Taking Care of Ourselves in Winter
The cold and darkness of winter urges us to slow down, sleep more, reduce stress, eat warming and nourishing foods, and
our deep winter dreams will create the seeds for new life in the spring.
Eat plenty of nourishing meat and bean stews
with root vegetables and perhaps adding shitake mushrooms, also have miso and seaweed, garlic and ginger, cooked vegetables (including dark leafy greens every day), whole grains, and hot decaf tea. (My favorite is chai).
Keep your immune system strong
by keeping sweets, dairy, flour products, and alcohol to a minimum, getting moderate exercise, and using acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine.
Chinese herbs are great for tonifying the immune system, including astragalas, ginseng, and medicinal mushrooms such as cordyceps and reishi. There is a 1000 year old formula that I find really helpful called Jade Windscreen, which I take daily, along with multivitamins, extra C, Vitamin D3, probiotics, and other Chinese tonic formulas.
TREATING COLDS AND FLUS
Most people can avoid antibiotics if they aggressively treat colds and flus with herbs and diet and rest. Here are some simple suggestions for helping you get well. I recommend that you come in for treatment if you are really sick or not getting better.
At the first sign of a cold, I recommend using sinus washes twice a day, along with Cold Snap herbs ( 2 caps every 2 hours) or Yin Chiao for 1 to 2 days, staying warm, having hot soup with garlic, and resting. I like to do acupuncture to kick out the cold before it can take hold.
For the 2nd stage of a cold I like Gan Mao Ling or Zhong Gan Ling, along with lots of chicken soup and avoiding sweets and dairy.
If the cold goes in deeper and lingers, I have had excellent results with Isatis 6 ( 4 tablerts every four hours) from Seven Forests. I also use a cough syrup called Fritillaria and Pinellia for lung infections, as long as there is a productive cough. Throat and Gland Spray by Natura works well for sore throats and swollen glands. I have formulas that I use for sinus infection, and they work very well if you start them early. Using a humidifier at night really helps you get better quicker. Keep doing the sinus washes twice a day, as it will cut down on the time you are sick.
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