How I Achieve Flu Free Winters

Yes, you can get through the winter without one person throwing up from the flu....even babies.

Is it a new miracle drug, you ask? Nope. The new "triple protection" flu vaccine? Nope. Staying inside and not interacting with anyone? No (in fact, this may actually make you more susceptible).

I've gone through two winters in the past 5 years where none of us - that's my entire family - have not gotten sick. Not even the sniffles. Was it luck? Doubtful, since I worked really hard those two winters. The other winters, I was either pregnant and too tired to even do what little I needed to, or too poor to afford anything. Let me tell you, I wish I done what I needed to in order to avoid the flu those other 3 winters!

A Puke Free Winter

In this post I want to impart my tips and tricks to keeping your family puke free this winter.

My approach to keeping my family healthy has morphed and improved over my 14+ years of parenting, and my present protocol is a result of trial and error, experience, study, meditation and prayer. This is what has worked for my family, and I hope this can give you some hope and ideas.

First of all, you need to form and build the foundation for health which includes:
1. A clean diet. No soda, fast and junk food, artificial flavors, colors and sweeteners. Limited refined sugars and flours. Organic and fresh as possible, plenty of fruits and veggies and real whole grains. Limit and eliminate OTC medications, including tylenol, (and especially) antibiotics and vaccines. Eat little animal products.
2. Adhere to a low stress lifestyle and laugh as much as possible.
3. Massage doesn't hurt at all.
4. Address and balance any yeast overgrowth issues with Cand-e-cleanse or Yeast Beaters (or make your own - instructions to follow), probiotic and greens.

If you do not build the foundation, all the pills and potions in the world won't do hardly a bit of good - long term anyway.

The Protocol

Now here is my daily protocol from mid September to the end of February (keeping in mind that I have my days when I forget, but this happens 5 days a week at minimum):

1. Infection Fighter dose (or *make your own - instructions to follow)
2. Probiotic dose. (see past WOW article here)
3. Vitamin D. I do a dose of Barlean's Fish Oil (which tastes like candy) as well as **20 minutes of sun.
4. Thieves spray. One squirt in the mouth or on the bottom of the feet.

Yep, that's it. With my brood of 5, I end of spending about $165 to keep us all well. I do make my own herbal remedies, which saves me about $105 over the winter. If I made my own probiotic and blended my own essential oils, I'd save even more.

The Essential Vitamin

I do want to elaborate on vitamin D. This is a new one I added this year. The more I learn about it, the more I'm convinced that as a whole, this nation is vitamin D deficient.

A trial appeared in the March, 2010 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Am J Clin Nutr (March 10, 2010). doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.29094) and the results from this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled (meeting the gold standard) study were that 31 of 167 children in the placebo group contracted influenza over the four month duration of the study, only 18 of 168 children in the vitamin D group did.

This means vitamin D was responsible for an absolute reduction of nearly 8 percent. The study involved 334 children, half of which were given 1200 IUs per day of vitamin D3.

8% doesn't sound like a lot, until you put things into perspective:

Flu vaccines, according to the latest scientific evidence, achieve an only 1 percent reduction in influenza symptoms

This means vitamin D appears to be 800% more effective than vaccines at preventing influenza infections in children.

Mom's-to-Be, Let the Sun Shine In

Additionally, the sun's power seems to protect our most vulnerable: Mothers who took 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily cut their risk of premature delivery by half, in a study conducted by researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina and presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Vancouver.

Getting the Most From the Rays

**You HAVE to get sunlight in order to have the full protective effects the sun provides. Here's how you get the most from your time in the sun:

1. Don't use typical Sunscreens, they block out the valuable effects of vitamin D. For example, if you wear sunblock SPF 8, you reduce your body's ability to make vitamin D by 90%. If you choose a sunblock with a SPF of 30, you reduce your body's ability to produce vitamin D by 99%
2. The healing rays of natural sunlight (that generate vitamin D in your skin) cannot penetrate glass. So you don't generate vitamin D when sitting in your car or home.
3. The further you live from the equator, the longer exposure you need to the sun in order to generate vitamin D. Canada, the UK and most U.S. states are far from the equator.
4. People with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 - 30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair-skinned people to generate the same amount of vitamin D. That's why prostate cancer is epidemic among black men -- it's a simple, but widespread, sunlight deficiency.
5. Sufficient levels of vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Without sufficient vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium, rendering calcium supplements useless.
6. Chronic vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed overnight: it takes months of vitamin D supplementation and sunlight exposure to rebuild the body's bones and nervous system.
7. It is impossible to generate too much vitamin D in your body from sunlight exposure: your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs.
8. If it hurts to press firmly on your sternum, you may be suffering from chronic vitamin D deficiency right now.
9. Ideally 40% of the body surface (skin) needs to be exposed to the sun.
10. Ideally exposure should be to prime midday sun (10:00 AM to 2:00 PM) when the UVB rays are strongest; UVB are the kind of sun rays that produce vitamin D on the skin.
11. Don't shower after sun exposure. Natural skin oil is critical to the absorption process since vitamin D is only formed on skin that has enough natural oil formed on its surface and if it stays on the skin long enough after exposure to the sun.

Color Does Matter

Recommended time in the sun to produce about 10, 000 IU of vitamin D:

Light skin = 15-20 minutes daily
Medium Skin = 25-30 minutes daily
Dark Skin = 40-45 minutes daily

Some people may worry that if they are in the sun a lot they will overdose on Vitamin D. However this doesn't happen, and here's why. When you're exposed to the sun, the UVB rays creates vitamin D on your skin, while the UVA rays in the sunlight will tend to destroy excessive levels of vitamin D circulating in your body. That means that even "if" you are taking vitamin D and also getting it from the sun, the UVA rays in sunlight won't allow you to have too much vitamin D.
Source: Holick, MF. Vitamin D Deficiency. New England Journal of Medicine, July 2007

*Making Your Own

Like I said, I make my own herbal remedies. You can do the Infection Fighter blend in capsules or tincture (liquid). It is equal parts:

Echinacea Angustofolia
***Goldenseal Root
Licorice Root
Ginger Root

***If you are pregnant, be aware that very high doses of goldenseal can cause uterine contractions. An alternative formula to this would be equal parts:

Echinacea Angustofolia

Peppermint

myrrh

You can go here for instructions for tinctures. Here for instructions on capsules.

I buy all my bulk herbs from MountainRoseHerbs.com and my glycerin (which you can sub for the vodka) from EssentialWholesale.com and my other supplies from IndustrialContainer.com.