The Flu – How Health Practitioners Arm Themselves Against It
What approach do many health practitioners use to arm themselves against the flu and other ‘bugs’ that go around?
In summary, the strategy many use is to support their immune systems carefully during ‘flu seasons.’ Here’s how they do it:
As these seasons also correlate with times when their sun exposure is reduced, they often supplement with vitamin D3. Then, to make certain they both absorb the D3 and convert it to its active form so their bodies can use it, they make sure they have enough saturated fat (yes, saturated fat! It’s not the demon it’s been made out to be – in fact it plays a vital role in the body’s nutritional state and functioning. Good sources are coconut oil, cream and butter.
Then, at the advent of flu season, many start taking a combination of the roots of the herbs Echinacea Purpurea and Echinacea Augustifolia. These add immune strength and support internal cleansing. For many, these two strategies alone are sufficient.
However, health practitioners encounter stresses and can get run down, too. Then if feeling like they’re starting to come down with something, many add the herb Andrographus and the herb St. John’s Wort.
These strategies are non-prescription with no side effects, and available over-the-counter or online.
The only caution is about using St. John’s Wort over a length of time if you are also taking SSRI’s – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. These are used to raise serotonin levels, and since St. John’s Wort also raises serotonin levels, these levels may become too high. In certain susceptible individuals (those being treated for bipolar disorder), serotonin levels that are too high can trigger a manic state. But for short term usage such as is described above, there is usually no problem.
But there’s one additional strategy they use that’s absolutely crucial, and one that’s often overlooked. They know to address it because they understand that their immune system functioning and their emotional state are closely linked. In fact a state of emotional stress can virtually shut down the immune system.
You likely already know that neglecting your food diet would make you much more vulnerable to ‘catching’ the flu. Bad eating habits and poor nutrition have lots of negative payoffs, and susceptibility to infection is a big one. That’s why we pay attention to when we eat, how much we eat, and the quality of our food.
Far fewer of us pay attention to another kind of diet – our emotional one. We take in toxic messages from others and feed ourselves negative ones on a regular basis without even thinking about it. We we don’t realize that when we ignore, neglect or abuse our emotional diet, we are instructing our bodies in how to operate.
Attacking yourself (or allowing yourself to be attacked) with emotionally toxic or abusive messages translates to instructions for your immune system: “Attack Self!”
So keep your immune system strong and in top functioning condition by feeding yourself lots of positive, affirming messages, and invite others to do the same.
