The absolute best thing is to take care of your body and immune system so well that you stay healthy instead of catching colds as soon as there's an infection going around or the weather shifts from warm to cold. Getting used to a lifestyle that supports and builds up your immune system not only means you rarely get sick, but also that recovery happens faster when you do. But if you're unlucky enough to catch a cold, what's the best thing you can do to support your body's defenses?
1. Rest, drink plenty and keep warm
The body's main needs during a cold are to have more energy available for the immune system and to get help fighting and clearing out viruses and/or bacteria. Therefore, you should first and foremost:
Sleep and rest as much as you can so that your body can use energy where it's needed.
Drink plenty of clean water to help your body with detoxification.
Help your body maintain temperature with the aid of socks, down comforter, warm drinks, etc. It can be easy to forget how effective this is, so we just want to remind you of it one more time. It's easy to continue working as usual when you're sick and working from home, but when you don't rest, the illness can become more prolonged instead.
2. Use herbs and vegetables that you have at home
Often there are things in your refrigerator or pantry that you can use to strengthen your immune system. Here are our favorites. Eat and drink them as much as possible while you are sick. If you don't have them at home, they can be found in your nearest grocery store. A short walk with fresh air can do you good if you're not too sick.
Lemon water – preferably warm.
Ginger – in hot water or food.
Garlic; fresh and preferably raw garlic has a wide range of health benefits. Eat it as it is or add it to food.
Oregano & Thyme: Again, preferably as fresh and unprocessed as possible, but dried works too. Use in food or make hot tea. Oregano oil is perfect to have at home in your medicine cabinet.
3. Supplements that provide more energy to the immune system
For deeper support, it may be beneficial to do an intensive treatment with one or more of these nutrients. They give the immune system extra energy to deal with intruders of all kinds. An intensive treatment is simply done by taking a dose of these approximately every three hours for 2-3 days. This usually gives a noticeable boost to the system.
Vitamin C; 1-2g per dose
Vitamin D; approx. 400 μg per dose
Selenium; approx. 55 μg per dose
Zinc; 5-7.5 μg per dose
NOTE: You don't need to take all of these (even though you can do so without risk), but taking one or two of them in larger doses for a few days is very helpful during a cold.
4. Give ammunition to the immune system
Last, but not least, there are powerful natural "enemies" of viruses and bacteria that we can take in concentrated form to provide ammunition to our immune system. These are powerful plants and herbs that have been used for centuries to strengthen and balance our immune system. In recent years, scientists have begun to discover more about how and why they work (which among other things led to a pharmaceutical company in Germany attempting to patent garlic in the early 2000s, which of course was not approved). The most powerful herbs for colds that we know of are:
Oregano oil
Pau D'Arco
Olive leaf extract
Garlic extract
Taking one, or several, of these as extra support to clear out "unwelcome guests" from your system can be very effective. If you spend time in environments where many people are infected, you can take these herbs preventively. Especially in fall and winter when we spend more time indoors and get less natural support from fresh air and sunlight.
Do you want a simple solution?
Get Holistics Immunbalans which is a very cost-effective way to boost your immune system. Take it preventively or use it to boost your body when symptoms appear.
What do you do to shorten your colds? Please share in a comment so we can learn from each other!
