Severe aches in muscles and joints, pain and tiredness around your eyes, weakness or extreme fatigue, watery eyes, a headache, a dry cough, a sore throat, and runny nose, are all symptoms of a flu.
Many of us are getting the flu in this “crazy” weather, shifting so quickly from cold to warm to hot suddenly.
However, while some people immediately take pills or head to the pharmacy to drink a certain “drug” which they know is for the flu, it is still more preferable to drive away that flu naturally.
Here are some ways to do so:
Eat Real Food
Real food is the food that is most natural, found in nature with the least amount of processing involved before it reaches your table.
This is the food that is provided by Our Maker to keep us healthy and alive without debilitating diseases. Foods like apples, carrots, raw nuts, and seeds. Foods that haven’t been loaded with hormones, pesticides, and other unnatural chemicals. These are the foods you can grow (or raise) in your own backyard in an organic garden or by raising your own chickens for example.
Foods that have been highly processed, modified, and transformed from their original state that they hardly resemble the original food at all. Think Doritos, soda, fruit snacks, microwave meals, etc.
Eating a variety of real foods provide your body with all the nutrients it needs to function and stay healthy. This should be your first food choice on a daily basis. Check out my Healing Foods Diet and the Real Food Diet Cookbook for guidance on eating real foods instead of fake foods.
Exercise
Although when you think of preventing a cold you don’t necessarily think ‘I’d better exercise if I don’t want to get sick,’ this is one of the best ways to improve your overall health and stay healthy during cold and flu season.
According to researcher Michael Flynn who studies the impact of exercise on the immune system at Purdue University, thirty minutes of exercise, three or four times a week, is the best way to boost your immune system. Any more will actually begin to have the reverse effect. Flynn explained that one study found running ten miles a week boosted the immune system but up that to twenty miles a week and you increase the risk for infections.
Get Plenty of Sleep
Getting enough sleep on a regular basis is key to maintaining good health. Studies show that lack of sleep is associated with health problems and the inability to lose weight. According to the Harvard Women’s Health Watch one adverse effect of not getting enough sleep is a compromised immune system.
Enjoy Life!
There’s nothing like stress to bring on all sorts of physical ailments including colds and flu’s. According to Laurel Mellin, associate professor at the University of California in San Francisco, 80% of health problems are stress induced.
Mellin has developed a new approach for dealing with stress. It involves using the tools already in place in your brain to move through stress and quickly get to feeling peaceful and balanced.
Get Plenty of Vitamin D
More and more is being revealed lately about the vast health benefits of vitamin D. Previously known to impact bone health, vitamin D deficiency is now implicated in many health issues.
According to long time vitamin D researcher, Dr. Michael Holick, vitamin D is best obtained through safe sun exposure. That’s right, he advises you to get sun – but safely. In his book entitled The Vitamin D Solution, Holick says that a lack of vitamin D (that many Westerners are unknowingly suffering from) can wreak havoc on the body, including the immune system.
To beat a cold or flu make sure you get plenty of safe sun exposure on a regular basis. If you live somewhere that only gets sun seasonally it’s a good idea to take a vitamin D supplement until your levels are adequate enough to take you through these sunless seasons. I personally take this vitamin D supplement.
Take a Whole Food Multivitamin
Taking a multi-vitamin is a great step towards protecting your health. But not all multi-vitamins are good for you. It’s vital that you choose a whole food multi-vitamin not a synthetic one. Whole food multi-vitamins are as close to the real source of the vitamins and minerals that you can get.
Your body will be better able to recognize it, digest it, and absorb the nutrients in it. Be sure the multi-vitamin you choose has the ISO certification on it. This ensures that you are getting a high-quality vitamin.
Avoid Sugar
Sugar is one of the worst things to consume, especially if you’re trying to stay healthy – and who isn’t? Sugars weaken the immune system and help bacteria to grow. Avoiding sugars is key to staying healthy, particularly when you’re under stress or in the middle of cold and flu season.
There are great, all natural sweeteners on the market so you don’t have to go without. Try stevia or raw honey in moderation. (And avoid artificial sweeteners–those are fake foods!) Be sure to check labels of the foods you’re eating and avoid sugars here too.
No one wants to come down with a cold or the flu anytime. When you take the above seven steps to stay healthy you’ll not only beat colds and flu’s, you’ll be protecting your body from other more serious chronic diseases that could really compromise your health down the road.
Shower your nose
Irrigate your nasal cavity with a neti-pot. It’ll flush out the viruses and bacteria harbouring in your honker, reducing chances of impending infections.
Whip up an immune-boosting soup
Research shows that astragalus root (a Chinese herb used to ward off flu), has powerful immune-enhancing properties. The sliced, dried root is widely available in herb stores. It adds a pleasant, sweet taste when simmered in soups. Shiitake mushrooms, onions, and tumeric also boost immunity and have an antiviral effect. Garlic is an antibiotic; ginger, a natural anti-inflammatory agent.
