Thursday, June 30, 2011

Cold Prevention

I haven't had a cold so far this year *touch wood*, but I've come close a few times. When I start getting a scratchy throat, like I did yesterday, I do two things: megadose on vitamins, and have a spicy stir-fry.

Vitamins
I don't take any vitamins at the moment, but if I do feel a cold coming on, I immediately start taking Cenovis Echinacea, Garlic, Zinc & C
source
I usually take two with each meal (approx six per day) for two to three days after I start feeling yucky. Apparently if echinacea is taken at the onset of a cold it can help reduce the cold's duration - works for me!

Spicy Stir-fry
My meal of choice is a Thai basil beef and chilli stir-fry. It all started about five years ago when I was feeling unwell and not up to making dinner. I bought a basil beef stir-fry from our local Thai takeaway, and the chilli and onions helped to clear out my sinuses. Since then I often make one when I start to feel a bit sinus-y. The last couple of times I've used Marion's Kitchen Thai Basil & Chilli Stir-fry meal base. The first time I made it according to the instructions on the packet (with red capsicum and beans as my vegetables), but found that the meat needed longer cooking time than 1 minute at the end of the stir-fry process (although I am cooking with an electric frypan at the moment) and it came out quite tough as a result. Last night I cooked the meat as I usually would for a stir-fry: browned it in batches at the start of cooking, removed it from the pan while cooking the other ingredients, then returned the meat to the pan when everything else was nearly ready. Much better!

And I'm feeling fine again today.

Do you do anything special to prevent a cold?

4 comments:

Janelle said...

Charlotte
I take a vitamin my Naturopath gave me its called Immune Defence Support - was Echinacea, Andrographis, Zinc and Vitamin C in it and works very time - although I can't take while I'm pregnant which is a bugger.
I also take thin slices of garlic (like tablets) and honey & lemon drinks. Olive leaf extract helps with tonsillitis too. I'd much ratehr go all natural than resort to antibiotics :)

Charlotte Orr said...

Thanks Janelle, me too!

Magda said...

All of what you said and REST

Charlotte Orr said...

Hi Magda, yes, I think being run down is a big contributing factor to getting sick. Definitely a sign from the body to get more rest!