Is Prevention Better Than A Cure?

Cold and Flu Season ?

 Actually, the very best way to cure a cold, is not to get one in the first place. Being by washing your hands after handling raw meats, handling your pets, and of course using the bathroom. Always prewash raw fruits and vegetables before eating them, as well. 


Believe it or not, most of my life, I have always gotten sicker than almost anyone I knew. From the time I was a toddler, whenever something was going around, I was usually the first one to get sick, and was very much sicker than anyone else in my family. Why even when I was twelve, I even contracted Mumps on both sides, for the second time in my young life. 


My family always ate well, as well as most people we knew, anyway. However, we were also having desserts on a fairly regular basis, and were also exposed to pesticides as we lived in a large area of commercial farming, where they raised tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, celery, strawberries, and many varieties of lettuce, too. The man who farmed the land used who knows what to spray by airplane, and also cordoned off his fields with sheets of metal, to stop the intrusion of the annual caterpillars. On both sides of the metal, he spread powdered poison to kill any caterpillars that might make it over the strips, which were about fifteen inches high. 


Back to the cold thing; I also drank soft drinks, and baked cakes and pies which my family enjoyed. All of that sugar, actually turns one's body chemistry acidic, which leave a person very vulnerable to infection, including all kinds of viruses, and even cancer. 

Drink plenty of fresh clean water.
Everyone needs at least
64 ounces daily, in addition
to whatever else you drink.

Plenty of fluids and fresh air and exercise is also beneficial for fighting infections, as it helps your body eliminate them, while also taking in more oxygen into your system, which helps fight invading bacteria and viruses.  Even Cancer patients who eat healthy foods, and get as much outdoor exercise as possible fare far better than those who just stay indoors, awaiting death.  Mind over matter is also strong medicine.


Many medications, which appear to help relieve some symptoms of colds and flu are actually petroleum byproducts.  So, how can they actually be good for you?  Chest Rubs, are such medications.  They even have warnings on the label about not getting them into your sensitive areas of your nostrils, or taking them internally.  My older sister, started in her youth to actually swallow some "Vick's Vaporub" to relieve some cold symptoms.  I too used it in hot water to release the aromatic steam into the air.  You would be better off using such herbs as mint in hot water, or cinnamon, leaves of eucalyptus to release their fragrant oils and allow you to breathe in more moisture from the air in your home or room.

Add fresh herbs to meals
instead of salt and/or excessive
pepper.

I was diagnosed at a rather early age of having some sort of autoimmune problem, though no one could ever figure out exactly what it was. So, I continued to get sick, and allergies continued to increase, until finally I had to drop out of school, as I was missing more days than I was able to even be there. Somehow, I still maintained as 'A' average.  As I have stated before, I would have died at an early age, had it not been for Penicillin due to strep throat and Rheumatic Fever.  I still have lingering Chronic Nephritis from that illness.  Still, for the good I got from the treatment, No one knew at that time that antibiotics kill off good bacteria as well as the bad.  

Eat lots of fresh fruits and
 vegetables.  Drink freshly juiced
vegetable and fruit juices.

If you must take antibiotics, then when they regimen is completed, be sure to eat plenty of yogurt that contains active yogurt culture for some time afterward, and even buy some natural probiotics to help replace the good bacteria which was killed off in your digestive tract and in the intestines.  This is also the reason many women get  a yeast infection after taking antibiotics.  It is also why many people get fungal infections, as their body's natural defenses have been wiped out will the bad bacteria, by the antibiotics.  Cancer treatments also destroys the body's natural immunity, so after Chemo, you need to replace the good bacteria, get plenty of natural whole foods, and replace the good bacteria which protects your body from another invasion of Cancer.

Eat lots of whole foods, including
plenty of fresh whole veggies.

Then, I finally moved back into my own home, from having lived on my younger sister's property for four years, as I was safer being near help if I needed it.  Until only about three years ago, I continued fighting off all kinds of infections, and the flu, and colds, as well as taking more and more medications for allergies, and Imitrex shots for severe migraines, until, I finally discovered that my diet was affecting my overall health more than I had ever realized. I had been on medication for GERD for probably eighteen years, in addition to the medications I was prescribed for my Chronic Neurological pain from my back and neck/spinal cord injuries.   Ꮃhen I stopped drinking soft drinks, my gastric reflux also stopped.  Rarely if ever do I drink sodas now, and I was a card carrying Pepsiholic. 


You will find that if you can eliminate processed sugar from your diet, not only will your blood sugar levels fall, so will your tendency to catch everything that is out there, blowing in the wind, or floating all around in school, or your work place.


Even two surgeries on my neck failed to help very much, except to keep me alive and out of a wheelchair. My Neurosurgeon had me on Duragesic patches, until they were no longer allowed by my HMO. Then, I was prescribed Morphine, which actually helped more than did the patches. I was also prescribed muscle relaxers to help with the severe muscle spasms, which the doctor said were so severe in my neck that I stood a significant risk of having a fatal stroke from the blood supply to my brain being cut off. 


When I did move back home, I was barely able to put one foot in front of the other, even using my cane. Since my older daughter and her family were living in my home then, I at least had someone home should I get injured, or have a stroke.

Delicious cucumber
and tomato salad

Anyway, as to the diet change: I was not really up to preparing meals, so I started eating out, as my daughter and her family ate differently than did I. That's when I discovered the Chinese Buffet I often refer to. I was careful to stay away from breaded meat, and since they served mostly sea food and chicken, that was easy to do. I also ate as much of the freshly prepared vegetables as I could, and ate mostly a variety of green beans, cabbage, cucumber salad, and whatever else they had in the way of fresh vegetable, except for ice berg lettuce, as I had already known it is lacking in almost any nutrients, and it difficult to digest, as well. 


Bit by bit, I started having less pain, walking better, and feeling more energetic than I have in more than twenty years. Now, I don't even remember the last time I had a cold, or the flu. I no longer even take flu shots, either. I have been around people who have been sick, and I don't get anything, except for an occasional allergic reaction to something I may have eaten that may have something I am still allergic to which I may have missed.


I know this is really long, and you may think it is off topic as well. But, it really isn't, as I am healthier now than I have been in my entire life, and watching what I eat, staying away from sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and genetically modified grains such as corn, soy, and even conola oil and even vegetable oil when possible has help improved my health, and strengthened my immune system so much, that my mind is more alert, and I feel better than I did, even in my youth. 


Why this past May, I had what should have been a serious injury to my finger, when a friend and I were working on the base of a new shed I bought. She was using an electric drill to drive in three inch long screws into the wood. I was holding the wood in place, when the screw bit, jumped out of the screw head, and went all the way through my right ring finger. Sure it hurt, and bled all over, but after washing it, thoroughly, and putting a good bandage, with Neosporin on it, the pain was gone, and I was able to bend the knuckle and continued working, using that hand. The finger wasn't even swollen. Now, that's very unusual. Within about a week, my finger was completely healed, though still slightly sensitive if I bumped, but it was after all, new flesh and was not as strong as it is now. There is only a very small scar on each side of my finger where that bit passed all the way though. 

If you cannot jog,
walk, but move
your body (outside).

My friend, on the other hand, continued to eat sweets, and was only slightly careful about what she ate. She and her son were very ill with the flu, and called me to see if I was also sick, as we had all been together the entire day before, eating out on almost the same dishes. Her son vomited about half an hour after we left the restaurant, and I was in the same car. 


I didn't get sick at all. Her son, who is about thirty, was sick in bed for almost a week, and she for a couple of days. 


Slowly, she is learning that my tips and benefiting her, when she tries my way. She is cutting back more on her use of sugar, and watching other things, learning what she may be sensitive to, and adjusting her diet accordingly.


This friend has Lupus, Fibromyalgia, and Chronic Cystitis of the bladder, as well. She is finally learning that sugar aggravates this problem, and is now trying new things, and learning, too. 


I am still learning, and sharing what I have learned with anyone who will listen, and some who don't. I still have my neck and back problems, but I am no longer on any medication, at all.