Beat the Flue Naturally

Don’t be skeptical, if I can do it you can do it. So three days ago I woke up at 4:30am sweating, throat, and ears all throbbing, body aching like I ran a marathon. Knew I was in trouble.. had to decide if I was going to medicate or give my body a chance to fight naturally. Decided to give my body a chance.

Here is the regimen that naturally got me to a fully functional state by day 3:

Day 1:
Hydrate – lukewarm herbal teas that soothe the throat. I drank one cup to two every hour. Add lemon slices and spoons of good organic honey. What type of teas you say… ok mint, ginger, camomile, green and mixed teas. I happen to have a big stash of Kusmi teas and kept brewing and drinking. Stay away from the dark, hard, and dehydrating teas.
20140228-072145.jpg

Add humidity to the room you are in. I dislike humidifiers most are traps for bacteria and mold. Boiling a pot of water is just fine. Keeps your nasal passages soothed instead of the dry crackling air.

Every hour I did a 5 minute vapor session; throw a towel over your head and breathe in the vapors from boiling water. Adding a drop of organic mint oil is refreshing while relieving your nose and throat. Another amazing oil I used is oregano oil. Yes the vapor regimen will make your nose drip, it’s ok just wipe it. Put 3 drops in water and drink – not for the faint hearted this is strong stuff — but when you are fighting with flue you can surprise yourself with what you can drink.
20140228-071644.jpg

Light exercise is good; walk around in your home every couple hours to circulate blood.

Take a power nap – your body heals itself when you sleep. Had one coffee to fight the headache, worked temporarily but not enough.

Ate apples, carrots, salad greens, lentil soup spiked with garlic and paprika. Yes garlic is magical for colds and flue.

Day 2:
Ok started the morning badly; as I could not sleep well from the splitting headache. This is where I cheated with using a homeopathic sinus pressure and headache relieving dissolving tablets – evidence in exhibit A:
20140228-071812.jpg

Then I continued to do Day 1 regimen. Added some protein like yogurt, and a robust green smoothie with a strong shot of ginger – zing!!!! Think that alone killed about a whole colony of viruses immediately.

Changed sheets and PJs… call me crazy but esp when sick anything that can keep germs around longer goes… You are wondering about the toothbrush right??? Yes, I keep it under boiling water to disinfect so I don’t keep putting the same viruses in my mouth.

Took two power naps. Ate dark organic chocolate – yes I went through a whole bar in 2 days. Neti pot you say??? If I had one handy I would have used it… it is great for cleansing the sinuses and helping you breathe again. In fact I am buying one this weekend just to have it handy.

Notice in two days I did not eat breads, rice, carbs even though I love them – but somehow my body was telling me to stay away. Another thing to note is I stayed home for two days – did not leave even once. Totally tried to relax and give my body the stress free experience of just taking care of itself. Yes, this means you don’t work or you work little and mostly rest. Work never ends but your health does.

Day 3:
Had to take the homeopathic for headache in the morning again. Strong green smoothie with ginger again. Same tea regimen to keep hydration going all day. Was a normal day, went out, worked, went to grocery store etc.

Our minds and bodies are very powerful. They can heal us with little help from us. Our mindset is also a factor: I kept thinking feeling great despite moments of agony, stuffy nose to degree of only breathing from mouth, cold sweating and joint aches that kept on going.

Result: almost healed, slight nasal drip and sinus pressure but body, ear, throat completely healed. I expect to feel even better tomorrow.

A friend asked me ‘why put yourself through this just take a flue medicine or the flue shot. This is crazy.’ Well I said my body needs to naturally fight diseases to stay strong. I have never had a flue shot and rarely get this sick in any given winter. I believe in the Swedish healthcare motto – let the body rest and heal instead of immediately medicating everything and overusing antibiotics etc. Now remember, we are only talking about flue. I am not suggesting cure any ailment without medicine — that is a whole other story for another time.

Live well, Eat well, Be well !!

organic abu-annuch

IMG_1067

IMG_1066 IMG_1065

This eggplant recipe was made a day after when I made eggplant mazza so you can grill your eggplants a day before but as you can see they get brown this time because I didn’t soak them in lemon juice and use them immediately anyway the taste is same just the color is darker. If as me you like to eat it simply with bread and yogurt with fresh mint or you can eat it with meat or rice as how you like. Just use your creativity!

What you need to get started is

1/2 cup organic eggplant (2 small or 1 big)

1 egg (optional)

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp sea salt

some parsley to decorate

Prepare the eggplants as same as eggplant mazza but don’t soak them into lemon juice use them directly.

Dice them finely or mash them (sometimes I like to cut them in small cubes you can do if you like).

If you use the egg first scramble the egg.

Heat the olive oil.

Put the eggs when they start to take shape stir them to create  small  pieces of eggs. (Like stir fried eggs)

Add eggplants cook them for 5 min.

Add salt and garlic cook 5 min. more.

That’s it it’s ready! it’s easy and quick for a delicious dish isn’t it?

Give it a nice shape decorate it with some parsley or herbs and enjoy!