Since there are no known cures for colds and flu, prevention must be your goal. A proactive approach to warding off colds and flu is apt to make your whole life healthier.
#1 Wash Your Hands
Most cold and flu viruses are spread by direct contact. Someone who has the flu sneezes onto their hand, and then touches the telephone, the keyboard, a kitchen glass. The germs can live for hours — in some cases weeks — only to be picked up by the next person who touches the same object. So wash your hands often. If no sink is available, rub your hands together very hard for a minute or so. That also helps break up most of the cold germs.
#2 Don’t Cover Your Sneezes and Coughs with Your Hands
Because germs and viruses cling to your bare hands, muffling coughs and sneezes with your hands results in passing along your germs to others. When you feel a sneeze or cough coming, use a tissue, and then throw it away immediately. If you don’t have a tissue, turn your head away from people near you and cough into your elbow.
#3 Don’t Touch Your Face
Cold and flu viruses enter your body through the eyes, nose, or mouth. Touching their faces is the major way children catch colds, and a key way they pass colds on to their parents. Be very mindful of touching your face and try to teach your kids not to do it, especially when they are feeling ill.
#4 Drink Plenty of Fluids
Water flushes your system, washing out the poisons as it rehydrates you. A typical, healthy adult needs at least 64-ounces of fluids each day spread out in divided doses; this can go up dramatically with sweating and/or fever, so keep a glass of water nearby at all times to make it easy to drink. How can you tell if you’re getting enough liquid? If the color of your urine runs close to clear all the time, you’re getting enough. If it’s deep yellow, you need more fluids. Note: the first morning urine may be yellow even when properly hydrated.
#5 Take a Sauna
Researchers aren’t clear about the exact role saunas play in cold/flu prevention, but one 1989 German study found that people who steamed twice a week got half as many colds as those who didn’t. One theory: When you take a sauna you inhale air hotter than 100 degrees, a temperature too hot for cold and flu viruses to survive. Another theory: saunas induce an artificial fever, which stimulates the immune system and reduces the potency of viruses and bacteria.
#6 Get Fresh Air
A regular dose of fresh air is important, especially in cold weather when central heating dries you out and makes your body more vulnerable to cold and flu viruses. Also, during cold weather more people stay indoors, which means more germs are circulating in crowded, dry rooms.
#7 Do Aerobic Exercise Regularly
Aerobic exercise speeds up the heart to pump larger quantities of blood; makes you breathe faster to help transfer oxygen from your lungs to your blood; and makes you sweat once your body heats up. Regular exercise helps increase the body’s natural virus-killing cells.
#8 Eat Foods Containing Phytochemicals
“Phyto” means plants, and the natural chemicals in plants give the vitamins in food a supercharged boost. So put away the vitamin pills, and eat dark green, red, and yellow vegetables and fruits throughout the day.
#9 Eat Yogurt and/or Foods with Live Culture
Some studies have shown that eating a daily cup of yogurt can reduce your susceptibility to colds by 25 percent. Other beneficial products may include kefir, miso, tempeh, sauerkraut and kimchi. Researchers think the beneficial bacteria in these foods may stimulate production of immune system substances that fight disease.
#10 Don’t Smoke
Statistics show that smokers get more severe and more frequent colds than those that don’t smoke. Even being around smoke profoundly zaps the immune system. Smoke dries out your nasal passages and paralyzes cilia. Cilia are the delicate hairs that line the mucous membranes in your nose and lungs, and with their wavy movements, sweep cold and flu viruses out of the nasal passages. Experts contend that one cigarette can paralyze cilia for as long as 30 to 40 minutes.
#11 Cut Alcohol Consumption
Heavy alcohol use destroys the liver, the body’s primary filtering system, which means that germs of all kinds won’t leave your body as fast. The result is that heavier drinkers are more prone to initial infections as well as secondary complications. Alcohol also dehydrates the body — it actually takes more fluids from your system than it puts in. Dehydration causes all of your mucus membranes – including those in your sinuses, respiratory tract, lungs, gastrointestinal tract and urinary tract – to dry out, making it easier for cold and flu viruses to enter the body.
#12 Relax
If you can teach yourself to relax, you can activate your immune system on demand. There’s evidence that when you put your relaxation skills into action, chemicals called interleukins, which are leaders in the immune system response against cold and flu viruses, increase in the bloodstream. Train yourself to picture an image you find pleasant or calming. Do this 30 minutes a day (break it up into smaller intervals throughout the day if that works better for you) for several months. Keep in mind, relaxation is a learnable skill, but it is not doing nothing. People who try to relax, but are in fact bored, show no changes in blood chemicals. So learn to enjoy your times of peace.
#13 Turn to Nature’s Pharmacy
There are many botanical formulas that can be very useful to prevent colds and flus. Here are a couple protocols our clients have found particularly helpful. We recommend that these protocols be used daily during the winter months to prevent the onset of colds and flus.
Adult Flu Prevention/ Immune Support
|
Supplement |
Upon Rising |
Breakfast |
Lunch |
Dinner |
Before Bed |
| Immune Support |
1 |
1 |
1 |
||
| Probiotic Complete |
1 |
1 |
|||
| Immunity Pro | 1 |
Children Flu Prevention/Immune Support
|
Supplement |
|||||
| Suppys Immunity – Children up to 6 yrs. old: 1 chewable/day; Children over 6 yrs. old: 1 chewable 2x/day | |||||
| Suppys Probiotic Liquid – Children up to 6 yrs. old – 1 drop/day; children over 6 yrs. old 1 drop 2x/day. Take on empty stomach (upon rising and before bed). | |||||
In addition, optimal immune health is dependent on adequate levels of vitamin D and vitamin C; take a product like Micellized D3 – 1-4 drops/day and Vitamin C 1000 Complex every day for optimal immune support.
Please share this information with your friends and family – a great way to prevent colds and flus is to keep those around you healthy.