Treating the Common Cold

It is that time of year again.  Children are sitting in closed up classrooms, homes and offices are also closed up tightly to retain heat. Our environments are drier and we start to see a rise in the number and frequency of colds.  You can build up your immunity naturally and avoid falling victim with a couple simple ingredients and behaviors.  If you do feel symptoms coming on you can stop them before they disrupt your life.

Far too many spend countless dollars on over-the-counter medications which do little good for them.  If you take a good look at the cold medication aisle you will see there are no promises of curing your symptoms.  These products aren't made to cure anything. They suppress your symptoms because we are too busy to take a day off to rest and let our body go to work on the invading bacteria. 

While suppressing your symptoms your body can't go to work to restore balance, it is effectively putting your immune system to sleep.  When these medications wear off your symptoms return.

So what can you do?

The first thing you can do is to take care of your health year-round. This means getting adequate sleep and eating properly which with an active lifestyle will do the most for you.

If you feel your immune system could use a boost there are three things that will help.

1. Eat garlic.  Garlic is a miracle plant.  I have healed everything from warts to infections with fresh garlic.  A bit added to your meals will give your immune system a huge boost.
2. Add organic or raw honey.  If your honey doesn't say organic or raw it is basically refined sugar.  Honey is a natural antibiotic and antiviral. Applying honey to a cut will heal it sooner as will your colds when ingesting it.  BEWARE: Never give a child under age 2 honey as it could cause an allergic reaction.  Ingesting locally produced honey also helps reduce allergy symptoms
3. Add Vitamin C. By this I'm not talking about supplements. Eating oranges, lemons and kiwi (which contains more vitamin C than oranges) will improve your immune system.

What to do if you find yourself coming down with a cold?

1. Get plenty of rest. I know this sounds hard. What if you are a parent with small children?  Find quiet activities for the entire family to enjoy.  While I don't believe in using the TV as a babysitter, turning on a good movie would allow you to rest with your children.
2. Drink the magic elixir.  Past generations did not have access to the antibiotics we have today, and maybe that was a good thing.  They relied on their kitchen to heal their illnesses.  One that has been passed down for generations is a cup of hot water, or herbal tea, with fresh lemon and organic honey.   You will be amazed at how quickly you will feel better.  The heat and the lemon will soothe sore throats and the honey will go to work attacking what has invaded your body.

What about an antibiotic?

First antibiotics do not work on the common cold. But while antibiotics have saved countless lives, they can interfere with our natural immune system.  When you allow a foreign substance to take over the healing work for your body your body will become lazy.  Next time you get sick your body will wait to receive assistance to heal. 

With all the antibiotics added to our food and the practice of relying on prescribing them several times a year we are quickly becoming resistant to them.  So look to your kitchen and see if you can avoid catching the next cold.

Do you have something you use to keep your immune system strong?