Josie Maurer, creator of YumYucky.com, spreads the message of finding balance between fitness and your greedy side. She lost over 40 pounds after the birth of her fourth child through sensible eating and exercise, yet she still maintains her love for large slices of cake.
You’re sneezing and throat-hacking. You may cough up a lung. Your head feels 10,000 pounds heavy and your nostrils are host to a faucet of liquid boogers. Cold and flu season is approaching. Are you ready to do battle?
Germs are pretty sneaky. Today’s innocent sneezing fit could very well morph into a barrage of “I can’t go to work” cold symptoms by the time tomorrow comes. But there’s a way to put those symptoms in a headlock and quite possibly bounce back faster. There are 5 natural remedies you can wield against a cold.
Vitamin C
It can bolster your immune system as a natural line of defense and is best acquired from power-packed food sources, like oranges, kiwi, grapefruit, cantaloupes, and even Brussels sprouts and red bell peppers. If your sickly woes make a stomach full of food undesirable, the good ol’ Vitamin C pill standby can also do you good.
Bromelain
Cold and allergy symptoms may bestow upon you the gift of nasal inflammation and mucus woes that lead to sinusitis, but you can battle back with Bromelain. This natural supplement comes in pill form and contains pineapple enzymes that are proven to have an anti-inflammatory affect. Look for it in natural health food stores or from a reputable online retailer.
Chicken Soup
There’s tons of talk about the healing power of chicken soup, and while there’s no scientific evidence to prove it can actually cure a cold, there’s just something about a bowl of chicken soup that “heals” you. It can sooth your throat, limit the affects of mucus production, and make the belly warm and happy. The positive affects of chicken soup may indeed be psychological, but regardless, stock up and keep it in your arsenal.
Saline Nasal Irrigation
Doesn’t everyone want to squirt a saline rinse up the nose and watch the yellow-green mucus gush out? Saline rinses can be pretty gross, but the amazing affects of reaching those innermost sinus cavities to relieve symptoms like stuffiness, congestion, and post-nasal drip is a trick that mere nose-blowing cannot accomplish. You can pick up a saline kit at any drugstore for around $10. It can also help to relieve allergy symptoms and can even be used one or more times per week for preventative maintenance.
The key to effective irrigation is to breathe in the water as you squirt it. Do not forget this part. And don’t worry – you won’t drown.
Water
Water is boring, isn’t it? Orange juice and ginger ale are much more sensational at sick time, but don’t omit water to prevent dehydration. Keep drinking! Otherwise, you’ll have a whole new set of problems to deal with on top of a miserable cold.
So, is your arsenal stacked yet? Even though a cold may slap you silly without warning, you can at least be prepared to do battle and quite possibly avoid a doctor’s co-pay and costly pharmacy prescriptions.
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