How to be a wellness warrior this cold and flu season...

Cold and Flu season is upon us! My acupuncturist warned me of a nasty flu going around right now, and immediately I started my cold and flu season wellness routine. Throughout my childhood, and all of my adult life, I have gotten sick. Colds, flu, bronchitis, strep, chronic sinus infections... you name it, I get it. I mostly attribute this to my immune system being under attack from gluten ingestion, but after a particularly rough illness last winter/early spring (I swear I was sick for 5 months straight) when I had been off gluten for a few months already, I realized that I still wasn't taking care of myself enough (my therapist really helped me to see that one!) and I have seriously upped the ante on self care since I made it through my experience with the winter death plague of 2012-2013 (seriously, it was awful.)  I routinely go to yoga, acupuncture, chiropractor, and therapy all to help manage stress (I have some icky family issues that are unresolvable, but must be healthily managed in order for me to stay sane), because we all know that stress can be the tipping factor in getting sick or staying healthy. Aside from all that, I have a few key things that I do to ward off potential sickness when it seems like everyone around you is dropping like flies- if I could hole up in my house and just avoid all people (like that person standing behind you in the grocery store line, hacking up a lung), I would, but alas we cannot totally remove ourselves from the outside world... I am going to tell you the home remedies I use to ward off/treat sickness, and I am going to declare my goal of a sickness free fall and winter season this year! I am going to make self care my priority this winter, and I hope you do too, and for those of you who feel just too busy to take care of yourself because you must take care of others, remember that even a few minutes of self care a day will help you to stay sane and be better prepared to keep your family happy and healthy in the onslaught of flu season!

Wellness Arsenal:
-Black Elderberry Syrup: This stuff is the bomb! (sorry, I was a child of the 90's) I take a teaspoon every day, and it is super effective at warding off colds and flu's, especially of the viral origin. It tastes yummy, and is safe for pregnant women and children to take (in fact, I would encourage both of those groups to take it regularly!) I use it as a preventative measure, but you can also use it to decrease the duration of your sickness with a few extra doses a day if you are already sick.

-Probiotics: Woo-hoo for good bugs! I also take a probiotic supplement every day (right now I am doing a 100 billion culture pill) to make sure my gut is populated with happy healthy positive bugs that can help to knock out any bad bugs that come creeping in. We know now that your immune system is in your gut, so you must must must take care of it in order to not get sick. Diet plays a huge role in that, but almost everyone can benefit from a probiotic supplement. It is safe for pregnant women and kids as well. Side note: You can get probiotics from eating yogurt, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, etc... but you would have to eat a crap ton of those things to get anywhere near the amount you need to kick the flu's butt and keep your digestive system happy. Take a probiotic, and keep eating normal amounts of happy bug laden foods.

-Colloidal Silver/Oregano Oil: Both are potent anti-bacterials, and really work to knock out any bad bacteria that find their way into your body. I don't take either of these as preventatives, but they are very effective when you have that "tickle in your throat/might be starting to feel icky/been around a sick person" situation going on. Oregano oil does kill indiscriminately, so make sure you take your probiotics (not at the same time!) when you are taking oregano oil so that you don't kill off all your good bugs too. Both taste pretty horrible, but I have be able to find Oregano Oil in capsules so that makes it a bit easier to handle. You don't want to take these for too long, and if you are pregnant, don't take them. I am not sure about children taking them, you always want to check with your doctor/naturopath first. I have found if I hit them pretty hard right when I first start to get sick, they work like a charm and knock those bugs right out, especially for sinus infections.

-Garlic: I could wax poetic about garlic for hours. We LOVE garlic in this household. My husband and I eat a clove raw everyday (we always both smell like garlic-it's a good thing we found each other!) I know that sounds super intense, and I am not going to lie, it is, but I have found it to be one of the most powerful preventative measures to do in order to not get sick. Cooking gets rid of the compounds that fight infection, so in order to use it as medicine you must consume it raw. If you can't stand the taste/get it down, chop it up and put it in a tablespoon of honey and eat it- it totally helps take the intensity of the garlic down. It is safe for pregnant women (no more then one raw clove daily though)

-FERMENTED Cod Liver Oil: it sounds disgusting, and it tastes pretty horrible, but it is the BEST form of Omega 3's and vitamin D for your body (aside from getting vitamin D from the sun, which most of us don't). I am not going to get into the nitty gritty of this amazing supplement (it helps regulate hormones, helps your sleep, helps your immune system, provides readily available vital nutrients) because soon here I am going to give it it's own post, but suffice to say this stuff is the most important supplement I take. I have seen very tangible results from taking it daily, and would recommend it to everyone, especially women and children. (Emphasis on FERMENTED- it is made in a traditional method, as opposed to regular cod liver oil that is stripped of nutrients when processed).

-Hydrogen Peroxide:  A dropper full of drugstore bought hydrogen peroxide in each ear works wonders on knocking out an earache/sinus issue. I lay down with a towel on my pillow, and put a dropper full in one ear (ear up) and sit with it in there until it stops bubbling (it feels really weird at first, but then it's kind of cool), and then switch ears. We do this at any sign of cold, flu, sinus infection, ear ache. It works.

-ACV/Manuka/Ginger/Lemon Brew: At any hint of sickness, I brew up this concoction and drink it throughout the day. Apple Cider Vinegar is amazing for your body (it will also get it's own post soon) and will help any digestive upset that sickness causes, as well as boost the immune system (you must get raw unpasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar, with "the mother", in order for it to be effective). It contains good bugs in there to help your system, and really works at clearing out congestion. Manuka honey is a wonder food from New Zealand, a honey that is from bees who forage on Manuka trees (a Tea Tree species), and it is full of anti-viral/bacterial/fungal properties, much more so then normal raw honey. It is expensive, but totally worth it (side note: I use it as a face mask and it makes your skin glow!). Ginger and lemon are both sickness fighting superstars, and when you brew up fresh ginger root to make the tea and add lemon to it, with a dash of ACV and Manuka, you will be doing your immune system a huge favor.

My other must do things to fight a illness that has started to come on: remove dairy from your diet (it is mucus forming, and you want your mucus membranes to be nice and slippery and healthy, not all gunky, so that the bacteria/virus can't stick to it), use the neti pot daily to wash nasal passages to clear any funk that might have made it's way up there, and refrain from drinking any juice/eating most fruits (these things increase mucus and are very cooling to the body, which is really bad for you when you are getting sick- if you want vitamin C, eat cooked peppers and other vitamin C rich, warming foods, or take a supplement).

That's everything! I am wishing you a warm, sickness free fall! Stay healthy so you can get outside and enjoy this beautiful season- I know that is my goal! Cheers!
Disclaimer: I AM NOT A DOCTOR- always check with yours when you are sick, and before you use home remedies, especially if you are on prescription drugs or have other illnesses. These are just personal things I do to stay well, and you should always do your own homework about any remedy before you take it.

Neti pot love...

Today I am going to talk about the wonderful world of the Neti pot. This will be familiar to some, and to others using a Neti pot is going to sound pretty crazy. A few years ago, when I was in the midst of being sick and worn down, I had an allergy season that kicked my butt. It was rough, particularly because I had never had allergies before in my life. Now I know that my immune system was seriously compromised, so of course I would react to environmental allergens, but at the time I was so irritated by the constant sneezing and drippy nose that I would have done anything for some relief (enter Benadryl and Sudafed- neither of which actually helped anything at all). Then I heard about the Neti pot. Nasal irrigation is a great way to alleviate sinus/nasal congestion, keep your mucous membranes happy and not dried out, and to remove anything from your nose that may irritate your sinuses and throat. I was also dealing with serious sinus headaches, so when someone told me about using the Neti pot to alleviate headaches and allergies, I went right out and bought one without even knowing how it was used. If you haven't seen a Youtube tutorial on Neti pot usage, you should watch one, they are hilarious. There is no possible way to not look disgusting and totally weird while using a Neti pot. Essentially, you use the little pot pictured above to pour water through one nostril and out the other, with you head tilted forward and to the side you are pouring the water out of (so the water doesn't just go down the back of your throat). This takes a few tries to get it process down, but trust me, it is worth it. The first time I used one, I was so congested the water didn't move AT ALL through one side of my nostrils. Totally blocked. But I didn't give up, and finally that nice warm saline water was able to move through and move out the gross mucous and pollen that had been sitting in there, stuck up on my nasal membranes, and it brought so much relief I nearly cried. Now my husband and I regularly use the neti pot, especially after cleaning the chicken coop, being in the garden, being around a sick person, after surfing, or anytime my head hurts or my nose feels dry. That way I am always making sure my nasal membranes are functioning happily (moist clean membranes=happy membranes) and that I am washing away any pollen, dirt or bacteria that may have gotten up there in a quest to aggravate me.

I have a few recommendations that are very important with the Neti pot about the water you use- there has been one incident in the news in the last few years saying that a person contracted a brain parasite via Neti pot usage, from the water that they used in their Neti pot. Who knows if that is actually how the person got the parasite, but it is always good to be safe, so: use distilled or filtered and then boiled water, that is then cooled down to a little above room temperature (play around with the temp you like- mine has to be just right, not to cold, not too hot). It is imperative that you use clean, filtered/distilled and then boiled water, to make sure there are no little buggies that are going to crawl into your brain (I Neti almost daily and always used filtered boiled water, and so far, no brain parasites). I don't used distilled water since my only way of getting it would be in plastic bottles, and I don't use any plastics (another post for another day), but my Berkey filtered water (Best water filter ever- another post to come as well) that I then boil and cool and use is nice and clean. Tap water is not a good idea, since the chlorine put into it will dry out your membranes and make using the Neti pot pretty useless. I also buy sea salt (I actually have the exact Neti pot and salt pictured), but Kosher salt works as well- just don't use table salt (ever, but there is yet another post!)

So go watch a Youtube video on using a Neti pot, get in a good chuckle, and then go out to your nearest health food store and pick one up and give it a try- I promise you, it will be worth it. Cheers to no allergies!