Eat Your Way to a Healthy Immune System

If you trust natural remedies more than you do flu vaccines, Dr. Joseph Mercola's list of the twelve best foods you can eat to protect yourself from the flu is a good place to start.

The 2009 flu season is upon us.

Staying well while those around you sniffle and sneeze requires that you extract as much nutrition from your diet as you can, loading up on the foods that pack the biggest nutritional punch.

Avoiding processed foods, grains and sugar will go a long way toward strengthening your immune system. However, you can do even more by selecting foods that are loaded with specific immune boosting nutrients.

Eating a diet rich in the following foods will be far better for your health than loading up on handfuls of supplements, or worse yet, falling victim to vaccines that expose you to health risks far worse than influenza.

Below, I have outlined what I consider to be the absolute best foods you can eat to help protect yourself this season, although the list is certainly not exhaustive. Read more

Does an Onion a Day Keep the Common Cold Away?

Balkan Insight surveys the natural remedies used in the Balkans, especially those used to prevent or cure colds and flu.

Some put their faith in the hands of the medical profession, others, it seems prefer more natural remedies.

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Garlic and onion, along with the ultimate Serbian cure, sljivovica, many in the market told us, would make us untouchable by the virus - if I consumed them every day.
Read more

Naturally Better Than Flu Shots: Probiotics, Digestive Enzymes, and Fiber

Gabriella Filippi interviews Dr. Udo Erasmus to find out what is better for the flu than flu shots.

I had the pleasure of conducting an interview with Dr. Erasmus. His research has been primarily in the areas of fats, digestion, and energy. Dr. Erasmus seeks to clarify information in the literature in these areas, and presents a great point: what does a picture of health look like? While diseases and sick cells are classified and organized, there exists no sensible categorization for health. Here Dr. Erasmus educates us on how to stay healthy during flu season, and answers the question, what is better for the flu than flu shots.

Dr. Erasmus asks, so what would it look like if everything was functioning well? And what would it take to get there? He further purports the importance of the appropriate use of food, water, and air (that is what the body is made from) and the minimization of pesticides, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical drugs, and food molecules that are broken down by processing or by food preparation.

Dr. Udo Erasmus finds the following most helpful for health: Read more

8 Natural Alternative to Swine Flu Vaccine

Instead of getting your government flu shot, try these natural supplements that will boost immunity and also help you recover from the flu fast if you happen to get it.

Flu – we all want to avoid it. Here are some natural options that will help build your immunity so you do not get it.

Olive leaf enhances immune function and fights all types ofa infections, including the flu virus. I see many people who tell me that they have not been sick since they began taking olive leaf daily. With olive leaf, quality is very important. The active component, oleuropein, should be 18% at a minimum. The best brands contain over 20% oleuropein. Read more

Half of UK Family Doctors Refuse Swine Flu Vaccine

Half of the family doctors in the UK will refuse to be vaccinated for swine flu. Why? What do they know that the government doesn't?

Up to half of family doctors do not want to be vaccinated against swine flu.

GPs will be first in the line for the jabs when they become available but many will decline, even though they will be offering the vaccine to their patients.

More than two thirds of those who will turn the jab down believe it has not been tested enough. Most also believe the flu has turned out to be so mild in the vast majority of cases that the vaccine is not needed. Read more

What Happens When a Natural Remedies Guru Comes Down With Swine Flu?

Even a natural remedies guru can come down with swine flu. Sara Altshul's experience is a reminder that natural remedies don't work for everyone all the time - though they're safer and less expensive than pharmaceuticals when they don't.

When I wrote about ways to prevent the H1N1 flu virus last month, I never suspected I might actually catch the bug myself. I’m healthy, and I’m committed to my three-times-a-week gym workouts; plus, I eat well, and I take vitamins. So when, a few days ago, I started feeling flu-ish, I was pretty surprised.

Immediately, I took regular doses of echinacea, a known antiviral herb, and Sambucol, a black elderberry extract that’s been proven to kill 10 different strains of flu virus (though I don’t know whether H1N1 is one of them). I did not, however, order the two different Chinese herbs recommended by Martha Howard, MD, the director of Wellness Associates of Chicago, Center for Advanced Integrative Environmental Medicine, that I wrote about in my flu blog.
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I was pretty disappointed when neither the echinacea nor the black elderberry staved off my symptoms, which came on with a bang: fever of 103, pounding headache—in fact, my entire body aches, a dramatic cough, no appetite, and extreme fatigue. Read more