Tips for Staying Healthy This Flu Season

07 Mar Tips for Staying Healthy This Flu Season

Posted at 22:46h in Health, Herbs & Supplements, Recipes by Nicole Catenaro

UPDATE 5/5/2020: Here is the latest important information:

Due to supply issues, we are limiting certain items as follows (we are unavailable to special order these items as well):
- LIMIT 2 PER CUSTOMER:
  - Yeast
- LIMIT 4 PER CUSTOMER:
  - Eggs

UPDATE 4/30/2020: Here is the latest important information:

Due to high demand with curbside orders, our phone extensions have changed! Please listen to our NEW phone menu as they have changed for ALL stores.

UPDATE 4/17/2020: Here is the latest important information:

Due to supply issues, we are limiting certain items as follows (we are also unavailable to special order these items as well):
- LIMIT 1 PER CUSTOMER:
  - Hand sanitizers and related products (glycerine, tea tree oil, etc.)
  - All immune-related and anti-viral supplements
  - Whole chickens
- LIMIT 2 PER CUSTOMER:
  - All household cleaning products, toilet paper, etc.
  - Protein staples, and beef products
  - Chicken, eggs, milk
  - Yeast
- LIMIT 4 PER CUSTOMER:
  - Cascade toilet paper

UPDATE 4/15/2020: Here is the latest important information:

In order to shop inside all of our stores, state mandated masks must be worn inside.
The coffee/tea stations and nut butter machines are no longer self-service. To use these areas, please ask an associate for help.
Want to change up your routine at home, check out our blog, social media accounts and our Pinterest page for fun ideas! There is something new everyday! Make sure you check out Women’s Voice magazine & the Non-GMO Project’s streaming of the award-winning documentary film Modified, available for FREE until April 22nd! For more information, check out our social media pages (Facebook and Instagram).

UPDATE 4/11/2020: Here is the latest important information:

Please wear a mask if you leave your house. All of our team members are wearing masks and we are encouraging all customers to wear masks when they shop inside with us.
All stores will be closed tomorrow for Easter and we will reopen on Monday.
Our Curbside Pick-Up program will be unavailable from 6pm tonight until Monday morning. If you have a Curbside order in process or ready for pick-up, you must come get it before 8pm on Saturday as we will be CLOSED on Sunday for Easter and you will have to wait to pick-up on Monday. However, all stores will remain open until 8pm tonight if you need to grab a couple of last minute groceries for tomorrow!
Regarding our Curbside Pick-Up program, orders may take more than 24 hours to fulfill. Please check your email for receipt of order and kindly DO NOT place a repeat order to insure we got your first one- it confuses the system too much. Thanks for your patience.

UPDATE 4/9/2020: Here is the latest important information:

Please be patient with us! In order to practice proper social distancing, we are limiting the number of customers in the store at a given time.
Curbside orders may take extra time to be fulfilled – we thank you for your patience and cooperation. Our stores are still open for walk-in business but please practice proper social distancing.

UPDATE 4/7/2020: Here is the latest important information:

Effective today, 4/7/2020, our cafe hours have changed! Cafes will be open from 9am-4pm everyday. If you would like to place an order, you can place the order inside, call or order online through www.shopbasil.com.
Please be aware of certain policies for our Curbside Pick-Up program:
- We will process orders as quickly as possible, but please understand that it might take us several hours (or longer) before your order is ready for pick up.
- Depending on volume, some orders may not be available for collection until the following day.
- Orders placed after 6pm will ONLY be available for collection the following day.
- Orders are available for pickup from 9am-7pm daily.
- All orders are final. We currently do not have the ability to revise the order after it is submitted.

UPDATE 3/31/2020: Here is the latest important information:

We’re online! You can now place your orders for our Curbside Pick-Up program online through our website by clicking here or visiting www.basilbandwagon.com/curbside-pick-up/.
Need a quick and easy dinner for two? We now offer F2M Dinner for 2 for only $19.99! To see what’s on the menu, please call the stores directly:
- Flemington: 908-788-5737
- Clinton: 908-735-3822
- Lambertville: 609-460-4500

UPDATE 3/23/2020: Here is the latest important information:

Regarding our Curbside Pick-Up program, your tips are applied to our round-up program as generous gift to our local organizations. Each of our stores are “rounding-up” at the registers for different local groups (as follows):
- Flemington = The Flemington Food Pantry
- Clinton = The Open Cupboard Food Pantry
- Lambertville = Fisherman’s Mark
Our cafés are still open! To order from the café, you can come in, call ahead, or order online by visiting www.shopbasil.com!
We are asking all customers to follow these guidelines in order to help our staff and community stay as healthy as possible:
1. Practice social distancing (6 feet) at all times (and when possible)
2. Shop quickly
3. Please limit shopping to one family member when possible
Due to supply issues, we are limiting certain items as follows (we are also unavailable to special order these items as well):
- LIMIT 1 PER CUSTOMER:
  - Hand sanitizers and related products (glycerine, tea tree oil, etc.)
  - All immune-related and anti-viral supplements
  - Whole chickens
- LIMIT 2 PER CUSTOMER:
  - All household cleaning products, toilet paper, etc.
  - Protein staples, and beef products
  - Chicken, eggs, milk
- LIMIT 4 PER CUSTOMER:
  - Cascade toilet paper
We’re working on our checkout terminals so that physical touching of pinpads are limited. What do we mean by this? When paying with a card (debit or credit), all cards are to run as credit. This means that for debit transactions, customers must press ENTER when prompted for a pin (but DO NOT enter your pin).
Until further notice, CASH BACK IS SUSPENDED.

UPDATE 3/20/2020: Here is the latest important information:

Starting Saturday 3/21/2020, the first hour (8am-9am) of all stores will be open solely to seniors (62+), pregnant mothers and immunocompromised individuals. If you do not fit under any of these, please wait to shop until after 9am!
In an effort to protect our most vulnerable Community Members, we are now offering curbside pick-up. Please call us directly at the following numbers to place a phone order:
- Flemington: 908-788-5737
- Clinton: 908-735-3822
- Lambertville: 609-460-4500
Unfortunately, we do not have our catalogue online currently available. However, you can place a cafe order for pick-up at shopbasil.com. We are working on getting the rest of our catalogue online.
Our curbside pick-up is a work in progress and we greatly appreciate your support and patience with us as we work through the “kinks” of this program! We are trying to process orders within a timely manner.
We are not selling self-serve kombucha until further notice.
We are also “rounding up” at the registers for local food pantries in the area. The following stores that we are “rounding up” are for the following food pantries:
- Flemington = Flemington Food Pantry
- Clinton = Open Cupboard Food Pantry
- Lambertville = Fisherman’s Mark

UPDATE 3/19/2020: In support of a healthy community, we are updating some store policies:

Please be expedient with your purchases and exit the building. While you are shopping in the building, we appreciate the practice of social distancing (maintaining a distance of about 6 feet from others) when possible.
- To limit the time it takes to wait for your cafe orders, you can place your order, pay for it, and select a pick-up time online! To do so, please visit www.shopbasil.com. Please make sure that you select the correct store before ordering!
If you’re feeling “under the weather,” please be mindful of others and stay home.
We have temporarily suspended our refund and return policies. To ensure the health and safety of our employees and customers, ALL sales are final.
In order to reduce the spread of germs, we are asking that all customers and staff to not bring in any reusable containers, drinkware, or bags. However, if you are using a reusable bag, we would like to ask you to bag your own items.
Due to supply issues, we are limiting certain items as follows (we are also limiting special orders of these items as well):
- LIMIT 1 PER CUSTOMER:
  - Hand sanitizers and related products (glycerine, tea tree oil, etc.)
  - All immune-related and anti-viral supplements
- LIMIT 2 PER CUSTOMER:
  - All household cleaning products, toilet paper, etc.
  - Whole chickens, protein staples, and beef products
  - Chicken, eggs, milk

If you’re staying home and would like to invest in a future purchase with us (once we all nip this thing in the behind), please consider ordering a gift card! You can purchase a gift card at shopbasil.com!

We appreciate your cooperations and your local support!

UPDATE 3/17/2020: This is an evolving situation that we will continue to closely monitor on a daily basis. When updates arise, we will notify our staff and customers as soon as possible. We want to thank our staff and customers for the endless love and support that we have received over the past couple of days. We appreciate your understanding of our various supply issues and our constant updates. Here are the updates as of today:

We have sent out a company wide update informing all team members of CDC recommendations for preventing the spread of germs. In that same communication we are putting a strong emphasis on team members adhering to the Basil Bandwagon Handbook sick policy, which reiterates many of the CDC’s recommendations.

As always, our team members will continue to frequently wash their hands and will be wearing gloves at checkout lanes. Cashiers will also have cleaning supplies at the registers to frequently wipe down checkout lanes, pin pads and other frequently touched surfaces. Our teams will also be wiping down frequently touched surfaces throughout the store, including doorknobs and handles.

All seating areas have been removed.

All cafés will continue to have take-away service.

We will not be offering any food samples and all vendor demos have been cancelled in an effort to reduce the spread of germs and reduce person-to-person contact. We have also removed all testers (grocery, wellness, and beauty areas) from the shelves and will replace with new ones in the future.

All kombucha stations are no longer self-serve. We ask that all customers do not refill your personal growlers at this time. Please ask an associate to fill a growler or cup. We will be providing free growlers soon- until then, please use to-go cups only.

Our staff is working hard to keep the store fully stocked as possible. We are working with our distributors to maintain inventory, although we may experience temporary out of stock issues with some essentials. This is an unprecedented event and volume of sales.

Due to supply issues, we are limiting certain items as follows (we are also limiting special orders of these items as well):
- LIMIT 2 PER CUSTOMER:
  - Hand sanitizers and related products (glycerine, tea tree oil, etc.)
  - All immune-related and anti-viral supplements
- LIMIT 3 PER CUSTOMER:
  - All household cleaning products, toilet paper, etc.
- LIMIT 4 PER CUSTOMER:
  - All meat and protein staples, eggs, milk

UPDATE 3/7/2020: Hey there Basil Bandwagon shoppers! We know coronavirus is the talk of the town lately and while we don’t want to make light of it, we want to remind everyone that there’s no reason to panic! Even in China where most cases have occurred, there is only 1 case for every 85,000 residents that live there. And the other good news is that in 80% or more of those cases, symptoms are like a bad cold.

How is Basil Bandwagon Natural Market Doing Their Part to Limit the Spread of Germs?

Cashiers have wipes at the registers to frequently wipe anything that may be touched by our shoppers (keypad, register belts, etc.). As always, our employees will continue to frequently wash their hands with hot water and soap, and we will continue to make sure that café tables and other frequently touched areas of the store will be washed and disinfected to help avoid the spread of germs.

Tips for Staying Healthy in General:

Wash Your Hands – Frequent hand washing with just soap and warm water is important for protecting against all infectious diseases and use hand sanitizers and disinfectants when soap and water are not available. Hand sanitizer is becoming harder to find as distributors cannot keep up with such high demands. Click here for some DIY recipes you can make at home!
Disinfect Surfaces – Coronaviruses can persist on surfaces for up to 9 days! Make sure you disinfect surfaces in your home, especially if you think someone might be infected.
Strengthen Immunity – Unfortunately those folks who are older and/or are immune compromised have a much higher rate of death from all viruses, and so doing what you can to strengthen your immune system is vital.

Strategies to Boost your Immune System

Exercise, stress relief, a balanced diet and certain supplements are all effective ways to boost your immune system:

Exercise – Regular exercise mobilizes T cells, a type of white blood cells which guard the body against infection. However, continuous rigorous workouts can actually weaken the immune system, so moderation is a key.
Sleep – A solid 7-8 hours is needed to avoid reducing the activities of T cells in your body.
Less Stress – Stress can release the hormone cortisol, which negatively affects T cell reproduction. Try yoga, meditation or deep breathing each day to reduce your stress levels. If you would like some recommendations, ask some of our staff members – there are lots of local businesses who would love to work with you!
Moderate Alcohol Intake – while moderate consumption of alcohol can positively affect overall health, excess intake (more than 2 drinks/day) can negatively affect the immune system.
Stop Smoking – Smoking impairs the immune system, and you have a significantly higher chance of being seriously affected by virus infections.
Healthier Diet – Vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts are loaded with nutrients essential to immune health. A diet rich in colorful food typically will be higher in valuable vitamins. These foods all can help you strengthen your immune system: citrus, red bell peppers, broccoli, garlic, ginger, spinach, yogurt, almonds, turmeric, green tea, kiwi, poultry, and sunflower seeds to name a few!
Herbs, Vitamins and Supplements – While the hope is you can get many needed nutrients from your diet, supplementing can help improve your immune system. Here are just a few things you may want to include in your daily regime:
- Echinacea, Elderberry, Andrographis, Colloidal Silver, Monolaurin & Zinc
- Vitamins A, B6, C, D & E all help strengthen your immune system, and especially Vitamin C, which you can get from citrus fruits, spinach and strawberries. And although it’s cold here now, consider getting outside during sunny days to help your body produce more Vitamin D. Even just 15 minutes in the sunlight will help!
- Mushrooms and mushroom supplements – rich in essential nutrients and very good for your immune system.

We all hope that the spread of Covid-19 is curtailed as soon as possible and if so, great, but if not, we look forward to helping you as you reduce stress, improve your diet and strengthen the ever important immunity system. All of which is good regardless of what season we are in!

For more information:

https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html

https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html

https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Guide_to_Local_Production.pdf

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

https://www.lifeextension.com/protocols/infections/2019-novel-coronavirus-sars-cov2-covid-19

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/27/810016611/coronavirus-101-what-you-need-to-know-to-prepare-and-prevent

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/26/how-to-prepare-for-coronavirus/?arc404=true

https://healthcareinamerica.us/for-a-stronger-immunity-natural-ways-to-boost-the-immune-system-d7aba9ae599b

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html?utm_source=Good+Harvest+Contact+List&utm_campaign=407de02845-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_06_05_08_19_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ae16396593-407de02845-109654375