First of all, I’d like to apologize for an omission in last week’s post. I said, don’t take antibiotics when you come down with the flue, as viruses cause flues and antibiotics have no effect on viruses.
My omission was that I didn’t include the SNIFFLES in this; viruses also cause the “common cold”, so antibiotics won’t help there either.
If you get a throat infection, which is caused by bacteria then antibiotics could help in relieving you misery and acting on your fever, but I still don’t advocate this. Besides the global danger we face due to antibiotics overuse, a FEVER is part of your body’s defenses to kill the pathogens and if you interfere you might feel better for a couple of days but, most probably, go back to being sick soon afterwards.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to give some more information on prevention and suggest a few more things on what to do if you end up sick.
When you feel it coming on, take Vitamin C and Echinacea three times a day with meals.
An excellent way to address your stuffy nose is the use of a neti pot, pictured below.
Use it when you get stuffed up and before going to bed.
I’ve mentioned neti pots in my post “One Day in The Life…” and was quite serious when I stated that I haven’t snored once since I started using it before bed.
So, don’t wait to get the sniffles, use it every day.
You can purchase a neti pot from most pharmacies, Whole Foods and Amazon. Be sure to get the bicarbonate of soda and Himalayan Salt mixture to mix with water you put in your neti pot.
YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
As touched upon in last week’s post, the way not to get sick is to have a strong immune system.
The essentials to boost your immune system were given in the previous post. Now some details and additional recommendations.
I will list the key players in immunity and suggest what foods you can eat to enlist these key players.
PROTEIN
If you’re not consuming enough, the function of your T cells, which spot and destroy virus-infected cells, can become impaired.
VITAMIN E
Immune cells are more prone to oxidative damage; Vitamin E’s antioxidant properties help protect them.
ZINC AND SELENIUM
Both minerals help T cells do their job.
VITAMIN A
The mucus layer in your respiratory and gastrointestinal tracks stand between you and infections. Vitamin A helps keep that layer strong to keep infections out.
FATTY ACIDS
As your immune system mobilizes to fight a virus or infection, your body naturally increases inflammation in the affected area to help the fight. Inflammation-lowering fatty acids help make sure the inflammation response doesn’t get out of hand and damage healthy cells.
VITAMIN C
It helps your body build antibodies and cells called neutrophils, which attack viruses and bacteria.
VITAMIN D
Experts aren’t exactly sure what role Vitamin D plays in immunity, but suggest that being deficient can make you more likely to contract viruses. Keep in mind that Vitamin D is more like a hormone than just a vitamin.
PREBIOTICS
We’ve dwelled on this in last week’s post, but it is worth underlining the importance of a healthy gut once more.
WHERE CAN WE GET WHAT WE NEED?
Sweet potatoes, kale, butternut squash, beets, and leeks ARE HIGH IN VITAMINS A and C.
Parsnips ARE HIGH IN VITAMINS E and A.
Fish, like tuna and salmon ARE HIGH IN FATTY ACIDS AND VİTAMIN D.
Almonds, walnuts and sunflower seeds ARE HIGH IN PROTEIN, VITAMIN E AND FATTY ACIDS.
Oysters ARE HIGH IN PROTEIN, ZINC AND SELENIUM.
Mushrooms ARE HIGH IN ZINC, AND SELENIUM.
Coconut oil IS HIGH IN A VERY BENEFICIAL FATTY ACID.
Yogurt IS HIGH IN VITAMIN A, AND PROBIOTICS.
So, there you have it. Try and consume the above products to boost your immunity and, AGAIN, abstain from the DON’T EAT CATEGORY FOODS WE REPEATED IN LAST WEEK’S POST.
See you all next week.
