Immunity Boost

Throughout my adult life I have mastered the art of excuse making and justification.  If you are needing permission to eat the wrong things or skip the right things, I'm your girl.  Calories don't count on holidays, your birthday, or Friday's.  We all need to relax more and have some down time so if you need to skip out on that run to catchup on Grey's Anatomy (yes, I might be the only person still watching), then you'll be healthier for it.  You work hard for your money and we all need to indulge from time to time...etc. The idea for my comeback season came from this being my greatest art form.  No more excuses, right?!  Could someone please explain this to my immune system!?  My go get 'em attitude has been consistently overrun by sinus pressure, chest congestion, and exhaustion for the past few months and when I am feeling on top of my game, the little one makes sure to welcome a new tooth or a bug of her own.  Its becoming a problem when I go a month between seeing someone and the first thing they say is, "Weren't you sick the last time I saw you?"  So enough is enough!  I'm on the hunt for anything and everything that will fight a cold quickly and keep them away.  This all came with great timing because after missing ANOTHER day of work, I spend the rest of the week receiving cold remedy and immune boosting advice from just about everyone I encountered!...no really, EVERYONE!  So, since I obviously can't use ALL of them, I thought I would share so this great advice won't go to waste.

1.  Honey, Lemon, and Ginger
  This advice has come in a number of forms and appears to be the magical cure for just about everything!

•  8 oz mug of Hot Lemon water every hour will kill a cold (A friends Grandmother demands it!)

•  Lemon water every morning first thing when you get up will boost your metabolism and fight free radicals to give you more energy and keep you from getting a cold.

•  Ginger tea is the best remedy for nausea (proven during the first 14 weeks of my pregnancy!)

•  Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties and can also help clear your sinuses

•  Raw honey kills bacteria and fights infections.

For this most recent cold I drank the following combination when I first woke up and before going to bed.  I'm not a Doctor or a Scientist, but I believe it helped me make it through my work week!

8oz Hot Water
Lemon wedge (clean your lemons before dropping a wedge of lemon in your water!)
1 Tablespoon of Raw Honey
1 Teaspoon of graded Ginger

2.  Emergen-C Immune +
   Packed full of all the good stuff and doesn't taste half bad!

3.  Jarro-Dophilus
  This is a pro-biotic and I guess the idea is that a healthy digestive system boosts the immune system. Some people swear by it.  I haven't tried it, but at this point, what could it hurt!?
  There is also Jarro-Dophilus for the little ones.  It's Baby's Jarro-Dophilus and a mom told me her baby never catches what the other kids are passing around because she gives him this.  

4.  Olive Leaf Capsules
   From what I was told, Olive Leaf is popping up more frequently because it has antiviral, antibacterial and anti fungal properties  (so when this becomes the new hot topic in the lunch room, you heard it here first folks!)

5.  Elderberry
  You can buy it in syrup or lozenge form and I've also been told that people make the syrup at home.  Elderberry is another anti-inflammatory that boosts the immune system and you would take it when you start to feel a cold coming (24 to 48 hours from the start of your cold or flu).  I also find it interesting that in raw form it is poisonous (with my cooking skills, I will not be making my own for that reason!) 

6.  Children's Vitamins
  Yep, a friend of mine swears they put the right stuff in children's vitamins for new moms and leaves something out of the adult version.  She took them throughout the first two years she had her littles, who are barely 365 days apart, and  says they worked like a charm.  In knowing this person I would also venture to guess she liked the way they tasted like candy better, but I don't have room to be skeptical and my desperation took me straight to the Flintstones isle!

7.  Daily Power Smoothy
   I haven't tried this one either, but a mom told me she makes a smoothy out of lemon flavored cod oil, whey protein powder, organic berries, cacao nips, coconut, yogurt, and cinnamon for her family every morning, including the baby, and she swears that's how they stay ahead of all the bugs floating around. 

I have to confess that this post is another way to solicit some ideas to keep my house hold healthy.  I keep hearing that the first year of day care is going to be the worst and I hope that is true, but just in case, I would like to have as many tools in the the tool box as possible!   So, what works for you?