Stay Well During Cold and Flu Season
Cold and Flu season is here. There are things you can do to get over a cold quickly if you treat the beginning symptoms. It’s important to realize that colds and flu’s are caused by a virus not bacteria. The most common virus is the rhinovirus, but there are as many as 200 viruses that can cause the common cold. Taking antibiotics for a cold or flu is not good for your immune system.
It is important to facilitate the appropriate immune response and not suppress the symptoms. The symptoms of a cold such as runny nose and sore throat is the expression of a fighting immune system. We want to help the immune system win the fight naturally. This builds a stronger immune system in the long term. If we keep suppressing the fight, we weaken the immune system. More and more autoimmune conditions and even cancer are being attributed to viral causes. So it’s critical to assist the body in ridding itself of the acute virus naturally so that it does not mutate into something that could come back as a more serious condition.
Broad spectrum herbal remedies are great for treating a cold. You want to start in high doses at the first sign of symptoms. Echinacea, gold seal and oregano oil blends treat a wide variety of viruses and bacteria. Sleep can really affect how fast you get over a cold. If you don’t increase your rest time, the cold will drag on. Sleeping more at the first sign of a cold will significantly speed up the healing process. Eating a clean diet light in animal protein and sugar will unburden the immune system so it has the energy to fight the virus. Sugar and processed foods stimulate the immune system needlessly. Juicing vegetables and fruit and drinking lots of herbal teas nourish the immune system without the burden of digestion. Carrot and ginger are particularly great to juice with a cold. Essential oils can soothe the symptoms of the cough and scratchy throat. Homeopathic and herbal cough syrups help to thin the bronchial secretions so that the cough is more productive. Mucus is the way the body carries pathogenic material out of the body, so decongestants and cough suppressants are not healthy in that you are forcing the toxic material to stay inside.
Recovering from a cold quickly and efficiently by facilitating the immune system response instead of suppressing symptoms keeps you productive and well during the flu season.
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