Tips to stay healthy during the germy seasons

If you read my last blog post (this past Monday's), you might remember I ended it by saying I would be sharing some tips to stay healthy when people around you are sick.  My timing in this is INCREDIBLY IRONIC.  Guess what?  I AM SICK.  Blah.  There goes all my credibility, right?!

But maybe I can regain a little if I tell you that for the past 20 years or so, it has been rare that I am sick more than once a year.  So see - that's really a pretty good record I think. 

For several weeks, Frank has had a terrible cough (violent at times) but felt fine overall.  (Except during painful coughing fits.)  This with congestion more of the throat area, than deep in the chest, is something that is going around in are area.  People call it the "creeping crude."  Entire families we know have been repeated wiped out from it.  Symptoms also can include sore throat, swollen glands, and discomfort in the ears.

I consider sick people "walking germ machines" though Frank frequently reminds me I have no idea if they are or were contagious.  OK that is true.  But I still think it.  So as the days over the Christmas break passed, and the kids and I stayed healthy, I thought "wow - what a great job I am doing in keeping everyone healthy." 

But then I guess God thought I needed some humbling.

First Hunter succumbed to The Cough.

Even when sick, Hunter loves to create what he calls "hook ups"

Then Tabby got it, though her's started differently.  It started in the typical "Tabby is getting sick" way:  headache, fever, one good throw up session, and general achiness.  After moving past all that she has The Cough with some congestion.  Oh and pink eye in both eyes.  What fun!

Tabby the day before she got sick.  I just think this is a cute picture!

Then Saturday while doing our weekly shopping at Walmart (which always exhausts me anyway) I suddenly started feeling incredibly achy, and sort of dizzy/floaty, and my throat didn't feel right.  Noooooo!  Things are bad when the Mama is sick!  Then yesterday I felt a little feverish, with some achiness in my throat and ears and some of that congestion in my throat.  A little coughing.  Sigh.  Same thing this morning.

However, there is one little warrior in the family who is still going strong!

Solomon loves building/stacking anything he can find

If we have been out in public and around sick people, or are traveling, we all take a few rounds of Echinacea.  Or if someone in the family comes down with something, everyone else stays on the Echinacea until that person is better.  The forms of Echinacea are a bit different for each of us.  Solomon takes the Infant Immune-Booster by Mountain Meadow Herbs.  Tabby and Hunter take Herb's For Kids Echinacea and Astragalus.  Frank takes a straight Echinacea supplement.  I like Beeyoutiful's BerryWell.  If we have cold symptoms, I also add Nature's Way Umcka ColdCare.  (There is an adult version and a children's version.) 

Or you can take a different route and give everyone elderberry syrup.  This is even safe for babies.  You can buy it or easily make your own.  (Making my own has been on my "to do" list for awhile.  For an easy recipe, check out my friend's C's post about it over at The Haven Enterprises.  C also talks about how to make a healing ointment called GOOT.)

Back before the current man made antibiotics, collodial silver was a natural antibiotic that was used.  I am currently taking the maximum number of doses of collodial silver right now.

The above weapons are what I pull out as soon as anyone starts coming down with something.  (It's usually respiratory illness in our family.)  We also take daily supplements.  I've adapted supplements to what each person needs, so we have some variety  between each of us.  However every day, we each take a good multivitamin (Beeyoutiful has them for men, women, and children), Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and cod liver oil.  (The boys and I take Green Pasture fermented cod liver oil and Tabby & Frank take Beeyoutiful's cod liver oil capsule.  See both here.) 

Finally, one HUGE step you can take to get everyone's immune systems operating at peak again is to STOP EATING SUGAR.  Eating anything with sugar in it drastically suppresses your body's immune system by 75%, for at least 4-6 hours.  (Info. on this is widely available online.  Here is a link to one very good article.)  I really believe the sugar thing is what finally did the kids and I in.  Usually when one person is sick, we hold off on desserts for everyone.  (Our daily meals are healthy with low, if any, sugar.)  But how could I do this at Christmas time?  We recklessly ate our yummy treats, didn't get as much sleep as usual, and didn't follow routine.  The result was our bodies were completely run down.

Note:  If you have a child with a fragile immune system, like our Lilly did, you may find some more helpful tips in my "immune boosting" post. Actually anyone may find those tips helpful.

I'll leave you now with a funny picture.  Solomon think's Hunter's "hook ups" are great fun for climbing on and touching.  Hunter does NOT think that anyone messing with his work is fun at all.

"Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul." - 3 John 1:2