Category Archives: Healthy Body

How to Avoid Getting Sick in the Winter

avoid getting sick in winterDo you hate getting sick during the winter? It’s a real drag, and yet it’s so easy to avoid. And just how can you avoid it? Today, I’d like to share some of my favorite strategies to stay healthy even when the days are short and you have to spend time around sneezing and coughing people.

First, it’s helpful to avoid hanging around coughing and sneezing people. But sometimes, that’s not possible. So how can you avoid catching whatever they have? Read the tips below and incorporate as many of them as possible into your life.

Note: I’m not a medical doctor

Just a quick reminder. Yes, I go by Dr. K, and I’ve had a passion for learning as much as I can about medical issues, especially when it comes to natural ways to stay healthy. BUT I’m not a physician nor a medical professional, and I don’t dispense “medical advice.” My doctorate is in linguistics!

Then again, I do know a LOT about medical issues. I’m a total geek when it comes to learning about what to do to stay or get healthy. In fact, I’m a walking encyclopedia of alternative health information. Just realize that your mileage may vary, and that my information is not meant to replace any medical advice and care you may be receiving from your own medical team.

If you have any serious health conditions, be sure to speak to your doctor before you take any of the recommended supplements, especially garlic and ginger, which can have a blood thinning effect.

The key to avoiding getting sick in winter: A strong immune system

At the root of staying well is a strong immune system, and you can do a lot to keep yours strong and healthy. So let’s look at some of the basics of keeping your immune system is in fine shape:

1) Take care of yourself

The most important part of keeping your immune system strong and healthy is taking care of yourself. I bet you know that, but it won’t hurt to review the basics and remind yourself of the things you should do…

a) Get enough sleep

Yup. That’s one of the most important ones. Your body needs sleep to function well, and especially to stay healthy. If you want to get sick really fast, simply cut down on sleep drastically and THEN hang out with coughing and sneezing people.

That’s one of the reasons why lots of people get sick during long plane trips. First they skimp on sleep to get ready. Then, the trip across time zones will mess up their sleep patterns, which means they miss more sleep. And then, there are the germs…

b) Keep stress levels low

Some people believe that those who complain about stress are wimps. But people who work on avoiding stress or at least on keeping it contained, are very wise! Stress really can make you sick, in part because it weakens your immune system. It also messes with our entire endocrine system.

So do what you can to lower your stress levels! Take some time to figure out which things in your life are causing the most stress and make whatever changes you can. And then, there are a wealth of strategies to help your body cope better with whatever stress is left. I assembled a lot of my favorites in my Instant Stress Relief Strategies guide!

c) Eat well and consume enough liquids

Next, be sure to eat “real” food, especially fruits and vegetables, and avoid processed food with weird chemicals as much as possible. And when I say it’s good to consume enough liquids, I am referring especially to warm and hot liquids, like tea and soups. Your body will thank you.

A hot rum toddy is probably okay, but don’t overdo it. Instead, focus on chicken soup. It really has proven to be good for you.

d) Get some fresh air and exercise

It’s also important to get some fresh air and sunshine if at all possible. It’s good for your body and your spirit too. And when I mean exercise, I don’t necessarily mean intense workouts, but do get moving on a daily basis.

e) Supplements to help you avoid getting sick

These are my personal recommendations… Do check with your medical team to make sure none of them conflict with any prescription medications you may take.

In addition to a good multi, you should make sure you get enough of the following, either in the form of food or as supplements:

Garlic
Vitamin D3
Vitamin C
NAC (n-acetyl-cystine)
Olive leaf extract

The last two made a big difference when I added them to my line-up of supplements.

2) What to do if you feel a cold coming on?

When you feel a cold coming on, in the form of sniffles or a scratchy throat, it’s time to take some additional measures. There are some additional supplements you can take that will help your body fight off that cold. And if you haven’t been very diligent about taking the ones listed above, now’s the time to start taking them daily.

a) Supplements to help you get better fast

If you’re already starting with the sniffles, you may be able to keep them from growing into a full-fledged cold. Here are a few things to do in addition to those you’ve been doing to keep your immune system strong. First of all, increase your garlic immediately, and add a few extra supplements:

More garlic, fresh and/or in supplement form
Ginger
Goldenseal
Ecchinacea
Elderberry
Zink

I also keep some Airborne fizzy tablets around and take one or two a day when I’m in danger of coming down with something, for example when I’m stressed or worn out, especially when I’m also going to be in close proximity of people who are already sick. There’s a reason why it was first developed for air travel and school teachers.

And I definitely take it immediately when I feel the first signs of sniffles. It has a good dose of Vitamin C and zink, plus several other immune strengthening ingredients.

There’s another excellent supplement I tend to take immediately at the first sign of cold symptoms and it usually gets things nipped in the bud before the cold has a chance to blossom into the full thing:

Gaia Herbs “Quick Defense”

This one is so good that I make sure that I always have it handy. If I end up not getting sick until it is way after its expiration date, I consider it a good investment in my ongoing health…

Sort of like the umbrella principle. When you carry an umbrella with you, it’s much less likely to rain than when you don’t (provided you live in a climate where rain is a regular possibility).

You may also want to take a combo that includes garlic, ginger, goldenseal, and other immune strengthening herbs. I like the one by Futurebiotics.

One thing I find very helpful is Vick’s VapoRub ointment, which I apply to my chest, my upper back, and also to the soles of my feet. It seems to do amazing things.

Yes, I could go on and on, but these will get you started.

b) Chicken soup on steroids

And here’s my favorite secret weapon: chicken soup spiked with fresh chopped garlic and ginger, and also some chopped green onions. You might also want to add some Cayenne pepper, or some chopped peppers of your choice (go easy on those). Have it several times during the day. It works great.

Won’t it give you garlic breath? Well, yes, it will. But since you want to keep your distance from potential carriers of cold and flu viruses, I consider that a good thing…

c) Get lots of rest

Here’s another key to getting better, or preventing your initial sniffles from getting worse: Get lots of rest.
Have your spiked chicken soup, slather yourself in Vick’s VapoRub, and take a nap or three.

Can’t sleep? Read a book you’ve been meaning to get to, or do some puzzles or whatever you enjoy doing when you’re not feeling so hot.

Hope the cold germs will stay clear of you, but if they don’t, the strategies above should help.

As always, if you feel worse and are running a very high fever, do see your medical professional!

WARNING: If you are on blood thinning medication, be sure to speak to your doctor before taking garlic and ginger, since these can interact with your blood thinning drugs and could lead to overdose.

Flu Season Remedies and More

I don’t have the flu. But it’s flu season nonetheless, and so I find myself giving advice to various people about what I would do if I were to fight off the flu (and what I did last time. So it’s time for another flu season remedies column.

The last one I did was back in 2009 when I managed to catch the swine flu. Here’s my swine flu remedies column. It’s been more than a year and a half, yet just rereading it, not a whole lot has changed.

Though I’ve learned a few new things, and I’m going to add them in here, plus elaborate a bit:

easy eft

1) Sleep

Sleep seems to be the most important ingredient in an infection-fighting regimen. Just take all the naps your body will let you take and sleep as long as you like. Your body needs that snooze time to fight the germs.

2) New: Vitamin D

I learned since last time that Vitamin D appears to have a powerful strengthening effect on the immune system, which makes it a great part of my flu season remedies collection. I now take it regularly, along with a combo of Calcium and Magnesium that helps also with weight control (another column).

3) A Power Multi

A really good multi, preferably one that includes lots of B vitamins and selenium and zinc and stuff, and of course C.

4) Airborne

Not sure if I’m just superstitious or if i simply am a fan of fizzy vitamins (which I am), but I really like it, and I have made it a regular component of my flu season remedies.

5) Miscellaneous immune strengthening concoctions

There’s a rotating stash I have, including an echinacea-goldenseal concoction, the special Gaia Quick Defense capsules that I mentioned in the other post (those are great!), and of course NAC and Olive Leaf, and loads of garlic!

Another secret weapon, especially for big congestion, is a German remedy called Gelomyrtol. In Germany I usually get the “forte” version (and it’s on my list of things to buy on my next trip), but I’m happy enough to be able to get the regular version at my favorite outfit for German stuff, which is Smallflower.com (no affiliate link).

Finally, after suffering through the worst case of post-nasal drip I’ve ever experienced, I discovered that Mucinex, or rather the generic Mucus Relief DM works pretty darn well. Surprise! Seriously, I should have gotten that stuff years ago.

And if needed, I also use the regular Sudafed, the old kind, the one that you now have to get from behind the Pharmacy counter. That stuff really clears out the nasal passages so I can sleep.

It’s also great for when you have to fly with a cold — it prevents some VERY painful problems with ear pressure…

6) My Chicken Power Soup

The last recipe included Shiritaki noodles. Well, I picked those because they’re low-carb, but when I’m not on a strict low-carb diet, I sometimes use pre-made soups from the grocery store, or, preeferably MSG free versions of Ramen Noodles. Anything I can just put in a bowl and add hot water to.

But I don’t stop there. I also chop up (finely) garlic and (not so finely) ginger, and maybe green onions, and add them to the soup. Depending on how spicy the original is, I add a touch of Cayenne, and a bit of sesame oil. Yum.

If I get around to it, I also like to go out and get a big bucket of Thai soup: Tom Kha Gai, which is the coconut chicken soup. I may or may not add some garlic, but it works great all by itself.

Sometimes I use them for other types of infections as well… Or when I’m a bit under the weather and want to fight off a bug that is trying to get me.

7) Vicks VapoRub Power Treatment

Most people use Vicks VapoRub on their chest and maybe back and/or neck, and so do I. I use an old t-shirt as a scarf, to keep the area covered and warm, and not smell up my regular clothes and/or PJs.

But here’s something I also do — and I forgot where I first learned about it:

I put it on the soles of my feet (at night and/or during nap times) and wear warm socks. That seems to really power up its effectiveness.

What else?

I’ve refined my regimen of salt water treatments… both the gargling and the neti pot treatment.

About the gargling:

I’ve learned that gargling with warm salt water is just one possibility. I have also started to spike the salty water with a bit of oregano oil and colloidal silver. And sometimes I just drink it (leaving the salt out) instead of gargling with it.

And I’ve also started adding a couple of drops of the stuff to my neti pot salty water for extra immune power.

And here’s the totally new thing I learned: gargling with warm salt water is great for killing off germs. And guess what, so is ingesting warm salty soup. Well, duh!

That makes sense, doesn’t it? So now I have upped my soup consumption considerably, all in the name of keeping myself healthy. And it seems to help too!

Am I nuts? The thought occurs to me (and maybe you) when I read my long list of stuff I do to keep myself healthy – or get healthy again when I get sick.

Then again, maybe I’m just thorough. It all seems to help keeping the flu at bay, and if it doesn’t qute manage to do that, at least I get over it faster than I normally would.

It’s a matter of priorities. My father used to say, “The healthy person has many wishes — the sick person has just one.”

To that I can just add: Amen!

make money in your jammies

What else…

I’ve been getting more vigilant about washing my hands after shaking other people’s hands, and about not touching my face etc. unless I’ve washed my hands.

I also really like mentholated tissues, though I’m not claiming any particular health benefits — I just really like them, as I said.

They have those in Germany: Tempo Menthol 🙂
And yes, that’s also on my list of stuff to get, along with Gelomyrtol, and my favorite earplugs (Ohropax), though I do have two sources for that here in the US.

Hope you won’t need any of the above, but if you do, I hope my flu season remedies are helpful. Just don’t take them all at once! And remember, I am NOT a doctor of medicine, just one of philosophy. My father WAS a doc though, and I have learned a ton from him, but still… the usual disclaimer applies.

To your health!

Elisabeth

New Year’s Resolutions? Be Kind to Yourself!

Happy New Year! Albeit a bit belatedly…

I just looked at the date of my last post and, gosh, how embarrassing! I didn’t realize how long it’s been.

I meant to write a whole bunch of New Year’s posts, and now we’re halfway through January already.

Which brings me to New Year’s Resolutions…

Here’s the problem:

If we make resolutions and then break them, what does that do to our inner self, higher self, subconscious mind, or whatever you call that part of you that guides you along as you move forward in your journey.

If we keep making promises that we don’t keep, it will start having very low expectations. When we disappoint our own deepest self, we set ourselves up for continued disappointment and failure.

So what to do about that?

Stop making resolutions? Maybe.

Approach them a bit differently? Definitely.

There are two elements that are really crucial when it comes to those resolutions:

1) Do we REALLY want what we claim we want?

I mean, do we want it badly enough to really commit to paying the price it costs on a continuing basis?

If the answer is “No” it’s not a good idea to resolve that.

Now this does not mean we don’t WANT this, but it means that maybe our lives are too full of other commitments already that we simply don’thave the energy to do what we tried to wrestle ourselves into doing.

2) We are committing ourselves to doing too much

That’s the second problem. And it goes along with part of the previous section.

There are two ways in which we can go wrong here:

a) We commit to goals over which we have little control.

Let’s talk about weight loss or blood pressure or whatever. If we commit to certain weight loss goals or blood pressure readings, we may throw in the towel quickly because subconsciously we know that these are things we don’t really have full control over.

Sure, the old rules about goals being measurable and all make that seem like a good idea, but the thing is we don’t have control over outcomes.

For example, you try to get a job by February 1. It’s your New Year’s resolution. Maybe you make it, but maybe you won’t. You don’t have complete control over the outcome. You DO have control over which interviews you go to and how many (to a point), and how many applications you send out, and so on.

Ditto for weight loss. You have control over what you put into your mouth and what you do in terms of exercise and other helpful things.

b) We commit to doing too much

I just had a very interesting experience here…

The Example of Kevin Riley’s Natural Blood Pressure Lowering Program

I was reading Kevin Riley’s excellent program on how to reduce your blood pressure naturally, and immediately, I thought, I can do this faster and better.

Well, not exactly.

Here’s how his program works.

It’s a 12 week program called “Get Natural” and each week he gives you an assignment of approximately three things you are supposed to do (and keep doing) so the cumulative effect of them all will leave you with a much improved blood pressure picture by the end of the 12 weeks, and probably much sooner than that.

His first week’s assignment?

Drink water (I forgot how many glasses, but two of them you should drink before you ingest anything else in the morning), cut down on coffee to 1-2 cups a day (or at least less than you started with) and add herb tea and green tea.

Not too tough, right?

Well, I am now drinking more water, and added more tea, and I’m still drinking coffee, but much less. In fact, today, I only had two cups, though those cups admittedly were about three times the size of the kinds of cups Kevin probably had in mind.

Still, that’s good. I also tried to incorporate a bunch of things from later sections, but guess what! They didn’t stick.

See the principle?

So what’s the lesson?

Keep things realistic. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, considering what else you already have on your plate.

And so that accounts for my lack of posts recently. I’ll resolve to improve, but no, I’m not committing to daily posts. Maybe a couple a week. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, go over your New Year’s resolutions and think about where you may have been overshooting the target.

And resolve to be gentle with yourself…

One of my favorite reminders of that is that little bit in airline preparatory drills where they say to put on your oxygen mask first before you put on anyone else’s. It’s not a prescription for selfishness, but a reminder that if we don’t take care of ourselves, we’re little use to anyone else — OR ourselves.

So be good to yourself, and have a fabulous year.

Elisabeth

make money in your jammies

Healing A Broken Shoulder – Update

Several weeks ago, I wrote a post about my broken shoulder. Now, it’s been about 9 weeks since I fell down the stairs in my friend’s home in San Francisco and broke my shoulder.

After a night in the emergency room, I flew home, which was quite a challenge in itself. I wrote about a lot of the details in my last post on Healing a broken shoulder.

One of the challenges was to take care of my shoulder with no health insurance.

Click here to read more!

Healing a Broken Shoulder

Five weeks ago, I fell off some stairs at a friend’s home in San Francisco, where I had gone to present a paper at my dissertation advisor’s (and mentor’s) retirement celebration, the RobinFest.

And I broke my shoulder, a day after the celebration. It was scary – I literally fell and couldn’t get up. I had never broken anything before, so I was stunned by the pain – and the fact that I couldn’t get off the floor by myself no matter how I tried.

Click here to read more!