Feel like you are getting sick? Scratchy throat, headache, upset stomach? Well the best medicine is to catch it early! Even if you are already sick there are many things you can do to shorten the duration and the severity of the cold or flu. Here are a few tips to keep you in top shape during the winter.
- The immune system “lives” in the gut. There are more immune stimulating lymph nodes in the walls of and around the intestines than anywhere else in your body! Be kind to them and eat easy to digest foods when you are coming down with a cold or flu. This includes broths, soups, well-cooked grains, cooked squash, stewed apples, toast, cooked lentils, and bananas. Of course, you should always avoid foods you are sensitive to during an illness. Also, dairy foods can make respiratory and intestinal illnesses worse and should be avoided.
- Start WARMING SOCKS every night . See our blog post on Home Hydrotherapy on a how-to guide for warming socks. This is a home treatment that increases lymph (and therefore immune) circulation and decreases congestion.
- Throat compress for sore throats and chest colds. Again, see our blog on Home Hydrotherapy.
- Avoid sugar and alcohol. We need your liver working on detoxifying the inflammation form your illness, not from your diet.
- REST and RELAX….sound easy, right? This is usually the hardest part, especially since we are all so busy. But rest is the best medicine, usually shortening the illness by a day or two in my experience.
- If you keep getting sick, or “catching everything that goes around,” get your vitamin D and thyroid checked!
- We love immune herbs at Spring Integrative Health to prevent colds and flus. Ask your provider for the right one for you!
Be well!
