Ward Off Sickness

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."  --Sir Winston Churchill

I want you to start learning what I'm learning so that we can be healthier together, y'all.  So here's the deal...don't feel like catching a cold in the first place?  How do you fight it off? 

1.  Get enough sleep!  The average person's sleep meter is full at around seven to eight hours.  More than that, according to the National Sleep Foundation, you're probably oversleeping, and no wonder you never feel rested no matter how long you sleep...because you've engaged in overkill!  Sleep too little, and obviously you're exhausted and your body is vulnerable to attack.  Put down the remote, turn off the TV at night (or step away from the computer, put down the Crackberry, etc.) and go to sleep!  Set an alarm and get up so you don't oversleep.

2.  Wash your hands frequently or at least sanitize on the run with antibacterial gel.  Yeah, you get tired of smelling the funky medicinal smell, but I promise you, it's nothing in comparison with the benefits of warding off germs...especially this time of year, when everyone is out and about touching everything, including kids and adults with runny noses that they wipe off with the backs of their hands. Ewwww.

3.  Hydrate--drink lots of water and tea.  Eight 8-oz glasses of water per day is the minimum.  Your body is mostly water to begin with; think of what a mop bucket looks like if you never change the water.  I know--ewwww.  Think about your body if you're not hydrating sufficiently...yup, your insides are pretty gross.  Soda, coffee...those are diuretics.  That means that they're getting fluids OUT of you!  That's why you want to stick more towards pure, clean water.

4.  Take 500mg of Vitamin C twice daily.  You can get "insurance" by taking it in supplement form (and it's not expensive and easy to purchase, even at a grocery store...you don't have to go to a shop in the mall and pay top dollar).  OR you can get it from eating foods like oranges, tomatoes and bell peppers.  The vitamins build up your immune system so you can kill those germs!

5.  Lactobacillis acidophilus.  God bless you, you say.  No, it's an organism found in yogurt that has been clinically shown to fight off fungal infections.  Hate yogurt?  Fine.  Take supplements 20 mg twice daily of acidophilus OR with supplements containing Bacillus coagulans.

6.  Use spices like ginger and curcumin (turmeric) in your cooking.  Not only have these spices been shown to ward off infection, they have been shown to reduce your body's tendency toward expressing genes that can lead to cancer and other maladies.  More on that in a future post...it's fascinating!!!

7.  Eat foods with flavonoids:  strawberries, oats, apples, broccoli, cranberries, red wine (1 glass nightly), and so on.  Look up flavonoids on the 'Net...and start eating a diet rich in them! 

Still feel a cold coming on?  According to Dr. Mehmet Oz (of Oprah fame; he now has his own show, too), eat chicken soup four times a day, take 500 mg of Vitamin C four times a day (may as well wash it down with the chicken soup) take a zinc lozenge every 6 hours and nearly drown yourself in fluids to keep your system clean.  Good luck!

Comments

[Lisa]

Stacey, great tips. The sleep meter aspect was interesting especially since I wonder sometimes about "making up for" lost sleep and know I've tried to, but failed because it doesn't work that way. So we just need to keep moving on and keep the life balanced and rest (and do everything else) consistently. That's the key. One extra tip is Vit D! If you can get some sun and do it naturally, great. If not, some supplements will help the immune system as well. I know the bottles always say for bone health, but it's made a difference for me immunity-wise as well.