Cold/Flu

Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Complete Care tea has found its way into my teacup, so it's fair to say that cold and flu season is here. I generally work really hard to stay healthy through the winter, and I'm usually pretty successful. Though I often feel like I'm catching something, I rarely have a full-blown cold/flu (knock on wood). When I start to feel like I am coming down with something, I've found these precautions to be extremely helpful in fighting it off:

Echinacea: taken at the first twinge of a sore throat or body ache, I think this stuff really works. However, half of the secret is believing, like Santa. It loses its magic if you don't believe.

Emergen-C/Airborne: I think it really tastes gross (Aaron won't even drink it) but I notice improvement within a couple of hours, if I take it early enough.

Gargle: take warm salt water and gargle repeatedly. Swab the inside of your nose with it, too. It helps.

Hot beverages: I think it is related to the warm gargle thing. The steam helps you rid the germs.

Lots of fluids: flush those bad boys out of your system.

soup: At the first sign of feeling a little under the weather, I crack out the miso paste. Aaron knows that if I am in the kitchen standing over a broth he should look out because I don't feel good. I think that this is also related to the gargle, as it is basically hot salt water, when you break it down. I also think that putting as many vitamin-rich things in it as possible and some protein will help you boost your immune system. Adding some noodles for carbs doesn't hurt, either. I find that when I don't feel good, soup is all I want. I put onions, carrots, spinach, seaweed, rice noodles and lots of other stuff into my miso soup. It usually makes me feel better within a few hours. When I'm really sick, it's chicken soup all the way.

Hot shower: kick out those germs.

Washing hands: I try not to touch my face and I usually wash my hands before and after I use the restroom.

A good night's sleep: even if it means taking something to help you stay asleep, sometimes it is what your body needs.

Keeping distance: I feel like Kramer, but I catch myself literally wince and back away when someone coughs around me. I also notice that I'm really bad about giving people dirty looks when they are sick in public. I may have yelled at a lady on an airplane about not wearing a face mask because she was coughing all over the place. I may have made her change seats. *cringe* Whatever, I want to stay healthy. I think that once you have that first cold of the season, it is really hard to get your immune system back in 100% working order, so putting that off for as long as possible is key.