Here’s Exactly What Nicole Ari Parker Swears by To Stay Healthy During the Winter Season
Nicole Ari Parker chopping vegetables.
As the weather cools down and the trees start to explode in brilliant shades of orange and red, we're forced to face one of the non-magical aspects of fall: Getting sick.
While we've come a long way since March 2020, COVID is still around, complete with a new variant and booster. The flu hasn't gone anywhere either, and many parents and older people are worrying about RSV.
Actress and model Nicole Ari Parker, who many know from her role as Charlotte's wing-woman Cheryl Fox in And Just Like That, is all about doing her best to stay healthy during cold, flu and COVID season. Here's how she does it.
What Nicole Ari Parker Does To Stay Healthy
The number one way Parker stays healthy and makes sure the people in her life stay healthy? She gets vaccinated—particularly against COVID.
“I’m vaccinated, my children are vaccinated, my 80-year-old parents are vaccinated," Parker tells Parade. "My job said I had to get vaccinated if I wanted to work last year, and then as I saw how hard COVID was hitting my unvaccinated friends, I was very happy I did it."
When she went home for Thanksgiving last year, she was worried when she found out bother parents had COVID. But because they were vaccinated, they didn't get very sick. "They didn’t suffer at all. My dad was recovering from cancer and he didn’t suffer at all.”
Related: Here's What Symptoms of COVID-19 Look Like If You're Vaccinated
Parker's kids are old enough to make their own decisions around vaccines too, and they both have received COVID vaccines and boosters. "They wanted to. My son is a basketball player—he travels and plays on different teams," she says. "My daughter is a freshman in college and she stays up to date on her vaccinations. This is just part of my family.”
Because Parker has seen the positive impact of vaccines on her family, she recently partnered with Novavax for their Choose to Protect campaign to help encourage people to get informed about the importance of COVID vaccines.
Related: Wait, What's Happening With Our Vaccine Cards?
Dr. Jose Torradas, MD, FACEP, an emergency room doctor and spokesperson for the American College of Emergency Physicians, is also working on the campaign and is just as passionate about spreading vaccine awareness.
“One big issue that I see now, having lived COVID so personally as an ER doctor and a doctor whose wife was pregnant during the pandemic, is that patients will say, 'Why is this so important? It’s just a cold.'"
Dr. Torradas says that while that may be true for someone who is young and healthy, Long COVID is still a huge threat. "It's not just about protecting ourselves from the cold-like symptoms now," he explains. "It’s about preventing strokes, heart attacks and other long-term complications that [may come with long COVID]."
Of course, vaccines aren't Parker's only defense against germs. "My other tips? Zip up your jacket—I'm a mom, so I'm always saying that—and eat your vegetables."
Amen to that!
