Margo gives some very handy tips and ideas on how to best look after your immune system during the freezing cold winter.

Nick is bitter about declining a festival but enjoying videos of Jane's kids playing with toys. Jane was away for the weekend with her trusty black bean brownie.

General tips:

• Wear a mask
• Wash your hand
• Get some sleep
• Move your body
• Get some sun

Margot suggest:

• Shiitake mushrooms
• Vitamin C - top foods: lemon, orange, mandarin, strawberries, dark leafy greens, kiwi fruit, broccoli and red capsicum
• Zinc - grass feed meat, pumpkin seeds, oysters
• Garlic - chop it and let it sit for 5 minutes + add it at the end
• Ginger
• Manuka honey -THROAT SYRUP RECIPE for immune function
  Place 1/2 diced onion, 2 crushed garlic cloves and 2 tbsp Manuka or raw honey into a small jar. Stir together. Take 1 teaspoon every hour or so. Keep in the fridge for 3 days. Warning it is quite strong and may leave you with garlic breath.
• More whole foods
• More warming foods - add some cinnamon
• Add tofu or chickpeas to pumpkin soup.
• Soups
• Bone broth
• Bulk cook when you're well!

Pumpkin soup with Silken tofu or chickpeas

1 leek cut into slices
20 g butter
600 g pumpkin, peeled, cut into pieces
1 carrot, cut into pieces
500 g vegetable/chicken stock or broth
30 g coconut cream
A pinch of salt and pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 300g packet of silken tofu

Place leek and butter into a saucepan and sauté for 3 mins.
Add pumpkin, carrot, cumin and stock.
Cook on a high heat until boiling and then turn to a lower heat. Cook for 20 mins or until the veggies are soft.
Add the Silkin tofu, coconut cream, salt and pepper and blend until it forms a smooth soup.

Immune Boosting Chicken Soup

• 1 Whole chicken
• 1 leek (well rinsed) thinly sliced or 1 onion
• 3 carrots diced
• 3 celery stalks finely sliced
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 225 grams sweet potato peeled and diced
• 4 – 8 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons white wine or apple cider vinegar
• Salt & pepper
• A large handful of flat leafed parsley finely chopped
• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2.5 litres of vegetable or chicken stock/broth
• 3⁄4 cup of barley (use brown rice if you don’t have barley or are gluten free)

Method:
Add a splash of olive oil into a large pot and sauté all the vegetables over low/medium heat for about 10 mins until they all start to cook nicely but don’t let them brown.
Add chicken and all the other ingredients. Cook for at least one hour and a half until the chicken comes very easily away from the bones.
Remove the chicken and take out the bones, roughly chop up the chicken, then return it to the soup.
Check seasoning and if you need more liquid, add some water.
Let the soup cook for another half an hour.
Remove the shiitake mushrooms if you find the texture average (they can be a bit slimy!).
If you like you can blend some of the soup a bit to take out some of the chunks.
Serve and enjoy the healing power of this nourishing soup.

You can find Margo White @ Margos_Wholebodynutrition

You can find Nick Conquest @ Gardenvale Chinese Medicine

You can find Jane Ferguson @ Acupuncture Fitzroy