I’d like to start by declaring myself GUILTY. Everything I am about to discuss here, well…I have kind of done the exact opposite my entire life. It wasn’t until I became pregnant that I shifted my way of handling illness–mainly because I simply couldn’t use other products to treat the common cold while carrying a baby. I recall being sick 3 months into my pregnancy and actually having to deal with it OFF meds. That’s right, no over the counter or prescribed medicine to help relieve the headache, body aches, sore throat, or fever. No meds to get rid of the horrible dry cough that practically made me gag every time. I just had to battle through it and let my body naturally do the work to fight off whatever virus or bacterial infection I had caught.

Being someone who was ALWAYS quick to run to the doctor before, even if it was for some type of pain relief, you can imagine how hard it was for me to sit back and do absolutely nothing about my symptoms. That is when I began researching natural remedies to fight off common colds and even found some remedies to help with the flu. Getting pregnant was the best thing that could have happened to me (in more ways than one). But specifically related to this post, because it was the one time I began to treat my body like a temple. I watched everything I put into my mouth, and when I was sick, treated my body as if it was the most fragile piece of fine art.

When my daughter was born, I researched the benefits of breastfeeding and even though it was time consuming and very challenging, I made sure my baby had all the nutrients and antibodies she could possibly need to keep her healthy. Now at 18 months, she is no longer breastfeeding, and the dreaded cold and flu season is upon us. I have done extensive research on natural remedies to get her, the hubby, and myself through the next few months. Funny thing is, I have put more time and research into making sure my baby is healthy, than I have for anything–and I mean anything! If only I had put as much focus into college, I might have graduated much sooner than I did (wink).

Moving on,  I had a terrible cold this past week. Every symptom you can imagine, I had. No down time to let my body rest because I was chasing around a 1.5 year old. So I did the following and found all of which to be extremely helpful.

Detox Baths! I discussed ingredients in a previous post. These baths are super relaxing, will help you to sleep like a baby, and most importantly, will strip your body of toxins. (bath ingredients in previous post).

Elderberry Syrup. This yummy goodness is an immune system booster! The ginger in this concoction acts as an anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory powerhouse. Also helps to warm up the body to induce sweating to naturally push the toxins and fever (if present) out of your pores. I was shocked to find out this also calmed my cough and sore throat pretty quick. It has been recommended to take this syrup daily as a preventative measure and double up when cold or flu strikes. This can be store bought or homemade. I bought some at Sprouts.

Dosage: 1/2 to 1 tsp daily for kids daily for prevention. 1/2 to 1 TBSP daily for adults daily for prevention. If cold or flu is present, take same dose every 2-3 hours until symptoms disappear.

Another thing that helped me out a ton was to drink 1 cup of this blend 3-4x a day.

For me, these treatments helped. No trips to the doctor. No medicine needed. Just simple, natural ingredients. Best part about this is…even though mama was sick coughing, sneezing, and spreading germs, Giuliana was only congested for one day, had a fever for one night, and David did not get sick at all. Who knows if all of this really did the trick or not, but I’d like to think it did : )