It’s that time of year again….flue season!! You don’t have to be the one at home in bed sick, throat sore and swollen, nose running, tired and achy. Here are 5 things you can do, naturally, safely, and effectively, to keep you feeling good.
You will need to be Proactive! This is the most important part of stopping that cold and flue in it’s tracks before it takes you down! As soon as you feel that tickle or scratch in your throat, follow these 5 tips and you will be amazed at the result.
- Go to bed early, get a full 8hrs of sleep, your body repairs and heals in your sleep.
- Cut out sugar and dairy. Sugar and dairy run your immune system into the ground, by avoiding them you can really give your immune system the edge it needs to get ahead of that impending viral or bacterial infection.
- Take immune boosting/anti-microbial nutrients and herbs:
- Zinc, Echinacea, Goldenseal, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, mushrooms – shiitake, maitaki, and garlic.
- My three favorite supplements for kicking the cold in the butt are Wellness Formula by Source Naturals (found in most health foods stores including Wholefoods), EHB by Integrative Therapeutics (6 capsules daily of either for 3-7 days), and Immune Support by Host Defense. Host Defense is an amazing company that uses the power of organic medicinal mushrooms. Be sure to read the ingredients and make sure you don’t have any allergies or sensitivities to them. If you tend to react to supplements do the EHB or Immune Support over the Wellness Formula.
- Soup! Lots of soup, bone broth, chicken chicken soup, lentil soup, spicy thai coconut soup, it nourishes and warms the body, very important when your trying to avoid at cold. Add fresh copped garlic and shiitake mushrooms for extra immune boosting.
- Try my Homemade NyQuil – 1 oz of brandy, whisky, or dark rum, 1/2 a lemon, and 1 tbsp of honey in 10 oz of hot water. For the under age crowd skip the alcohol and just do lemon honey.
Don’t feel bad if you get taken down, sometimes we just need to stay home, watch Netflix and wallow in our own illness! It’s good exercise for your immune system. If you get there, you will benifit from all the above recomendations, in addition keep warm, embrace the fever if it comes, this is your bodies natural defense to killing the invader! But be sure to check your temperature, fevers over 103F can be harmful.
* I am not affiliated or sponsored by the products listed in this blog.
Good Health & Happy Holidays!
Dr. Tanya Escobedo