Naturopathy and Flu H1N1 :
Advices & Remedies
Dear readers,
With all the concern over this year’s flu, I wanted to share with you some helpful home remedies you can use to help your immune system. It is not necessary to do all of these recommendations; however a few can help.
Lifestyle practices:
-avoid all refined sugars, as sugar depletes the immune system and virus’s love sugar!
-eat a balanced diet of fruits of vegetables (5-12 servings), whole grains, organic meat and fish
-drink at least 2 L of water per day
-instead of coffee first thing in the morning, drink 1 cup of hot water with ½ lemon squeezed into it
-end your showers in 5-15 seconds of cool-cold water. Start at 1x/week and slowly increase. The cold increases your circulation of blood and lymphatic system (what circulates your immune fighting cells) and shunts your blood away from the skin and back to the vital organs. It also helps your body to tolerate the cold.
-be sure to keep the back of your neck covered while you are outside, because in Traditional Chinese Medicine, this is where external pathogens enter
-nasal cleansing pot with saline solution – as the nasal passages are where respiratory virus enter
-dry skin brushing using a loofah in the direction of your heart to stimulate the lymphatic circulation
-wash your hands!
Supplements (can be purchased at most pharmacies or health food stores):
-vitamin D (I like Biotics) – 1000 IU/day – necessary for immune cells. We don’t get enough sun during the winter!
-vitamin C – 1-3g/day
-a good quality probiotic, like Genestra, Metagenics, or New Roots. These help build the friendly bacteria in your gut, and because many germs can come from food, this will help build the immunity in your digestive tract. You can take 2 before bed.
-Zinc, Selenium, Vitamin E, and Vitamin A (do not take if you are a smoker)
-a good quality fish oil
If you do become sick, please contact me and I can prescribe a homeopathic remedy or herbal tincture. Homeopathic remedies work very well to get rid of infections (just to note that an antibiotic drug will not help a virus because it works for bacterial infections only – you will most likely get an anti-viral drug - if you do take a drug, but sure you know that it is for bacterial or viral).
If you are pregnant, a child, or have another serious health condition, please contact me for more information.
I hope this helps! If you have any questions, please call or email to book an appointment to see me at my clinic at 400, Boul. St-Joseph Est, Montreal.
514 287-3289.
Please feel free to circulate
November 2009
