I was sick yesterday.
It was not my choice to have to put my life on hold for a day but so it was.
I read somewhere that on average we are going to be sick twice per year and that a cold lasts five days.
I can live with those numbers but I choose not to do so.
The last time I was sick was during a time period where my body was under a lot of stress.
I was working insane hours.
I was eating poorly.
I was drinking mass amounts of sugar water.
My immune system was a wreck unbeknownst to me.
At that time I was getting sick about once per month.
I saw that as a huge waste of productivity and when I got back to work would put in more hours to make up for it.
It was a cycle.
I remember telling myself "No more".
When I woke up yesterday morning my throat felt scratchy, my sinuses felt dry, and my upper chest felt heavy.
Maybe I was sick and maybe I was not.
Should I go to work and possibly get others sick? Should I go to work a little sick and ultimately come home really sick? I chose to stay home and ensure that I would feel better the next day.
There has been an insane amount of research into colds and nobody has yet come up with a way to 'cure' a cold.
That is not exactly true.
Every person on this planet has the ability to cure a cold as long as your immune system is healthy.
People have been getting colds since the beginning of recorded history.
In those thousands of years people have noticed a lot of natural things they can do to lessen the severity of a cold and many times make it so they never even notice they were sick at all.
Because of my food choices my body has the best building blocks available.
I eat raw fruit and vegetables in variety.
A portion of these are blended to release the nutrients to allow my body to better absorb them.
I do not take any pharmaceuticals that may reduce my resistance to disease.
You should read the warning labels and do some research on any medication you are taking.
If one of the side effects is a weakened immune system or possible damage to the liver or kidneys you may be doing your overall health a disservice.
I also drink about a gallon of water daily.
Hydration allows your cells to do the work they are designed to do.
The above paragraph can easily be turned into several books on nutrition.
The average person consuming fast food is certainly not getting all the essential nutrients that they need.
Do a search on Wikipedia for 'essential nutrients' to get a list of the very minimum you need to get into your diet daily to maintain reasonable health and longevity.
The above is a basis for keeping your immune system kicking.
I believe that I am still exposed to colds and flu virus regularly.
I have taken the above steps so that my body fights these threats off effectively without concerning me with the fact I am sickened.
I am not a doctor nor a nutritionist but I read and enjoy the topics of health and nutrition.
I encourage you to at the very least go to the library and get a book on these topics.
Most of the basics can be found in a $5 used text book from your local used book store.
Most of the basics can be found on websites run by WebMD, the Mayo Clinic, and the National Institute of Health.
Most of the basics can be found in YouTube videos by Dr.
Mercola, Dr.
Oz, Dr.
Joel Wallach and Mike Adams (the Health Ranger).
Everything I say about supporting the health of the human body is most likely regurgitation from one of these sources.
Since I did feel something coming on I did a few extra things to help support my immune system.
When I woke up I rinsed my mouth with peroxide and did so several more times that day between meals.
I drank a liter of water before I did anything else.
I ate an orange for both energy and vitamin C.
I took two time released vitamin C tablets.
I ate two cloves of garlic by crushing 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 really stinky garlic breath.
The wife refused to get anywhere near me before she left for work.
I drank another liter of water every few hours.
I ate two table spoons of olive oil around noon.
After that I ate two tablespoons of a liquid natural vitamin complex with minerals, mushrooms, and greens extracts.
Every few hours I would eat two more cloves of garlic and several slices of ginger.
I ate several more oranges, a couple of limes, and a star fruit.
When I am sick I prefer to spend all my bodies energy on fighting whatever it is working on.
That is pretty much all I ate before dinner.
I did not want my body working on digesting food for as long as was reasonable.
Over the day I took an herbal supplement that contained echinacea, goldenseal root, burdock root, gentian root, cayenne pepper, and wood betony.
I averaged two capsules every hour that I was awake.
Before I went to bed for the night I took four more.
I felt immensely better before noon.
I felt almost perfect by the time I went to bed.
This morning life was normal.
If I had felt sicker or had not been eating well lately there are a few other things I would have done (and still may do).
Neti pot with baking soda.
Bounced on a trampoline to flush my lymphatic system.
Drank more water.
Soaked with epsom salts.
I am not sure of any "get unsick" benefit to soaking in the bath other than it is relaxing.