Staying healthy has never been more important than it is these days. Our bodies can use all the extra support we can get from good nutrition and even alternative medicines. This time of year it’s good to revisit some of the more traditional, alternative remedies used to treat cold and flu.
It’s important to stock your medicine cabinet with some of the basics to prepare for the start of flu season:
Oscillococcinum This is a homeopathic cold and flu remedy which is distributed worldwide. Homeopathy is a medicinal practice that is based on the idea that if you are given a micro-dose of something that produces the same symptoms you are experiencing, it will then teach your immune system to create the antibodies necessary to fight that particular disease. In pharmacies across Europe, homeopathic and allopathic medicines are use in conjunction with each other as remedies for the cold and flu. In the United States however, Oscillococcinum is the single homeopathic remedy found in the Physician’s Desk Reference- an American anthology of prescription drugs. Because fowl are notorious carriers of viruses, this remedy uses a vibrational dilution made with the liver of a Long Island Duck.
The logic behind the creation of this remedy also explains why grandma’s chicken soup, with the tasty inclusion of some chicken fat, is a useful remedy often prescribed when the sniffles start.
Echinacea This is an herb that doesn’t just suppress cold symptoms, it knocks them out. It’s a T-cell activator that teaches the body to produce the white blood cells needed to fight foreign invaders like cold and flu viruses, and bacteria.
Vitamin C Just like putting gas in your car, your body needs key ingredients to keep it running in top condition. Vitamin C is a water-soluble nutrient (that means your body excretes it, rather than stores it). It is critical to the operation of the Krebs cycle, a bodily function that produces energy and hence builds the immune system. Make sure to have plenty of this in the house. Use it daily.
Vicks Vapor Rub When the body attempts to eliminate a foreign invader, it creates mucus to wall off the infection in order to remove it from your system. That’s why we get all that gooey junk stuck in our lungs.
Your skin (the largest organ of your body) is a permeable membrane that can pass the powerful, anti-microbial healing properties found in essential oils directly to the area of the infection. Vicks Vapor Rub contains cough suppressants like camphor, menthol, and eucalyptus oils. It also contains thymol, turpentine oil, and nutmeg oil-some of the most powerful antiviral and antibacterial essential oils on the planet. Applied topically, these oils pass through the skin and go to work directly on the infected area.
The key to successfully treating any cold or flu is to catch the symptoms in their early stages. Stress depletes the immune system, so stay tuned to what is going on in your life. Get plenty of rest and be well!
Purple Coneflower and Salvia growing in a Midwest garden…