Yesterday I was sick. It wasn’t my choice to have to put my life on hold for a day, but it was. I read somewhere that on average we are going to get sick twice a year and that a cold lasts for five days. I can live with those numbers, but I choose not to.

The last time I was ill was during a period of time when my body was under a lot of stress. I was working crazy hours. I was eating badly. He was drinking massive amounts of sugar water. My immune system was a mess without my knowing it. At that time I got sick once a month. I saw it as a huge loss of productivity and when I got back to work I would put in more hours to make up for it. It was a cycle. I remember saying to myself “No more”.

When I woke up yesterday morning, my throat itched, my sinuses were parched, and my upper chest was heavy. Maybe she was sick and maybe not. Should I go to work and possibly make others sick? Should I go to work a little sick and finally come home really sick? I decided to stay home and make sure I would feel better the next day.

There has been a great deal of research on colds and no one has yet found a way to “cure” a cold. That is not exactly true. All people on this planet have the ability to cure a cold as long as their immune system is healthy. People have caught a cold since the beginning of recorded history. In those thousands of years, people have noticed many natural things that they can do to lessen the severity of a cold, and many times they never even realize they are sick.

Due to my food choices, my body has the best building blocks available. I eat raw fruits and vegetables in variety. A serving of these is mixed to release the nutrients and allow my body to better absorb them. I do not take any pharmaceutical products that can reduce my resistance to disease. You should read the warning labels and do a little research on any medications you are taking. If one of the side effects is a weakened immune system or possible liver or kidney damage, you may be harming your overall health. I also drink about a gallon of water a day. Hydration allows your cells to do the job they are designed to do.

The previous paragraph can easily be turned into various books on nutrition. The average person who eats fast food is certainly not getting all the essential nutrients they need. Do a Wikipedia search for ‘essential nutrients’ for a list of the minimums you need in your daily diet to maintain reasonable health and longevity.

The above is a foundation for keeping your immune system working. I think I am still exposed to colds and the flu virus on a regular basis. I have taken the steps above for my body to fight these threats effectively without worrying about the fact that I am sick.

I am not a doctor or a nutritionist but I do read and enjoy health and nutrition topics. I encourage you to at least go to the library and get a book on these topics. Most of the basics can be found in a $ 5 used textbook at your local used book store. Most of the basics can be found on the websites run by WebMD, the Mayo Clinic, and the National Institute of Health. Most of the basics can be found in the YouTube videos of Dr. Mercola, Dr. Oz, Dr. Joel Wallach, and Mike Adams (Health Ranger). Everything I’m saying about supporting the health of the human body is most likely regurgitation from one of these sources.

Since I felt like something was coming, I did a few additional things to help strengthen my immune system. When I woke up, I rinsed my mouth with peroxide and did it several more times that day between meals. I drank a liter of water before doing anything else. I ate an orange for energy and vitamin C. I took two extended-release vitamin C tablets. I ate two garlic cloves by squishing them in my mouth. This was done in the first ten minutes of my day. Then I went back to bed for two hours with very stinky garlic breath. The wife refused to approach me before leaving for work.

I drank another liter of water every few hours. I ate two tablespoons of olive oil around noon. After that, I ate two tablespoons of a liquid natural vitamin complex with mineral, mushroom and vegetable extracts. Every few hours he ate two more cloves of garlic and several slices of ginger. I ate several more oranges, a couple of limes, and a starfruit. When I am sick, I prefer to expend all the energy in my body fighting whatever it is that is working. That’s pretty much all I ate before dinner. I didn’t want my body to work on digesting food for as long as was reasonable.

During the day, I took an herbal supplement that contained echinacea, goldenseal root, burdock root, gentian root, cayenne pepper, and wood betony. I took an average of two capsules every hour that I was awake. Before going to bed, I had four more.

I felt immensely better before noon. I felt almost perfect when I went to bed. This morning life was normal.

If I had been feeling worse or not eating well lately, there are a few other things I would have done (and still can do). Neti pot with baking soda. I bounced off a trampoline to clear my lymphatic system. I drank more water. Soaked with Epsom salts. I’m not sure of any benefit to “getting sick” from soaking in the bath other than relaxing.