The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

I really liked your reply. It’s excellent advice!

Did you forget something? How about getting enough rest? If you are sick with the flu, rest is especially important because your body needs to repair itself. In addition, a little extra emphasis on protein aids in this repair.

You mentioned elderberry in extract form. It’s superior for Type B flu virus and seems to stem the onslaught and lessen an actual cold. You can actually take elderberry everyday, unlike something like echinacea to build your immunity. It is packed with Vitamin C AND plenty of anthocyandins (phytochemicals:)).

One suggestion on Vitamin C is to rotate say Ester-C (500 or 1000mg ) with something like Rosehips (natural source of C). Rotating the traditional with the natural seems to keep your body alert in the sense that you are constantly building up immunity.

I am originally from Canada. I enjoyed your blog so much. I wandered here from an initial search on commentary.

Stay well and happy, my friend:)

~Jazz~

One suggestion on Vitamin C is to rotate say Ester-C (500 or 1000mg ) with something like Rosehips (natural source of C). Rotating the traditional with the natural seems to keep your body alert in the sense that you are constantly building up immunity.

Good advice! Any other tips you have are always welcomed here. If you like, you can even submit some of them.

Yes, sleep is very important!

Rest?

Whats that?

This is what works for me. I use zinc lozenges which I get from Trader Joes or your local health food store. As soon as I feel like a cold is coming on, I suck on these lozenges every 2 hours. It knocks the cold out everytime. The lozenges from the average drugstore has too much sugar. Get a consultation from the health food store.

Duane,

Thanks for being so gracious! It’s a pleasure to come back and read here.

I remember trying the zinc lozenges one time when I felt like a cold was coming. Mine were from a healthfood store, but ,what I found was that they made my stomach queasy and simply delayed the cold by about 2 weeks. Actually, I felt much better after my system had whipped the cold.

I couldn’t agree with you more about the flaxseed oil. Essential fatty acids are another source of protection from colds and flu. Flaxseed oil is an Omega 3 oil. Another one would be walnut oil which is excellent on salads if you find flaxseed hard to take directly. You can always take a softgel, but you have to take so many to equal say a tablespoon which is a good recommendation for say an adult of 150lbs. For a lot of people like myself, even the equivalent of a teaspoon is enough to boost immunity to maintain excellent health.

I would urge others to explore the Omega 6 and Omega 9 oils. One Omega 6 oil, namely black currant, has the perfect Omega 3–Omega 6 balance naturally. With most people’s diets, you should be getting twice as much of the Omega 3 as the Omega 6. Another popular Omega 6 oil is evening primrose. It has special properties which some women may benefit from greatly. With Omega 9, think olive oil.

One of the additional benefits of these oils is beautiful hair, skin and nails. Winter can be harsh on these, too. The oils feed the integrity of the hair follicle and keep the skin and nails utterly lush, too.

A votre sante,

Jazz

What works best for me is two things:

1) Whenever I feel a cold coming on I take two garlic tablets to build up my immunity. Sometimes when a cold is going around at the office or at home, I’ll just take some on a whim. When colds run through everybody in my family, I’m usually the only one that doesn’t get it. With the exception of getting the bubble guts from hell last year, I haven’t been sick for two consecutive days in several years.

2) WASH YOUR HANDS! They say it on the news every year that doctors recommend hand washing as one of the simplest and most effective ways of preventing the spreading of the flu and other communicable illnesses. I don’t even touch the door handles on public restrooms ANYWHERE. I’ve seen way too many catz walk out of the stall without washing their hands.

And on the restroom tip, I read somewhere that a great deal of germs are spread in public washrooms because the toilets have no lids to close before we flush them! The open compartment allows the aerosolization of germs that have been, uh, deposited.

I know. Yuck.

I have also found that pro-biotics seem to help a great deal to strenghten one’s immune system. Our immune systems begin in our guts, believe it or not, and seeding it with more of the good flora has helped me over the years (a chronic fatigue/adrenal gland dysfunction/chronic Lyme disease sufferer).

Olive leaf extract is another powerful immune system builder, as well.

Good topic, D.

I can testify to the no sugar effect. Several years ago before they became so popular, I went on a low carb diet and was consuming almost no sugar. I was on it from fall to the following spring. My son was at the age where they are constantly bringing home cold germs from other kids at school. Three things happened: I lost weight, never caught one cold the whole time, and my blood pressure went down. The following year, I fell back into my old bad habits and caught several colds throughout the winter. Also, even though I did not gain the weight back, (due to exercising), once I started back on the sugar and processed foods, my blood pressure went back up. I don’t have high blood pressure, but it’s always on the high end of the normal range. I’ve decided now to switch to eating mostly organic and giving up the processed foods and most of the sugar for good.