Staying Fit in the Cold & Flu Season

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

17 Dec 2006 06:28 PM

As you may remember, we talked about how sick my family got during the Thanksgiving holidays. We started with nasty head colds and moved on to nastier stomach bugs. Christmas is just 8 days away and the last thing you want is to be battling a cold while trying to attend Christmas Eve services, Christmas Eve events or opening presents Christmas morning. For those of you who spent Hanukah sick, you have my sympathies and here are a few suggestions to help get rid of your cold and get healthier faster.

The following methods are homeopathic and might as well come from your mothers or your grandmothers. The great thing about these old wives tales or homeopathic remedies for illness is they often have a grain of truth and here are a few grains to help get you over your colds faster and let you and your family enjoy a healthier, happier holiday season.

• Zinc supplements - Have you ever heard of Zicam? It's a wonderful little product that you begin taking at the first sign of a cold and it can help to dramatically reduce your symptoms and reduce the life of the cold. Instead of Zicam, you might try taking Zinc because according to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, cold sufferers who took zinc got over their colds in 4 to 5 days instead of the traditional 8 to 10 that a cold can leave you suffering
• Chicken Soup - Remember your mom always told you to drink chicken soup when you didn't feel well? I bet she knew it helped, but she didn't know exactly why - you see chicken soup will help you to inhibit neutrophils which are the white blood cells that help you to produce mucus - yes, mom does know best!
• Sleeping - Mom told you to stay in bed and sleep, we're always run down when we get a cold, but life and the demands of living often keep us pushing past our own colds and how awful we feel - the more we sleep, the more strength we provide to our immune systems - the less we sleep, the weaker our immune systems are
• Ginseng - helps to reduce the life of a cold and research by the University of Alberta in Canada and they found that if you take 200 mg of ginseng twice daily, you are boosting your own immune system

Mom did know best - so hats off to our moms and maybe we didn't listen to them when we were kids, but it's time we started, don't you think?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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QueenAngie Central Illinois, USA (60086) 17 Dec 2006 05:56 PM

Great tips, Heather!

Don't forget to drink plenty of fluids - either hot or cold that appeal to you and get Vitamin C either in OJ or pill form.