It’s unavoidable really.
If you leave the house, you will most likely come into contact with a cold, flu, or some other bug. However, staying in all the time prevents your body from building your immune system by learning to fight off illness.
If you know for sure that your family has come into contact with someone who is sick, or became sick right after you were with them, it’s time to up the intensity!
So, here’s what we do:
(in addition to our normal vitamin and eating routine, we do this for 3 days or so until we are satisfied that we beat the bug!)
1. Eat immune supportive foods: TONS of fresh vegetables and fruits, especially dark leafy greens (i’ll juice carrots and kale or spinach along with some ginger as well), nourishing foods like raw milk and bone broth and raw yogurt, and fermented foods like kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, fermented beets, etc.
2. Avoid sugar: sugar works against your immune system and prolongs illness.
3. Quadruple your vitamin D3 intake: for us, this means 8 – 10,000 iU for the adults, 4000 iU for Henry (4 yrs old) and 800 iU for Miles (nearly 1 year old). If it is warm outside, we will go lay out in the sun exposing as much skin as possible. (morning sun is less intense!)
4. Up the vitamin C: for Henry this means Sambucus (double our normal dose) and Powdered Vitamin C for Hank and me.
4. Raw garlic: garlic is one of the most powerful immune supporters and is, from my research and personal experience, even more effective than antibiotics and steroids in fighting illness. Since I am nursing Miles, I take a LOT of my Terrible Tonic so he gets the benefit from my milk. Henry is given a couple doses of my Kid’s Tonic throughout the day. My husband hates vinegar with a passion, so he prefers to just eat a few cloves of raw garlic.
home-brewed strawberry kombucha
5. Thieves: this is by far one of my favorite must-haves for any home. It is a fantastic essential oil blend with TONS of uses. Here is how we use it for fighting illness:
- In the humidifier (in with the baby overnight)
- In my Ultrasonic Aromatherapy Diffuser (in with Henry overnight, out in the living room during the day)
- Mixed with coconut oil on the soles of feet (whole family, babies included!) do just 2-3 drops per person
- As a spray, mixed with water as a hand sanitizer and room spray. I also spritz the boys once they are in bed for extra protection.
- It can also be taken orally, but it’s too strong for the babies, and I haven’t tried this yet. I may try it on my husband this morning as he said his throat was a bit scratchy.
Ok, so if you or your kiddos do get sick, don’t panic! Continue the above regimen, while also taking as much raw garlic as possible. There are no known negative side effects (other than breath!) and it is safe for pregnant and nursing women, immune compromised individuals, children, etc.
Also remember to get plenty of sleep. I truly believe that many chronically sick babies and children would be well much more often if they were getting enough quality sleep!
If you catch a stomach bug or get food poisoning, take Stomach Rescue at the very first sign, and hydrate with my Homemade Organic Sports Drink!
If you feel that you were exposed to a virus, you can also take GSE (Grapefruit Seed Extract) – also safe while pregnant, breastfeeding, and for babies and children.
I hope you all say well this cold and flu season! What are your favorite immune boosters?
***UPDATE: I am writing this just before I post this morning (I wrote everything else last night before bed)…I woke up this morning at 3:30am, with a completely stopped up left side of my sinuses, sore throat, swollen lymph node on my left side, and a headache. I got up and downed about 1/4 – 1/2 C of Terrible Tonic, followed by a swig of kefir. Uuuugh…..too much tonic, not enough kefir. I’m not gonna lie, I got a little nauseous – next time, I’ll eat something beforehand. But it was dark, I was half asleep, etc. Anyhow, the point is that by the time I got back to bed (about 5 minutes later) my nose was completely clear and I woke up this morning with zero symptoms!***
live well. be well.