I’ve had the most productive sick day. And I don’t mean productive like most days, running around with errands and emails and checkups and deadlines. I mean, productively and proactively working with my body to fight the virus. It felt so good to stop everything and focus on my body’s needs, and I admit I was quite proud of myself for researching home remedies and concocting what I needed.
Saturday morning I hit the road with the Little Person to visit some good friends of ours with the intention of attending my other friend’s surprise 30th birthday party. But on the way there I felt a head cold coming on, which I tried my best to hope & pray away. It didn’t work. By that evening, I had to ask my friends for a decongestant and put myself to bed by 8pm. The next morning I packed up and headed back home. TLP was immune to my illness and delighted to have older kids dote on her and play dollhouse.
I arrived home groggy but determined to start whipping up my number one need- homemade broth. I looked at a couple recipes but then threw in the pot what I had lying around. I boiled these ingredients for an hour:
-organic chicken broth (whole container)
-chopped carrots & onions & garlic
-grated ginger
-lemon juice
-salt & pepper, powdered ginger, powdered garlic, thyme, oregano
Once it had all blended together, I poured the broth into a mug and drank it straight. It felt so good on my sore throat.
My next course of action was to take all my routine vitamins- a multi, iron, and probiotic. I added to the collection Vitamin C packets in my water bottle, garlic oil for the ears, and activated charcoal for the gut. Let me clarify here, I am no expert and I don’t even annually visit a general doctor; so if you have any questions about my personal methods you’ll need to look into that on your own. To be honest, my main resource is what I understand about food and nutrition for the body and the people I know who are far more well-versed and advanced in using homeopathic & organic remedies. The key is that certain things- such as organic produce and nonprocessed foods- will work for anyone whereas other items -such as activated charcoal- may not.
When the infection moved from my tonsils to my ears, I knew I needed to break out the garlic oil. I found this in a general grocery. It’s the most effective method for me to release the pressure and to dispell the infection. It’s a simple few drops in each ear, and it works like magic.
This was the first time I decided to try activated charcoal. For some reason (probably the pizza nite Manly & I had a couple days ago), I was experiencing horrible gut cramps as well as diarrhea, and I’ve rarely had that problem before. Not long after I began taking the charcoal, the intestinal gas released and dissipated. By the next morning I didn’t feel a thing and the abdonminal swelling had gone down.
In order to keep the fluids going, I swiped a smoothie recipe from Pinterest that incorporated the stuff I already had stocked. I’m not a huge fan of smoothies, but I think this one hit the spot:
-Greek yogurt (I used a small container of strawberry)
-frozen strawberries
-two frozen bananas
-spoonfuls of almond butter
-almond milk
I got lots of protein out of it without having to do much prep work, and I kept the fluids going while I sipped it for a few hours. When I’m sick I feel like I need an IV and ice cream. A smoothie had to suffice.
Last but not least, I made my all-time favorite soup for winter & sickness. I’ve shared it before here on the blog and have gotten many requests. Here’s the recipe for you in a snapshot. You should be able to enlarge the photo if you want to look at it up close. This is by far one of the best soup remedy recipes given to me by a dear friend.
To cap off all my best efforts, I peeled an orange and diffused eucalyptus. All in all, it’s been a productive sick day and I’m feeling better rather than wasted. So that’s a good thing, right? Any of you health junkies out there have other recommendations and ideas for home remedies when you’re sick?? I’d love to hear them!
-BBM
