Superstitions, Folk Remedies, and Other Cures for Colds and Flus

Wintertime sickness is still lingering in our household.  It started right after Christmas and the coughs, sniffles, and tiredness are still hanging on.  I haven't been at work for a week, and I'm almost starting to miss it....but just a teeny tiny bit...

Ever since I was little, every time I got a wintertime cold, the cough seems to hang on for weeks....even months.  I remember missing a couple months of school when I was about 7 due to bronchitis, and got sick every winter and usually on every family vacation.  Although I do have a history of bronchitis and asthma as a child, it's virtually nonexistent since I've become an adult.  But every bad cold I get seems to reignite the past lung problems and I wind up with a cough that could be mistaken for an 80 year old lifelong chain smoker.

Since I've started eating a much cleaner, organic diet, and even more since going gluten free and working on my food allergies and other health issues, I've slowly been getting healthier.  I don't get every single cold that goes around, but this one managed to hit me hard and fast.  

I tried so many different things when I first started feeling like I was getting sick...vitamin c, zinc, juicing, washing my hands, anti-bacterial sanitizers, raw honey, staying at home, not eating out, eating warm foods like soups and bone broth, lots of garlic, lemon juice and coconut oil....anything I could think of to try to keep my immune system up.  But too many long, cold nights....too much indulging in foods I shouldn't....and I got sick.  

For the past week I have rotated my time between the couch and my bed.  Sleeping on and off all day and night.  Trying different folk remedies.  Eventually giving up on strictly the natural approach and living off Nyquil and way too much Netflix as well. Trying to keep the cravings for junk food away.  

(Does anyone else crave disgusting, crappy food when they are sick?  Or is that just me?)

My gym has a eucalyptus oil steam room.  I did manage to make it there on Sunday morning when the gym was empty and let my body try to sweat out the sickness.  I was very concerned that I would cough up a lung while I was in there...and the fact that I can't bring kleenex in there was of great concern.  But I brought a ton of water and a couple small hand towels for any sort of coughing catastrophe that could happen.  I did feel much better after doing that, but was extremely tired and slept most of the day afterwards.  

My sister said that one of her go-to-cure-all remedies is a hot toddy.  On Saturday evening while we were watching the 49ers game, I decided to give it a try.  I searched online and found many different variations, and decided to create my own version. I drank two of them and slept very well that night and woke up not feeling like I had been hit by a fleet of semi-trucks.  So did it cure me?  Who knows.  But I did feel better the next day, so I'm going to add it to my arsenal of natural cold remedies.   

Honey Lemon Hot Toddy

1/2 of one organic lemon

2 shots of Honey Whiskey 

Boiling water

Spoonful of raw, local honey

In a large mug, add juice of a half of a lemon.  Cut the juiced lemon half into 4 pieces (discard seeds) and add to the mug.  Add 2 shots of honey whiskey.  Fill the mug with boiling water.  Stir in a spoonful of honey.  Drink while still very hot, but don't burn yourself.  Drink entire mug before it cools down. 

***Be sure not to mix this with any cold medicines....always read the warning labels about mixing alcohol and medication.****

What do you do to stay healthy during cold and flu season?  Are you strictly a vitamin and chicken soup person?  Nyquil and trashy daytime TV?  Or a mixture of the two?  What are your favorite cold remedies?  

New Year, New Focus

I'm not the kind of person that makes New Year's resolutions.  Just because it's a new year, doesn't mean things are suddenly different and magical and you will suddenly have the willpower to change that flaw in your life.  Nor do I think that you have to wait until a certain date to begin a plan to better yourself.  You can start a plan just as easily on January 1 as on March 19 or August 22 or even November 5.  

While we were out Christmas shopping, I had mentioned to my sister how exhausted I was from all the stuff I had been doing lately.  Not things for myself, but things for other people.  She reminded me of something that I know, but keep ignoring. 

If you don't take care of yourself, 

how can you take care of those around you? 

Who knew that my baby sister could be so wise? 

Growing up, it was always stressed to me that in order to be happy, you needed to live a life where you put others needs above your own needs.  While I do believe that you do need to live a life that is not self-centered, unfortunately for me, I have let it go to the extreme and truly put my needs dead last.  I exhaust myself doing for others that I don't take care of myself and have let my life, my health, and my happiness wants and desires be put on hold for the benefit of others.  

I'm burnt out.   

I joke that I wish I was a rich celebrity so I could go stay at the spa for 30 days and get treated for exhaustion, but I'm almost at the point where that wish is slowly becoming a necessity.

Today, I am home sick with what feels like the head cold of death.  Everyone around me has it.  I didn't give myself permission to get it until after my sister's birthday party.  I took tons of vitamins and drank tea and stayed away from the general population and their diseases.  Her party was Saturday night.  By Sunday night, it finally caught up with me and I was done.

Instead of just laying in bed feeling crummy, I got up and got some bone broth started on the stove. I'm wrapped up in layers of warm clothing, resting with my dogs, drinking tons of fluids, taking cold medicine, and trying to not be mad that I'm sick. I'm going to take care of me, because my mom isn't here to do it for me. 

(Am I the only person who wants their mommy to take care of them when they are sick?  I suddenly feel 5 again and want comfort food, vics, and fresh sheets...)

Maybe this is just my body's way of saying enough.

I have noticed that over the past year, my immune system has dramatically improved.  I spent months eating very healthy, working on healing my gut and my food allergies, and my body in general.  I used to catch every single bug that went around, and have slowly been building up my system.  

But the past several weeks of overdoing it, not to mention the past couple weeks of holiday indulgences, have compromised it.    

I need to take care of myself.  If I don't, how can I take care of my husband, my dogs, my family, my friends and the rest of the world? 

As much as I hate resolutions, this year I resolve.... 

To become selfish.  

To learn to say no.  

To put my health and my needs first.  

To spend more time exercising and being active. 

To not stay complacent in my life and to constantly look for ways to challenge and better myself.  

To work on finishing my degree and reaching my goal of higher educations.  

To use the tools I've been given to heal my body and manage my food allergies and the other health challenges associated with that.  

To become a better me, so I can better take care of everyone else around me.