Natural Home Cold Remedies

Let me guess- you’ve had a time in your life where you’ve gotten sick at the last minute and needed some quick natural home cold remedies.

The good news is that the more you get in tune with your body, the easier it will be to prevent catching a cold in the first place. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle will go a long way toward preventing illness. Avoiding processed foods (nothing real there!), sugars, simple carbs and grains, and other starchy foods will help your body function at tip top immunity. Exercising on the regular can also reduce how often a person gets sick in a year and the duration. And a biggie is always getting enough sleep! Sleep is so crucial to preventing illness—even a few nights of bad sleep or not enough sleep can leave the body worn out and defenseless against sickness. Oh and bonus, sleep is also the best makeup ever!

But what if you’re sniffling?

Now, these are just the basics that can help your body resist a nasty bug that comes along and bites you in the arse, but what about when you sense the sniffles are about to begin? Well, here are my favorite steps to put that cold in check in a more natural way.

Natural and herbal remedies can help shorten the duration of an illness and help you feel better faster. Most importantly, they can help you stay that way! Too often, people hit up the doctor and immediately take antibiotics—and if you have a viral infection, this is a HUGE no-no. When it comes to antibiotics, what doesn’t kill them makes them stronger—for real. They won’t kill the viruses causing the colds. What worse, is when the bacteria that lives on our skin, in our noses, and all around us are exposed to antibiotics, they can transform into “supergerms” that are able to give those antibiotics the slip next time around. Oh and the chances of you getting sick after taking antibiotics within three months is about 75%!

So instead of disrupting the delicate balance of your intestinal terrain, here are my Top 5 natural cold care tips to help you kick that cold to the curb while giving your body a bit more TLC.

1) Begin with a Power Pack! (Five for One Here!)

As soon as you feel that scratchy throat or head congestion, here is my super-duper secret cold & flu protocol! Do these steps for 3 days only at the first onset of symptoms.

• 1 TBL 3x per day of Colloidal or Sovereign Silver Liquid. Silver has super immune boosting benefits and can act as a natural antibiotic when taken in higher doses. And Sovereign silver, unlike its modern  prescription antibiotic counterpart, doesn’t create resistance or immunity in the organisms that are  killed by it. Or if you don’t want to mess with nanosilver, try Oregano or Oregano Oil. It’s also a potent  natural antibiotic and antiviral. I love Biotics Research ADP formula.

• 50 mg of Zinc per day (spread out the dosage throughout day) A Cochrane review found that zinc  supplements reduced the severity and duration of an illness when taken as soon as the illness began,  though of course, it would be important not to exceed the upper limits for zinc intake.

• 5000 mg of Vitamin C (spread out the dosage throughout day). Naturally derived Vitamin C from  fruits and veggies is best, stay away from Ascorbic Acid. Of course, the best way to get Vitamin C is from  foods, especially raw vegetables and fruits like brightly colored bell peppers, Citrus fruits, Acerola  Cherry, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and others, but for this purpose, you want to up the ante! My favorite’s are Pure Radiance Vitamin C Powder or HealthForce Nutritionals Truly Natural Vitamin C.

• An Immune Support like Wellness Formula to take as directed.

2) Hit The Pillow.

This is your prescription to take a long winter’s nap and rest that tired immune system of yours. For real! That doesn’t mean stay home from work and clean the house. It means REST. All the energy your body is using to motor around the house or work, needs to be directed to fighting off the infection. Have some sleep, with a side of sleep and an extra plate of sleep. 😉

3) Take an Immunity Shot.

These are my serious military backups for colds and flu. I drink a few of these throughout the day. Here’s the recipe:

The Plante Life Immunity Shots
If you have a juicer, use it!

• Juice of 1 lemon (or 1 whole lemon, unpeeled, in juicer)

• 1 inch piece of ginger, crushed (2-3 inch ginger piece in juicer or grated with a zester works too!)

• Dash of cayenne

• Optional: Juice of one whole apple

• I’ll sometimes add a few drops of vanilla stevia because it’s all very sour and spicy!

4) Get A Little Spicy.

In capsule form, ginger can greatly help with nausea and vomiting associated with the flu. It can also help with high fever and headache. Fresh ginger root can be steeped in boiling water to make a tea that is very effective against sinus symptoms and congestion.

I often just grate fresh ginger into my warm lemon water in the morning, add in a lil’ turmeric and voila! An amazing immunity detox tea to start your mornings.

5.) Try ColdCalm by Boiron.

I love this stuff, but you have to start taking it right at the very first sign of sickness and exactly as directed. Here’s my favorite for colds, and there is also one for the flu.

While it’s always easier to stop a cold before it starts with a healthy diet and lifestyle, sometimes you just have to roll with the germy punches. I hope these cold care tips will help you feel tip top in no time. What tricks do you have for feeling better sooner? Let me know in the comments below!

 

LOVE + cold fighting karate chops!