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Sidetracked Sarah

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9 Ways to Fight off a Cold Naturally

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I sat in my recliner most of the day on Christmas, relaxing.  While it was nice to relax, it wasn’t just relaxing I was doing.  I  had a day full of sneezing and blowing my nose.  While I really did enjoy having a low-key day where I could enjoy the children and just be together,  the cold symptoms, I could do without.  I’m sure you’ve been there before!  We all have at one time or another.

As I sat there all day, I had a lot of time to think.  It reminded me that earlier this year, I wrote a post about how to combat winter time illnesses.  Let me just say, after a relatively healthy spring, summer and fall, it’s time for me to refresh my brain on how I can fight off a cold naturally!  I seem to have a brain lapse when I’m out of practice.  So, I looked up the old post and thought I’d better just post the meat of it again!  After all, it’s great information to keep on hand, especially since we’re heading into cold and flu season.

(This post contains affiliate links)

9 Ways to Fight Off a Cold Naturally

9 Ways to Fight Off a Cold Naturally

I tend to let illness run it’s course, but I do like to take things to help to rebuild my immune system so that it can get out of here faster!  Here are some of the things that we rely on to get our health back on track when we’re fighting cold and flu.
  • Garlic – Take garlic tablets and/or eat garlic on your food when you first come down with anything.  Garlic is a natural antibiotic and helps to rebuild your immune system.
  • Vitamin C – Take the pills, eat fresh oranges, drink orange juice, eat grapefruit.  If you’re taking the pills, my book recommends taking 5,000-20,000 mg a day in divided doses.
  • Grapefruit Seed Extract– for colds –  mix about 10-20 drops in some orange juice and drink it down quick.  The taste can be bitter, but when you mix it with the orange juice, it is a lot less noticeable!  When we take this, we really notice a shorter duration of our cold.
  • Elderberry Juice or Extract– It can help to break a fever and is “effective against a cold because it contains antioxidant flavonoids that protect cell walls against foreign substances”.  Source
  • Apple Cider Vinegar– fights illness, helps sore throats along with a whole slew of other things it’s good for.  Definitely aids in rebuilding your immune system, also.
  • Try to avoid consuming sugar as this can prolong any illness.
  • Eucalyptus Oil– We keep this essential oil on hand and we put it into our humidifiers so we can smell it and breathe it while we’re sleeping.  It aids in breaking up congestion.  (I recently learned that we’re not supposed to expose my daughter who has epilepsy to this oil though, so please be careful that no one in the household has a condition that can be affected by this)
  • Use a Neti Pot– I have done this before when I was desperate, but I find it not very enjoyable, so don’t do it unless I need some serious relief!  I have read that those who use a neti pot, decrease the duration of the cold.  I did find that it relieved my symptoms temporarily and that my cold seemed to get over with quickly.
  • Use hydrogen peroxide in your ears and nose – I know this one sounds weird, too, but I read that at the first sign of a cold, rinse your ears and nose with peroxide.  I read that you are supposed to pour it into the ear and let it sit there as long as possible.  That was totally miserable, so now I just use it on the end of a Q-tip, cleaning out my ears with it.  From what I read, it said that the nasal cavity and the ears are the first places to accept the virus, so if you can catch it before it’s taken hold, it can cause it to go away.  I have had success with my cold going away right after I was starting to feel sick by using this remedy.  You do have to catch it early though, because the times that I didn’t, I went on to get a full blown cold.
When I’m at a loss for what to do, I check my book Prescription for Nutritional Healing, and it gives me lots of great ideas, including what to take and what to eat (or not eat).  Right now, Amazon has a special where you can try out Amazon Prime for 30 days and then you could get free 2nd Day shipping!  We love using Amazon Prime so that we can get our products quickly!  [Of course the free movie rentals and book lending library is always fun, too! ]

What do you use to help you fight off the winter time sickness?  I’d love to hear what works for you!

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The following products were mentioned above.  They are affiliate links and should you decide to purchase from Amazon, I would earn a small commission from it.  

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