The dreaded day has come. You wake up and realize that you have a scratchy throat, a runny nose and can't stop sneezing. After your initial thought of how much being sick sucks you head towards the bathroom and what's the first thing you go for to make you feel better? Robitussin? Mucinex? Basically your standard everyday over the counter cold and flu medicine. Am I right?
We've all grown up in a country where we're taught that our only option before we head to the doctor when we're sick is to take unnatural medicine created in a lab with their only purpose being to make big pharma more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime. But what if I told you that you had other options. Options that weren't as costly and have little to no side effects. Options that were more natural. Today i'm going to go over my families go to's when the sickness takes over our house. The dreaded C O L D.
Let me start by saying that I am by no means saying that there isn't a time and a place for over the counter and prescription meds. What I am saying is that they don't always have to be your first option. For years I've been able to keep my family healthy using a few select vitamins and acetaminophen. So let's talk about what's the best and why...
My first go to vitamin is of course Vitamin C. If you aren't a huge fan of pills you can find it in so many different drinks and foods around the house. Orange juice, oranges, broccoli, kiwi, strawberries, mangos, grapefruits, tomatoes...the list is endless. And the great thing about this vitamin is that theres really no such thing as too much of a good thing. Vitamin C is one of the few in which you can't overdose. At worst you'll get a case of the squirts and be a little pukey. but that's only once you've taken super large doses. My suggestion, and what we do, is take one tablet as soon as you realize you're feeling sick and take two tablets before bed. Reason being is that when you're in bed your body is in a resting state. Because of that all of the vitamin will go towards healing you rather than being used for energy like it would during the daytime.
My second go to is elderberry syrup. Elderberries have so many different amazing properties. They're known to fight colds and viruses. They help with inflammation which in turn helps relieve throat discomfort, headaches and nasal pressure. They're packed with antioxidants which will help prevent or slow down damage to your cells from outside ickyness. They're also full of vitamins A, B and C. My favorite perk of elderberries is they contain Quercetin. Quercetin is what we call a zinc ionophor. Essentially its opens up our cells to make them able to absorb more zinc which we definitely will be discussing shortly since it's our third go to and when you hear why, it will absolutely blow your mind!
Now we get to talk about our third go to. Zinc. Zinc gives your immune system a huge boost when you're sick. The only issue is that with the way that our bodies are made up, we aren't able to absorb 100% of every vitamin that we take so we don't get its full benefits. Which brings us back to elderberries and Quercetin. Quercetin when taken will open up your cells, being the zinc ionophor that it is, and makes your cells able to absorb all of the goodness that is Zinc. Now here's the best part. Zinc is so important because it can actually prevent viruses from replicating. Any. Virus. You. Have. ::wink wink::. So basically when you take it, it stops the virus from replicating leaving the bits of virus inside of you to die off and essentially get you back to healthy.
The three things I've already gone over are the cannot go withouts. But there are a few vitamins which definitely deserve honorable mention. Probiotics for their ability to balance your gut health and pull vitamins from the food we eat. Certain vitamins can't be absorbed from our food and into our system without a little help so I recommend taking a probiotic daily. Even if you aren't sick. Vitamin D3 is also very important. It helps quite a bit boosting your immune system as does Omega 3. Omega 3 and zinc also help prevent blood clots and Omega 3 has huge health benefits for your heart. And of course...a multivitamin....daily.
I really could talk all day about the benefits of each vitamin and in time I definitely will. But for now I just wanted to go over the ones that I always make sure to have stocked in my cabinets. Most times I buy my supplements on Amazon but you can also get great deals at CVS when they have their Buy One Get One Free sale. I'm always sure to stock up then. Just be sure when buying them to pay attention to how many MG or IU (International Units) each capsule or tablet is vs how much you're paying and snag yourself the best deals.
I'll end this by saying that I do fully support using vitamins as my main source of fixing the Icks in my house but I will say that you also have to use your best judgement when dealing with sickness and if it reaches a point where you feel as if you aren't getting better, please definitely call your doctor. Even just to be checked out and make sure all is well with you or your littles. Stay safe mamas and please take care of you in this crazy time!
