Tis The Season...

...for colds and flus.

On Tuesday night, I started feeling a bit under the weather. I went to bed early in the hopes that a good night's sleep would fend off any potential sickness. Unfortunately, I woke up on Wednesday morning still feeling a bit rough. I wasn't sick. I was just not feeling 100%.

As with pregnancy, while breastfeeding, you need to be careful about what you take while sick. In general, I try to deal with illness as naturally as possible. This is what I did yesterday to try and prevent a real illness from coming on:

• I drank a TON of water - I'm talking a minimum of 3L, in order to flush out the bug.Id
• I downed 3 cloves of raw garlic (over the course of the day) - Yes, I know that sounds awful but raw garlic is amazing for your body. It is anti-bacterial, anti-microbial and immune-boosting, among other things. If the clove is small enough, down it whole. Otherwise, use a garlic press and crush it up. This is what I did. I threw it on the back of my tongue and downed a huge glass of water. 
• Homemade tea with fresh ginger and fresh lemon (and a touch of honey) - Like garlic, ginger has amazing anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties. It is excellent at helping to kill cold viruses and eliminating congestion. Lemon gives your body a great hit of vitamin C when it needs it the most. 
• Mediherb Echinacea - This powerful herb stimulates the immune system to fight off viruses (and bacteria) naturally. Mediherb makes very high quality herbs. Always follow the dosage instructions on the bottle. 
• Vitamin C - We all know of vitamin C's ability to help fight infection. Since vitamin C is water-soluble, the body will only absorb about 500-1000mg at any given time. Therefore, taking tons of it is useless. I took 1000mg every two hours yesterday. 
• Probiotics - Since 80% of the immune system lives in the digestive tract, keeping our gut healthy should be a priority. I take probiotics regularly, as do my babies.
• Good ol sleep - Nothing beats a good night's sleep!

Fortunately, I woke this morning feeling a million times better. Hopefully my body has fought of the potential cold for the time being.