It's a crazy flu season out there, and if you have been able to avoid it, you are really lucky. Today I'd like to share my favorite cold fighting remedies that help you back on track pretty quickly. It even involves a totally new to me cold reliever, that helped me pretty much from the moment I took it.
Being sick sucks. When I got back to California last week, I was jetlagged and exhausted from the long flight, so my body was probably more receptive to bugs and viruses than usually. And these guys seem to be absolutely everywhere right now. Seriously, almost everyone that I've talked to within the last week or so says they have been sick, or at leas their kid, husband, sister or coworker has been dealing with flu.
That Pounding Headache
I woke up on Wednesday morning to a pounding headache. From as long as I remember, whatever illness I picked up, it always started with a headache. As the day went on, I was feeling weaker and weaker and also got really cold. Soon my muscles were aching so bad that it felt that I'd done a million split squats the day before. I was extremely cold but my body temperature was 101.5.
Yeah, I was really sick and it all happened in one day.
First Things To Grab When You Are Getting Cold
Whenever I get first symptoms of cold, I turn to nature first. Here are my weapons from nature to fight cold:
Lots of hot drinks
Oddly enough, when I usually have absolutely no problem with drinking regular, room temperature water, I can't do it when I'm sick. I also can't drink coffee. But a drink a lot of hot tea or sometimes just hot water and some heated broth.
So, I had a lot of hot drinks last week:
Hot tea. If possible, I make it from fresh herbs like mint. Mint is also great for drying and I remember my mom doing it all the time. Hey, you can't get fresh mint all year around in chilly Estonia, so we picked it in summer, picked the leaves off the stems, spread them evenly on newspapers placed on the kitchen floor and let them dry for couple of days. Then, we put everything in a jar and made a hot tea out of the dried leaves whenever we needed.
This time, I had no peppermint in hand, so I turned to my favorite Yogi tea flavor – Egyptian Licorice. I really love the sweet flavor of it, without even having to add any sweetener. It also has a nice spicy touch to it. It's caffein-free and consists of organic herbs: licorice root, cinnamon bark, orange peel, ginger root, cardamom pod, black pepper and clove bud. It's absolutely tasty!
Chicken broth. Drinking broth seems to be a trendy thing to do in a health and fitness world right now. But that's not the reason why I'm doing it. I'm doing it because it tastes good and it warms me up. It's kind of like eating chicken soup, minus chicken and noodles. I like to add a bit of salt in mine.
My Cold Fighting Immune Boosting Mix Of Garlic, Ginger and Honey
This thing tastes killer but boy, does it boost your immune system! This mix consists of three ingredients, all natural and all good for you–ginger, garlic and honey. You probably have those ingredients at home already, so when you are getting the first signs of possibly getting sick, do the following:
mince 4 cloves of garlic
grate 2 inches of ginger root
take a huge spoonful of good quality honey.
Mix all the ingredients together and enjoy a spoonful immediately when you get the first symptoms of flu and put the rest away to enjoy later. Also, have a glass of milk or almond milk in hand to wash down the not so awesome taste.
Be careful with eating too much of this stuff! Garlic and ginger root are very strong, so especially if you have a pretty sensitive stomach and you don't tolerate hot and spicy foods too well, take just 1/3 spoonful and see how you feel.
I recommend taking this mix couple of times a day. This stuff really works!
What Made Me Feel Like Million Bucks–Umcka
And now to the thing that was an absolute game changer for me last week–Umcka Cold+Flu Tablets. I heard about Umcka from one of my bootcampers who swore by this homeopathic cold remedy. I was a bit sceptical because my flu had been worse than usual, my fever was 101.5F and I felt really crappy, but I went to Whole Foods to get it. They sell this stuff in natural health stores.
And wow, did this thing make a difference. I took four tablets on Saturday and felt so much better on Sunday, then a couple of more on Sunday and believe it or not, I felt so great by the end of Sunday evening that I went to my favorite 5-mile hilly walk.
On Monday, I was already able to work out–last week, I thought I need to take at least a week off from working out.
It really made me feel like a million bucks.
According to the producer, Umcka tablets are made of Pelargonium sidoides roots that are traditional in South African medicine. It relieves the common cold symptoms and speeds the recovery time. And it really did!
Conclusion
With the flu season in full swing, keep the natural herbs and hot drinks in hand. Try this garlic-ginger mix–it may taste bad, but it really fights the bugs and bacteria. And definitely keep Umcka close. This is, hands down, the best flu medicine I have ever taken and I absolutely recommend it.
Have you been sick this winter? What have you taken to get better?
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. Recommendations in this post are based on my own personal experience only. Please consult your doctor before trying these remedies.
Disclaimer: This post has affiliate links in it but they are for products that I use and recommend.
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