10 Tips For Fighting A Cold (part 2 of the series)

Hoppin' John from New Year's Day (collards, kale, black eyed peas)

If you fail to keep the cold sickness out of your body, you can still fight and win against the symptoms.  As soon as you start to feel it coming on, UNPLUG and do the following list of things.  Honestly, these steps will keep you from taking a cold and turning it into a secondary infection AND it will shorten the duration of your feeling crappy.

10 Tips for Treating Cold Symptoms (and slaying it to death)


1.  Try to avoid taking tylenol, advil, cold medicine, etc to reduce your fever, chills, headache, body aches until your fever goes above 100.5 or so.  A slight fever is your body's defense against the germs that are invading your body, and you're better off not interfering until it is needed.

2.  Try to avoid taking a nasal decongestant or antihistamine unless you need it to sleep or to get through work that can't be avoided.  When possible, sit around and let your nose run and be disgusting.  This is supposed to happen!  Your body is getting rid of the icky sickness.  If you suppress these symptoms you are increasing your chance of developing a secondary infection.

3.  Eat soup!  Ingredients like onions, greens and chicken will help reduce or expel mucus.

4.  Rest! Rest! REST.  Skip anything you can, tell people to go away, exercise only lightly to work up a sweat but decrease the intensity and duration.

5.  Wash your hands. Don't get everyone else sick and don't catch other cooties while your immune system is already busy.

6.  Avoid dairy.  It increases your mucus.  That is a bad thing.

7.  Zinc lozenges have been shown to reduce the severity and duration of a cold.  Pay attention to the directions, they aren't candy!  If you take too many they can become toxic and make you puke.

8.  When your body craves vitamin c, choose the fruit and avoid too much sugar in orange juice.  Sugar will weaken your immune system.

9.  Drink lots of liquids.  Try adding honey and lemon to hot water.  Or try herbal yogi tea that will focus on your symptoms.

10.  Make soup! Then eat it all the time.