A Natural Approach to Flu Prevention

I continue to get questions from anxious clients about flu and flu shots every day. Please don’t panic. The best thing you can do is strengthen your immune system. Here is how.

I know the first thing everyone wants to know is “what can I take?” and I will get to that below. But the truth is that your overall health is more essential. Never underestimate the power of lifestyle choices to determine your health, both short term and long term.

1. Get at least 7-8 hours sleep (much more for kids and teens). The quality of your sleep counts, too.
2. Drink plenty of water, herbal teas, green tea, broths, and seltzer. Unsweetened green juices and Kombucha are also excellent. Minimize sugary drinks and milk. This includes orange juice, which is high sugar, high acid, and not particularly helpful. If you want to increase your Vitamin C, get a good buffered, alkalized product like Alka-C*. You won’t get therapeutic doses from oj, and it’s likely to cause additional congestion, as is dairy.
3. Nourish yourself well. Eat the foods that will support your body, rather than stress it. That means lean protein from healthy animals, vegetables and fruit, some healthy fat at each meal and snack. In other words, maximize consumption of real foods, minimize consumption of processed foods.
4. Minimize consumption of foods that acidify your system, especially at night. These include meat and dairy, sugar, coffee, alcohol and most refined foods.
5. Wash your hands, particularly after you have been in public places, or with people who may be ill. Try to minimize putting your hands to your eyes, nose and mouth in these situations: you may be surprised to realize how often you do it. Do not use anti-bacterial soap or anti-bacterial wipes. Use mild soap and wash for 10 seconds.

Okay, so what can I take?

For Prevention:

1. I am recommending everyone take a daily dose of arabinogalactans* through cold and flu season. This is a white powder that comes from the larch tree. On the cellular level it works similarly to echinacea, but it is a) much stronger and more effective and b) bland in taste and easy to mix or disguise, so compliance is not an issue. I have one in the office I’ve been offering to families for many years.
2. I have been recommending Vitamin D* for years to almost all of my clients. Evidence continues to mount that sufficient Vitamin D levels provide protection against the flu, as well as many other illnesses. Ideally you should have your levels tested. If they are low, particularly this time of year, I usually recommend 5000 units a night for at least a month, then 2000 units for maintenance. You can get this either in capsules or drops, for either kids or adults.  Vitamin D is very important to our immune system, our bones and our hormones. To fully utilize it, we also need Vitamins K and A.
3. I love Thieves lozenges* for prevention. I have no problem with sick clients coming to the office, but when they do, I usually pop one myself and offer one to them. I also use them in airports, movie theatres, grocery stores, anywhere public where you are likely to be exposed. They are very strong anti-microbials that are easy and effective to use.

If You Feel Sick:

• At any point, if you or a family member feels on the verge of becoming ill, increase the arabinogalactans to as frequently as every 2 hours. I spoke to a client yesterday whose husband got the flu, but she and her two kids stayed healthy by doing this.
• If you do get sick, I also recommend Allicillin*, an extremely high potency garlic product effective against viruses, bacteria, and fungi. In fact, each batch is tested for efficacy against MRSA to ensure its potency. It is good to have on hand.
• I also use an herbal tincture called MicroNil  that is an anti-microbial sledgehammer. It works great but tastes awful. Just sayin’…
• I have been offering herbal products for coughs, sinus problems and flu that my clients rave about. They are very effective and very safe, and work to strengthen your immune system as well. I love the products from Natura, including a Lung and Bronchial tonic that clients rave about, sprays for throat, glands and sinus problems, and an herbal product called Flew Away that is excellent. These are wonderful for both acute and chronic symptoms.
• Call me for individual help! I can usually find you a homeopathic remedy that will minimize symptoms, shorten recovery and speed healing, and make individual recommendations to boost your immune system. And if you can come in to the office we can do a detox too.

Okay, I hope that alleviates some of the flu anxiety out there, and helps you stay healthy through the season. You can order all the *’d products either from me in my office or I can ship to you.

Here is Dr Mercola’s latest on this year’s flu epidemic:

Lastly, I’d like to share a part of Dr. Mercola’s previous post on the Swine Flu vaccine:

How Effective is the H1N1 Vaccine, Really?

“Specific levels of HI antibody titers post-vaccination with inactivated influenza virus vaccine have not been correlated with protection from influenza virus. In some human studies, antibody titers of 1:40 or greater have been associated with protection from influenza illness in up to 50% of subjects.”

You will find that paragraph in all the vaccine inserts.

What that paragraph says, is that the vaccine only works in half, or less, of those individuals who attain the specified level of seroconversion after vaccination. The FDA defines seroconversion as achieving an antibody titer of 1:40.

This means that if a vaccine was 100 percent effective at achieving this level of seroconversion, it would protect up to 50 percent of the recipients of the vaccine.

But none of the vaccines are 100 percent effective at achieving seroconversion.

CSL’s vaccine insert, for example, (see pages 11-12), states that their H1N1 vaccine provides seroconversion for:

• 48.7 percent of people aged 18-65
• 34 percent for seniors, 65 and older

That means that, at best, their vaccine works in one out of every four people! (49 percent of 50 percent).

Which, of course, means that the vaccine does NOT work in three out of every four people…

Is it REALLY worth it?