that I do.

One, I, I go to bed at the same time and I wake up at the same time around the holidays most of the time still. Okay. I'm going to bed around 9. I'm waking up around 6:00 AM. And so I try and have kind of those habits in place still. And with those habits in place, with, with the going to bed and waking up, that kind of sets me up for my other habits.

And I also time block, and we also talk about this as a family. It's like, listen, from 6:00 to 7:00 AM or 6:00 to 6:30, I'm spending my spiritual growth time. And then I have my hour of workout time, and then I'm back with the kids and we're doing all the things we need to do.

But your self-care practices, I would say, try and schedule that hour in the morning to get those done the best you can or so. And the other thing, Staying on top of it. Listen, there's no perfect advice for this answer outside of go to bed on time, wake up on time, and just continue to do. I mean, really, busyness shouldn't necessarily make you that much more tired. Now, it can.

Listen, maybe you're trying to get holiday shopping in and all these other things, but my best advice is get it done first thing in the morning. I mean, that's really the focus that I try and have is Getting it done early and going to bed on time, waking up on time.

And, uh, and, you know, I think I, my answer typically with this question, if it wasn't around the holidays, if that wasn't the thing thrown in there, I would say having an accountability partner, someone you're doing something with. But this time of year it's hard for them. They might bail on you. So I would say, generally speaking, try and do it first thing in the morning.

Maybe you don't have an hour to work out. Now, maybe you just are going to say, okay, over the holidays I'm going to have 30 minutes. So maybe you do cut down on your time, but you still do something, and you give yourself some grace for about that, you know, 30 to 40 days around the holidays, and you do some. Maybe it's just less.

But I would say planning ahead and time boxing, which is the, the, the productivity habit that I follow— time boxing has been shown to be the most effective way to use your time. For productivity and getting things done. Um, I would look that up, timeboxing. That's, that's a, that, that, that's a really good tool.

Next question, how should I deal with the anxiety and stress of being overwhelmed with shopping for gifts, cooking large meals, hosting family, et cetera? Well, I would say one is put it all into perspective. There's a great study by Aaliyah Crumb.

She did a study and she said, I wonder how much people perceive stress Uh, if they perceive stress differently, if that actually affects the stress that the effect stress will have on their body. So what she did is she, she, she, she said, okay, she would ask a group of people, okay, how, how is this stress going to, um, affect you? And they felt like, well, stress is really negative.

It's really hard on the body. It helps you, it causes you to age faster. You're more likely to get a cold. All these things about stress. And then she asked another group of people and, and they kind of pre-framed them on Hey, how should you view stress?

And they tried to help people view stress in a positive manner and think about, okay, well, certain types of stress like working out, that causes your muscles to grow. Certain times of stress around the holidays can cause us to grow emotionally. That sort of, even though it can be stressful, it can build family bonds.

And what they found is the people that perceive stress in the right way had much better outcomes Better health, better mindset, better mental health when they said, and they, they decided that no, stress isn't toxic, it's not bad, it helps me grow. And so first, my first piece of advice on you is change your perspective.

Rather than saying, okay, stress is gonna cause me to have anxiety, stress is gonna cause me to be exhausted, stress is gonna overwhelm me. Instead, say, you know what? This stress, it's such a blessing. The fact that I get to have all of this family over and make a, a good meal. I know that I have gifts, but these are gifts that people are going to love.

And, and so that's my first piece of advice is on change your perspective about knowing that actually stress can have a positive perspective, uh, or, or that stress can actually have a positive outcome on you and live in that state of gratefulness. That's my first piece of advice. My second piece of advice to couple with this is have a list. Okay?

Write down all the things you need to do and then schedule a little bit each day. Go ahead and plan it out before you do it. Okay, I'm going to shop for gifts this day for these hours. I'm going to go ahead and start buying food at this point. Here's another one. Don't do it all yourself. Ask for help.

Whoever it is in your family, could be a spouse, could be a child, could be a parent, could be whatever it is. Ask them for help and divvy up some of the responsibilities, or, um, at the very least, have somebody who's maybe going to help you with some of it. So, but that's what I would do is make a list. What are all the things you need to do?

And then, you know, delegate and also plan out when you're going to do certain things. And here's the thing I found for myself, and by the way, this is true in business, when I have a plan and I've planned it out, It actually takes away a lot of the stress. Okay, I don't have to do it all today. I just have to buy 2 gifts today. Chelsea and I just started doing this.

I said, okay, we're gonna buy gifts for my brother-in-law Bryson today. Okay, tomorrow we're gonna buy for Brooke. Okay, the next day we're gonna buy for Noah. The next day we're gonna buy for Arwen. The next day we're gonna buy for my, you know, my mom and dad, whatever it is.

So we kind of planned out, we're not gonna try and buy all of them at once, or we're gonna schedule, we're gonna buy a lot together, but we know we're gonna do this. These days. And so, perspective and planning, that is really one of the keys to relieving holiday stress. Now, the third one I'm going to have here is, I'll throw in another P here, pamper. Okay?

Give yourself, if you just schedule yourself a little bit of alone time, maybe there's a, you know, getting a little pampered a day or two. Like one of the things I love to do for Chelsea, or that we love to do, there's a reflexology place we go. This great Asian couple, and you will go in there and they'll— and you'll do a chair massage and a foot massage. And it's an hour.

And it's really, it's not like a full massage where you're, where you're, it's a little bit more laborious of taking all your clothes off and, and just taking more time. It's like you go in there and it's chair massage, foot massage, and you're out. And so, just scheduling a couple of those pamper time or just time just in between or around the rush where you're kind of getting away for a minute.

You know, try and schedule that in if you can, the best you can. But again, perspective planning, just a bit of pamper alone time, if you can get that in, all of those things will greatly decrease anxiety around the holidays. All right, next question. What advice do you have for navigating strained family relationships?

Are there any calming herbs, oils, or practices to help with difficult family members? Well, you know, this is, you know, even asking questions about the herbs and oils, I think it's a good one because I think that's something you can do. But, you know, you can't sort of naturally medicate, you know, strained family relationships.

But, but listen, I do think it's, it's a good idea to use calming oils like lavender, like citrus oil, like wild orange. Uh, again, chamomile is another great one, ylang-ylang. A lot of the floral oils are always going to be the more calming oils. In most cases. So I think you can use those. You can take something like a CBD oil.

You can take L-theanine, uh, is a, uh, is something you could also take that kind of, you know, keeps your nerves calm. Hops is another one. It's a nerve tonic that kind of helps, helps relax the body. So I think all of those things are good.

You know, the way that I view strained family relationships is I go in with a mindset of Okay, I want to go in and try and create a level of reconciliation, and I want to— and so that's the, that's the word that's in my mind is I want to create reconciliation and I want to help benefit the relationship.

However, I'm not going to— I'm going to decide beforehand, I'm going to pre-decide that I'm not going to let this strained family relationship ruin my holiday, ruin my Christmas, ruin my Thanksgiving, ruin my New Year's. I'm not going to let it ruin it. I'm going to It's called— it's actually a psychological practice. It's called self-distancing.

It's kind of this stepping outside of yourself and saying, I'm not going to be emotionally disturbed or driven by this person. What I'm simply going to do is think about, okay, all I'm going to do is do my best to add value to this person and love them, and I have no control over how they react. That's the thing you got to remember. You can only control how you react and what you do.

And if they're angry or they say something mean or flippant You can't control that. All you can do is control your own reactions with love, compassion, hope, all of those virtues. And so, the advice for navigating strained family relationships is sometimes one of the first things to do is just say, hey, it's so good to see you. I think a warm embrace, a hug, asking them how they're doing.

Um, and, uh, and just dealing with the best you can. It's, it's this, I think it's this biblical idea in the Psalms. It's, you know, um, you know, love them and it's like, like, like dumping heaping coals on their head, but doing your best just to love them and, and, and, and, uh, and just act in kindness. That's the best you can do. Uh, and that's the mindset I think you should have.

And sometimes see it as a challenge. Okay. I, you know, I got this really difficult uncle right now. I, I'm gonna see this as a challenge of no matter what, I'm just gonna go in there and just love them and connect with them the best I can and, uh, and, and turn it into a challenge. All right, next question here.

What are some ways to reflect on the deeper meaning of the holidays and focus on gratitude rather than just the bus— busyness? This is a great question. You know, I think that one of the things that's happened As our holidays have been commercialized is, is they've turned into, uh, sort of this, this thing where just all accumulating gifts.

And it's about, again, and they've become busy, especially with more and more broken families. You know, marriage has become less sacred as people have become less religious. And so because of it, people are going to multiple holidays. It's like, I've gotta go to my mom's Christmas. And my dad's, and I've gotta go to, you know, another family member's and another.

And it's like you've got 4, it's like the movie Four Christmases. You've got, you've, you've got a lot of different, different things you're going to. All that being said, I think one of the things that we try and do in our families is like we create our own family traditions and nothing's encroaching upon those.

So I'll give you an example of this, like, like Chelsea and Arwin and I, the day after Thanksgiving. Mm-hmm. We will all have hot apple cider and we will all get bundled up and we will go somewhere in Nashville or Franklin and we will go and shop for a real Christmas tree. Like, it doesn't matter if my mom or dad are like, we'd really like for you to come to Christmas this year.

We're not doing it. Okay? We have our family tradition. It is sacred to us. It is special to us. It's our thing that we're doing. And, and so for us, there are certain areas we are really flexible around the holidays. In certain traditions, we're just not that flexible. Flexible around. And so all that being said, I think we try and create certain meaningful traditions.

We love to go to Opryland Hotel. They have these Christmas lights and walk through there. There's another area called Cheekwood in Nashville, which is a beautiful garden, and we look at, you know, different lights there, and, and, and our daughter loves it.

And then also, you know, around Christmas, one of the things I love to do is read the Christmas story, even if it's out of a kid's book, to our daughter. You know, the story of, of, of, of, of Jesus. He's the reason for the season.

And so You know, we have these certain holidays and we try and make the holidays— we, we, we'll ask that question and even teach this at the dinner table and having conversations about, hey, why do we celebrate Christmas, Arwin?

It's because of, you know, it's because this is the day the Messiah, you know, the Jewish Messiah, this is the day that, uh, you know, Jesus was born, and this is why we celebrate. And, and we let her know, you know, this is why, you know. And so it's those things of meaning and going to Christmas Eve service at church or going to whatever place of worship you have around these holidays.

And it could be Hanukkah, whatever it is, right? I think it's— I think though, here's the thing. I think that the rituals and having conversations with people around you about the meaning of the ritual, here's what happens. Here's the— getting a little bit deeper here on this.

When you have, um, when, when you're a religious person, okay, whether it be a Christian or a Jew or Muslim or whatever, whatever it is. And I know around our holidays in the, in the Western world, it tends to be more Christians and Jews, uh, in terms of Hanukkah and Christmas that we celebrate in America.

And in, in like, if you are just focused on the, the ritual but not the reason behind it, there, there's less meaning. Okay? It'd be like if Chelsea and I had a date night scheduled every single week and we went there just cuz it was a date night and we had to versus no, we do this because of the relationship.

We believe marriage is a sacred covenant between a man and a woman where we're going deep together, and it's iron sharpens iron, and we're doing our best to then have a family and, and, um, bring heaven to earth, right? And, and become more Christlike. So for us, like, that date night is about so much more than just eating food today.

Like, actually, right after this, Chelsea and I will go on a date lunch today and, um, and do that. But, you know, we're, we're doing it because there's a deeper meaning to it. We'll have deep conversations. That sort of thing. And you want to do that same thing around the holidays.

I think it creates deeper meaning when you do things that are meaningful and you talk about the meaning and have conversations with your loved ones about it. And it's easier just to not bring up the conversation and just to zone out on your phone and scroll and do that sort of thing.

But I think you want to take the initiative, and I think it's better if you turn it into a ritual where it's not just the ritual, but you dive into the deeper meaning. I think that's one of the best ways to create more deeper meaning and purpose and have more fulfillment around the holidays. All right, next question.

We're staying with family for 2 weeks and don't want to be an inconvenience when it comes to food. Do you have any tips to eating healthy without inconveniencing our hosts? I do. I remember before my in-laws got really healthy, which after 1 year of me being in the family, it's the— the health changed. Um, but my first year, I remember Chelsea and I flying to Minnesota.

My wife grew up in a little city called Willmar, Minnesota. And, um, and we— I remember flying into Minneapolis, and before we drove 2 hours then to middle of nowhere Minnesota, I, I said, Chelsea, all right, we've got to make a Whole Foods stop and we're going to buy a cooler, uh, you know, for— to bring part of the way.

And then we actually just— because we're in Minnesota in the winter, we just, you know, leave the food outside or In their, in their, in their garage fridge. But we went ahead and we bought a bunch of, we bought snacks at Whole Foods. I mean, we just loaded up because I was conscious, right? So that's the best advice I have is plan ahead.

Do a Google search for, hey, is there a Whole Foods or a Sprouts or a natural health food store in your area? And then maybe buy snacks ahead of time on Amazon. There are so many great snack companies today where you can order snacks, even have them delivered to that person's house, whoever you're staying.

But I would say is just load up on finding that local store and ordering things or packing them and bringing them that, that make it easier for you. Uh, by the way, you know, around the holidays, I still eat really healthy, but I think, you know, if you didn't eat healthy for a meal or two, you'd probably be okay, you know? But I think generally speaking, just plan ahead. All right, next question.

How can I still enjoy holiday meals and treats without eating super unhealthy? Healthy. Do you have any healthier swaps or recipes you recommend? Yeah, I mean, this is so easy in today's age. Listen, this was hard 20 years ago. Today it's not that hard.

Uh, Chelsea will make pumpkin pie and I'll make pumpkin pie, and we have a recipe that uses honey and, and uses a natural gluten-free crust, and we use coconut milk instead of heavy cream. And we, you know, we, we, we use just— we just swap ingredients.

And so if you go online and look up any holiday meal Everything from stuffing to cranberry sauce to whatever, whatever it is you eat around the holidays, uh, you can find a healthy meal. You can find healthier swaps every single time. I mean, I'll just, I'll just search on a search engine. I hardly ever use Google. This is a whole nother, uh, thing on in terms of their censorship.

I usually use the, use, uh, DuckDuckGo or Brave. But when I'm on my search engine and searching for, oh look, healthy pumpkin pie recipe, Or coconut milk-based, you know, and/or honey-based pumpkin pie recipe. And you can do that with every single recipe. And, and sometimes letting family members know, hey, listen, I'm really trying to get healthy this year.

And, you know, for, for some of the meals, I was wondering if we could try a healthier meal for this. Now, some— most of the time people are willing to do it, sometimes they're not. But generally, I think, yes, swapping is so, so easy. There's hardly a recipe out there today that doesn't taste very, very similar, sometimes better, sometimes not as good, but very, very similar to the original.

We still eat chocolate chip cookies. We still have chicken Parmesan. We still do pizza. In fact, I think we're doing pizza tomorrow night. Chelsea's been making sourdough bread. We're trying a sourdough pizza crust. And we'll go to Whole Foods, you know, our health food store, and we'll buy fresh basil and mushrooms and, you know, all kinds of stuff to put on our pizza. So we still eat pizza.

You can find healthy swaps with literally every single recipe. In fact, that'd be a challenge for me. Feel free to comment here, hey, what's a healthy recipe for something? And I will give you a healthy recipe swaps. And I'm pretty familiar of doing this. And there are great cookbooks for this, you know. Um, I've written cookbooks. Um, you could search Dr. Josh Axe on Amazon.

I, my, my, uh, you know, Vani Hari, a friend of mine, has done cookbooks. There's a Um, man, there's some great— Danielle Walker, hers are fantastic. Danielle Walker, I love her cookbooks. So anyways, you know, you can also buy some healthy cookbooks. That's a great Christmas gift, you know, you could do there as well.

I think that they already have all of the healthy ingredients in those cookbooks. So those are, those are some good, um, good options there as well. Well, hey, I hope you've enjoyed this Q&A. I've got a lot more coming out. And by the way, if you're not subscribed here, Make sure to subscribe to the podcast.

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