Combat the flu with homeopathic remedies

By Patricia Rupert, Special to the Town Crier

W

ith the arrival of the holidays come colds and flus. A number of factors can contribute to that pesky illness, including higher than usual levels of stress.

Colder weather and shorter daylight hours can discourage us from our exercise routine as well. Finally, high fat and sugary holiday foods can further weaken our immune system - leaving us susceptible to circulating germs and pathogens.

If you have an interest in natural healt care and strengthening the immune system, there are several steps you can take, from a holistic natural medicine standpoint, to minimize the effects of the cold/flu season on your body.

The primary goal during the flu season is to keep your immune system operating optimally. You can do this by decreasing assaults on your immune system as well as proactively enhancing its performance.

Drink plenty of good-quality water. Consider replacing your current water habits with spring water.

Modify your eating habits. Consider eating a diet that is 80 percent alkaline and only 20 percent acidic. Highly acidic food can deplete the body of alkaline minerals, predisposing us to chronic and degenerative disease.

Pathogens that resurface as the cold and flu tend to thrive in an acidic environment. After metabolizing, sugar, white flour, alcohol and coffee become acidic in the body. Remember that a food’s acid or alkaline content is contingent upon how it reacts in the body.

Add three to five helpings of organic green vegetables to your daily diet.

Keep dairy intake at a minimum because it can contribute to mucus buildup. If you’re worried about calcium requirements, broccoli is a great source of calcium.

Consider adding antioxidants to your vitamin protocol to take care of those irksome free radicals. Free radicals are atoms with an unpaired number of electrons. Once formed, they are highly reactive and can start a chain reaction that can damage or even kill the cell. Antioxidants are actually scavengers of these free radicals.

With our daily exposure to cell phones, electrical appliances, air pollution, trans-fatty acids and more, free radicals are indeed running freely in our bodies. Water-soluble and fat-soluble antioxidants can minimize their deleterious effects on the body’s tissues.

Alpha lipoic acid is a precursor to both types of antioxidants. If you decide to take alpha lipoic acid, consult your health-care professional regarding dosage, because too much alpha lipoic acid can interfere with the body’s utilization of vitamin B, the stress vitamin.

Take the extra time to dry your hair before leaving the house. Your mother and grandmother were right. Do not leave the house with wet hair. I have treated patients with chronic headaches and chronic sinus infections whose symptoms disappeared when they started drying their hair before they left the house, a simple solution to what appeared to be a complex problem.

Ensure optimal functioning of your nervous and immune systems with chiropractic adjustments. Misalignment of spinal vertebrae and discs, especially in the cervical and thoracic areas, may cause irritation to the nervous system, which could affect the structures, organs and functions, resulting in symptoms of head cold, sinus trouble, earache, runny nose, sore throat and congestion.

Consider weekly acupuncture treatments. Acupuncture treatments are touted for their stress-reducing effects.

Decrease the impact of stress on your life with exercise, yoga, qi Gong or a tai chi class.

If trying to fit one more thing into your schedule is already causing you stress, consider listening to relaxation tapes as you fall asleep or performing simple breathing exercises as you drive to and from work.

Finally, remember that everything is a trade-off. The holiday season - with all its special foods, fanfare and travel - only comes once a year. Enjoy it. We always have our New Year’s resolutions to get us back on track. The hope here is just to minimize the derailment.

Patricia Rupert, D.C., L.Ac., is a chiropractor, acupuncturist and herbalist. She is owner of and practitioner at Advanced Wholistic HealthCare, 4 Main St., Suite 20, Los Altos. For more information, call 219-8851.