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Cold and Flu Rescue

(This will be a long one because I have a lot to share with you - things to do, soups and teas to make, pills to swallow. You may want to do a read-through just to familiarize yourself with what to do in a cold/flu emergency, then you may want to print it out for future reference)

You know that something is wrong. Maybe you have the beginning of a scratchy throat, you've been really tired for the past few days for no reason, your eyes are tired and blurry. You know you are coming down with something. What do you do?

But, what if you can't get hold of me? What if you are away on a trip somewhere? Here are some basic cold defense products to have on hand at home at all times. Travel with them. You can get most of these products from me.

1) Gan Mao Ling: This is wonderful for the very first line of defense. It's a powerful little pill from China which, with the bad vibes coming from China now, may not be the cleanest on the market, but believe me, it's the best. I have been using this for many years and it works better than the very clean Plum Brand product sold at Whole Foods. Yes it's a trade-off, but I personally will continue to use Gan Mao Ling. Start with 5 pills every hour or so until you think you have averted the problem. But remember, that Gan MaoLing is only good at the very beginning when you have that little peculiar feeling that something's not quite right. If you already have a full fledged cold/flu, the Gan Mao Ling won't do you much good, so go straight to. . .

2) ...my tried and true "Cold Combo." Cold Combo consists of one bottle of Congaplex, one bottle of Phytogen, one bottle of Thymex, and one bottle of Zinc Lozenges. I open all the bottles and throw all the pills into a big container and since the pills are all different colors, I just dip into the communal jar and take 2 of each color every hour or so until my symptoms are gone and I feel I am on the upswing. Then decrease to about 6 of each per day until you are all better. Zinc is different since it can be toxic and give you a tummy ache: Break the zinc lozenges in half and suck on a half every couple of hours.

3) I also have a product called Bug Blaster that I make in my very own kitchen. Buy some and gargle with it as no bug can live through contact with this tincture made from hot peppers, garlic, onion, ginger and horseradish root!

4) Although I am not a huge fan of large doses of Vitamin C, you could also start the Buffered C. Take about ½ t. every hour in water until you reach what is ominously called "bowel tolerance." If you are getting sick, this may be many grams of C, so be forewarned. Sometimes the C helps a lot, sometimes not so much.

5) Essential Oils: The most important oils for the cold/flu are Thieves and Purification. Use liberally on your throat, chest, lymph nodes and feet. Watch with kids and their tender skins  use primarily on their feet. Also get some R.C. It is esp. good for use on chest and for bronchitis and asthma. Don't forget, the oils are powerful healing agents and the ones I mention are all from Young Living.

6) Here's an old naturopathic trick which may work for you: Get some 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, and start this as soon as you feel like you are coming down with something, ie the Gan Mao Ling stage. Put three or four drops of H2O2 in each ear  one at a time. There will be some tickling, bubbling and in the rare case, some mild stinging. Lie down with the treated ear up and wait until the bubbling subsides, maybe 5 -10 minutes. (It's working its way down into the Eustachian tubes and into germ territory.) Do the other ear. Repeat every four hours. Don't get the H2O2 in your eyes. This is safe for kids, but they might be a bit wary of the loud bubbling.

Other things to do: Don't go to work. Sleep as much as you can. Devote your days to getting well. Put a positive slant on everything and actually rejoice that you are detoxing bad old stuff along with the new bugs. Eat lightly and only the foods that appeal to you, but drink lots and lots of fluids. And, as soon as you can, make yourself the following concoction:

Cold/Flu Tea Recipe: Pour one gallon of filtered water into your big stock pot into which you will put a 5" piece of ginger washed and chopped, 4 organic lemons, skin on and quartered, a whole head of garlic, cloves separated and smashed with your big knife a bit, then cayenne and honey to taste. Simmer about an hour, strain and sip the entire gallon through out the day, hot or cold.

7) Just say no to drugs: Never reduce a fever of less than 103 with drugs. The fever is there for a reason and is not dangerous as long as you keep drinking your liquids. Most cold and flu's are caused by viruses, so antibiotics would never work anyway.

8) Make sure your bowels are moving well. This will get rid of accumulated waste and toxins. If you are constipated, you will retain toxins longer and be sick longer. Start by using a teaspoon of some sort of psyllium product in diluted juice 4 times a day. Eat prunes or take a laxative. A couple of plain or coffee enemas would be very good now.

9) The Hot Tea/Hot Bath Combo: Buy a package of detox or cold/flu tea bags and use 3 teabags to one quart of water. Bring water to a boil, add teabags, then turn off the heat and steep for ½ an hour. Put your strained, steeped tea into a thermos and drink the whole thing while you are in the very hot tub. Put one cup each of baking soda, Epsom salts and Batherapy (green clay stuff - buy at Whole foods) along with a few drops of Thieves if you have it. Get in the tub, lie there in the hot water, drink your hot tea and SWEAT for as long as you can. Carefully get out of the tub (you might feel dizzy) wrap yourself up in your coziest warmest bathrobe, lie down under blankets and keep sweating. Why this torture? Because it will create an artificial fever and will help your white blood cells zap the bad guys. However, if you have a fever, skip the Bath/Tea combo for now.

Prevention of course is the most important thing. WASH YOUR HANDS! KEEP WASHING THEM! Shaking hands with an infected person will be more dangerous for you than kissing them. Anti-bacterial soaps with triclosan are being dissed heavily now, so a good hand-washing several times a day, with regular soap - for the length of time it takes you to sing Happy Birthday - would be just fine. Stop eating all sugar. Sugar has been proven to kill your white blood cells for up to 4 hours. What will you fight incoming bugs with if you have no immune system?

Start upping your raw garlic intake as garlic is an antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal agent. Add more plain yogurt to your diet or take a probiotic. Eat right for your metabolic type and/or on the alkaline side. There are also many immune enhancing supplements which you could take. Ask me about them.

I take extra preventive measures during the cold/flu season with a couple of products I have dubbed the Teflon Mix, because bugs don't seem to "stick" when you have these supplements in your system. Ask me about these products.

Flu shots: I avoid them. Flu shots are made from toxic chemicals and virus strains grown on living tissue. They contain antifreeze, carbolic acid, formaldehyde, aluminum, mercury and neomycin or streptomycin. Flu shots are thought to promote Alzheimer's disease, cancer, chronic fatigue and very bad cases of the flu. Ask your M.D. to provide you with the insert that reveals the composition of this year's flu vaccination, which is always a crapshoot determined by the CDC anyway. Read the scary insert, then if you still want the flu shot, well. . .

What if you are sick, you've done everything like I have mentioned above and still want to do more? Well, bring it on!

1) Do a warm water enema. 2) After your hot bath/hot tea, rinse with water as cold as possible to chill the skin then go directly to bed. Wear extra clothes and a hat and three times as many blankets as usual to produce sweating. 3) Open the window in the room where you are sleeping. Fresh air is good for the lungs. 4) Stay warm. Don't let your feet get cold as this will make the blood go to your head and lungs. 5) If you feel up to it, take a short walk, like a 15 minute amble. This will rev up your lymph and will start moving things around.

For Nasal Congestion: 1) Create steam with a pan of boiling water. Add some eucalyptus oil. Hold towel over your head as you lean into breathe in the steam. Be careful not to burn yourself. 2) Snort salt water (1/2 t. to 1 C warm water) or use a Neti Pot. 3) Dilute Eucalyptus oil with olive oil and put inside your nose. 4) Put the lower half of your body in a tub of cold water for 5-10 seconds, or you could do just your feet. Then dress warmly. 5) Swallow lots of fresh garlic; cut up 4 or 5 cloves and sprinkle it on a salad or make it into a "ball" of butter and eat.

To create warming moistness for your lungs: Cut the sleeves off of a cotton t-shirt and cut the length to your belly button. Dip the shirt into cold water and put it on next to your skin. It's only really cold for a moment! Layer more clothes (natural fibers only) over your wet t-shirt. You can wear it all day as long as long as you are warm. If you are not warm enough, then try a hot water bottle.

Here is a wonderful soup for you or your Mother to make for you when you are sick.

Red Hot Clear-Your-Sinuses Chicken Soup

Ingredients: 1 head of garlic, olive oil, 1 large onion, 2 green peppers, 2 red peppers, 2 jalapeno peppers, 3 T. grated ginger root, 8 cups broth, 1 bunch cilantro, and one whole chicken. Seasonings like S and P and lemon juice.

Throw a whole skinned organic chicken into the crock pot and cook for a few hours in 4 cups water. De-fat the liquid and use that for stock, adding enough water to make the 8 cups. (Or you could use an already roasted chicken from Whole Foods, and a couple boxes of chicken broth which is quicker.) Shred the chicken.

Spread the separate cloves of garlic, unpeeled, on a baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes or until soft. When they are cool, press the cloves out of their skins and mash.

Heat the oil and add chopped onion and cook for about 10 minutes. Then add the chopped green, red and jalapeno peppers, mashed garlic, grated ginger root and cook about 1 minute. Add chicken stock and simmer for a few minutes. Add the shredded chicken pieces, chopped cilantro and cook a bit more. Add seasonings to taste and just before serving, the lemon juice.

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