Winter has arrived and that means that it is the start of the dreaded cold and flu season. Yay. (slow clapping). Having a cold when you're an adult is one thing but having a cold when you have small children makes it that much worse because when mama is sick, it just plain sucks. As much as I'd love to spend all day in bed with
Friends, popsicles, and an endless supply of Kleenex with lotion, the little people require being looked after. So, short of putting boxing gloves on your kids to keep them from touching a slimy grocery cart and then inserting said hand into their mouth or in my case earlier today, attempting to eat a very stale leftover peanut butter sandwich that was hiding out in the corner of our Target cart (dear Lord, I wish I was kidding on that), what can you do to try and keep the snotty nosed infestations to a minimum? Getting some kind of sickness is inevitable but I feel you can lessen the severity and duration with some of these products.
1) Last year (and by last year I mean 2014 because I'm still stuck in 2015), Selah came down with a bad cold. They tend to come out of nowhere with her. One minute, she's be-bopping around and the next, she's got this juicy cough and copious amounts of snot. This cold came when I was about 8 months pregnant and I'd already spent the majority of the month before getting over some freaky virus so I was mildly freaking out about getting sick yet again. I spent a couple nights sleeping in Selah's bed with her after she woke up crying in the middle of the night. Which meant I was getting zero sleep.
(This is a pretty accurate depiction of how Selah sleeps. Good luck sleeping in a bed with that.)
And I was also getting coughed and sneezed on directly from about 6 inches away. Pretty hard to escape that one and holding my breath until I thought the germs had floated on by wasn't too successful. Laugh all you want, I actually did this. Multiple times. Big shocker, this method didn't work and I started feeling that itchy, phlegmy feeling in the back of my throat a couple days later and I freaked. I did not want to be sick again so the first thing I reached for was
this apple cider vinegar.
I'd done some reading on the benefits of drinking this stuff when you're sick and it's kind of hard to argue with the results. You want the organic, raw, unfiltered and with the 'mother' kind; the gallon jug of store brand apple juice looking stuff is not going to do anything. I started taking 2 tablespoons, 4 times a day and the cold never progressed into anything other than that itchy feeling in my throat. Hard to imagine since I don't think I've ever escaped a cold. I'll warn you, this stuff tastes as nasty as it looks. You're drinking vinegar for crying out loud! My body even involuntarily shudders when I'm even walking to the fridge but hey, I'll take one for the team if it means I won't get sick. You technically don't have to refrigerate this after opening it but I think drinking it cold makes it a little better. You can find this at any natural health store (Vitamin Cottage, Whole Foods, Sprouts) and some grocery stores do carry it (King Soopers).
2) Okay, these are something we take every day no matter what. Having a healthy gut and flora is key in staying healthy. Your stomach has a lot of good bacteria so if you ever wonder why people get sick after taking antibiotics, it's usually because everything has been wiped out. Everyone in the family is on some kind of probiotic daily, even Harrison. You're not going to find a good quality probiotic on a random shelf in the middle of the pharmacy; they'll be in a refrigerator case in a natural health store or area. Selah takes 2 of
these every morning before her breakfast, Harrison gets 1/2 teaspoon of
this one in his bottle every day, and I take 1 tablespoon (more if I'm fighting something) of
this mamma jamma before breakfast as well. I like the berry flavor best. This bottle runs around $13 and lasts me at least a month.
Here's an interesting tidbit from the Inner Eco website: '
Did you know.... the human gut contains around 100 trillion bacteria which is 10 times the
number of cells in the human body? Ideally, for optimum health, we want to maximize the
growth of the 'good' (health-promoting) bacteria while minimizing the growth of the 'bad'
(health-harming) bacteria. inner-ēco™'s Fresh Coconut Water
Probiotic is lab tested to average over 100 billion active probiotic
cultures per serving* which essentially overwhelm our disease-promoting
bacteria thereby forcing them from our body. This life "force" process
impacts
virtually every aspect of our wellness and promotes the optimum health
we so desire.' Sign me up!
3) These 3 supplements are also good at boosting the immune system.
- Elderberries are great at helping your immune system and also reducing the longevity and severity of a cold when you have it. I take these capsules daily and then take this syrup when I'm fighting something.
- Vitamin D is something that a lot of people are lacking these days because somewhere along the way, getting sun was considered a bad thing. Stay indoors! Slather yourself in 5000 spf sunscreen! Yes, getting bad burns and skin cancer are a bad thing (I've been there with both, thankyou) but your body needs to get vitamin D for many reasons! Trust me, it's hard to get good sun exposure when it's 20 degrees and windy outside. I seriously hate the wind. It doesn't bother Selah too much but I will make up any excuse I can think of to keep her from dragging me outside on a windy day.
- There are really only natural things you can do to boost your immune system and Cod Liver oil is one great way to do that. The Carlson brand has two great options I like: one for Selah and one for moi.
4) Over the past couple years, I've become a huge fan of essential oils. If something can be treated naturally in our house, then that's what we're going to do. Don't get me wrong, there's definitely a time and place for modern medicine and certain medications. Having been hospitalized for asthma attacks in the past, I'm definitely thankful for just such medications. That being said, I know that natural things have definitely helped us out of some illnesses. The world of essential oils can be kind of daunting because it seems like everyone and their brother has a specific favorite brand. Some brands that we tend to use are Aura Cacia, Mountain Rose Herbs and Young Living. For the sake of this post, I'll be showing Young Living examples.
- Thieves oil is kind of the be all, end all of oils. Inspired by the legend of four 15th-century French thieves who
formulated a special aromatic combination composed of clove, rosemary,
and other botanicals to protect themselves while robbing the dead and dying. Young Living has a ton of Thieves products: the oil itself, cleaning products, toothpaste, etc. I like to diffuse Thieves throughout the house, particularly after going to the grocery store or some other germ infested public place, because diffused Thieves has been shown to kill up to 99% of airborne bacteria. Um, sold!
- Our society has become one of over medicating for the littlest thing. Again, don't think I'm saying don't take a prescribed medication that could keep your heart beating or lungs clear because I definitely am not but we've got a bunch of doctors over prescribing, and patients asking for, antibiotics for illnesses that don't need antibiotics. This is how you end up with drug resistant infections that mutate and don't get me started on taking antibiotics for a cold! So if you feel that suspicious, tell-tale scratchy throat of a cold coming on, what are you supposed to do other than cry and wait for it to hit you? Oregano oil my friends! When you're surrounded by grimy surface touching, hand-in-mouth inserting little people, they're bound to get sick and more than likely, bring you down with them. Not the kind of sharing I was hoping to teach them ;) Oregano oil is a powerful antibiotic and antiviral. If you want to watch a pretty compelling video on the effect of oregano oil versus traditional antibiotics, check this one out. Spoiler alert...it killed all of the E.Coli bacteria while the antibiotic only killed traces around the swabbed area.
- So whenever I feel a little something coming on, or one of the kiddos are coming down with something, I bust out the oregano. Now, giving the correct the dosage and application of this particular oil is important because oregano is considered a 'hot' oil. If it's applied directly to skin without diluting first, it's gonna burn like fire and your skin will turn red. God forbid you grab this stuff and slather it all over your face thinking you've grabbed the Frankincense instead. Let's just say it doesn't end well. So, don't do what I did. Seriously...it's freaking awful. Okay, dosing! What I do for myself and the hubby is different than the kids. For the kids, I have a bottle of 1:2 ratio - 1 part oregano oil to 2 parts diluting oil (I use sweet almond oil) in a roller bottle and run some on the bottom of their feet and up their spine once an hour. For us adults, I put 3 drops of oregano oil in an empty capsule and swallow with a TON of water. There's nothing worse than getting one of these bad boys stuck in your throat and having it dissolve there. Remember me saying oregano oil is considered hot? Yeah, it burns and tastes super nasty. And this is important to note: you should not take oregano oil when you're pregnant or breastfeeding.
5) And last but not least, honey. Not the bear shaped jar I'm sure you're envisioning right now. No, I'm talking about raw, unfiltered honey. This type of honey hasn't been pasteurized (heated) and still contains all the wonderful goodness the bees put in there. We get a honey that's made locally; local honey has even more added benefits, particularly when it comes to seasonal allergies. When Selah had a particularly bad cough from a cold a couple years ago, the first thing her doctor suggested when I called was giving her a teaspoon of raw, unfiltered honey 3 times a day. *Please do not give babies under 1 year of age honey due to the risk of botulism. Raw honey is a great cough suppressant and unlike the over the counter 'cough medicines', you can't really overdose on honey.
This may seem like a long list of things to take but I don't do it every day and even if I did, I'd much rather be filling my body with something natural than something with a long list of chemicals in it, most of which I couldn't pronounce. Happy Winter and stay healthy peeps!
