Say Goodbye to the Flu and Hello to Building a Natural Immunity

The Flu Season is back again! It normally runs from November through April of the next year.  Center for Disease Control (or CDC) statistics suggest that the highest incidences of flu occur between January and March.

Does anyone know how effective the flu vaccine is? 

According to the CDC the flu vaccine reduces the odds of getting the flu by about 60%, however that number varies from year to year and among different groups of people.  Before opting to take the flu vaccine know the risks.

We are bombarded by ads on the TV telling you to get your flu shots now, it’s plaster on billboards, it’s on all the walls of pharmacies reminding you to get your flu shots.

Accordingly, the flu vaccines don’t work equally well in all people.  It is most effective in healthy adults, yet in young children under 24 months it is less effective at preventing the flu.  After middle age, immunity naturally becomes weaker so the flu vaccine does not work at all.

I have taken the flu vaccine once in my life, 26 years ago, and I opted to never take it again.  What many people may not realize is when you take the flu vaccine it causes antibodies to develop in the body, however it takes over two weeks after vaccination for those antibodies to protect you and during this time you might come down with the flu.

It is my understanding that everything does not work for everyone, so if you are comfortable with taking the flu vaccine every year and it worked for you, then go ahead.  For some people like me, I prefer to feed and take care of my body so it will build up my immunity to keep those viruses out.

And if I do come down with something I have the resources to take care of it right away so it does not linger longer than 2 days.

Why does flu strike in winter?

I was doing some research and wanted to know why flu strikes in winter and came across some interesting contents and there were 3 main reasons for this according to the National Institutes of Health.

1. In the winter people spend more time indoors. Our homes are being built to be more energy efficient and that in itself is a problem for us. When the windows are sealed to keep the heat you are likely to breathe the same air as someone who might have the flu and catch the virus.

2. Our days are shorter during the winter and because of the lack of sunlight this leads to low levels of vitamin D which compromises our immune systems and weakens it to fight the virus. Because your immune system slows down according to a recent study out of Yale University, apparently the cells lining in your nose and mouth are unable to filter the different temperatures. So wrap your nose and mouth with a scarf when it’s chilly outside.

3. The influenza virus may survive better in colder, drier climates and are able to infect more people. You are exposed to more germs, germs love to live on doorknobs, sink faucets, keyboards, elevators buttons, phones, kids, all items you might touch and then touch your face, eyes or mouth.

Even more disturbing is a study published last year by Lone Simonsen, Ph.D., and his team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease at the National Institutes for Health (NIH). They concluded that flu shots have had NO IMPACT at all for reducing deaths from flu complications in people over the age of 65.

So if you go back into history and look at the worst plagues known to man, some people were completely unaffected.

What was the difference? It was their immune system that protected them.

Considerable holistic research suggests that the following items inhibit or weaken our immune system:

• Sugar and alcohol use
• Poor diet
• Exposure to environmental toxins
• Insufficient rest
• Stress, either emotional or physical

More than 50% of Americans are deficient in the following immune nutrients: Vitamins A, C, E, B-6, B-12 and Folic Acid.  Which is one reason why we tend to become sick easily.

The cold, dry air of winter exerts significant stress on our external immune system. While the weather is cooling, we also celebrate 4 major holidays within 2 short months. All of them involve eating foods loaded with sugar, salt, and fats, and accompanied by oceans of sweetened drinks and alcohol.

These 4 supposed “food groups” weaken our internal, or cellular immune system. By combining all these detrimental factors, winter months typically involve the highest incidences of colds, flu, and weight gain.

 

So what is the secret to a healthy immune system?

Start eating right, getting plenty of sleep, exercising regularly and focusing on the positive.

Add a supplement program to fill in the gaps and assure that your immune systems are functioning at its peak.  That’s what I did for myself, my husband, my kids and grandchild.  As soon as we get home we wash our hands with warm water and soap.

I am constantly cleaning doorknobs, fridge doors, etc.  And if I feel that tickle in my throat, headache, or achiness in my body I reach into my herbal medicine cabinet and take care of those symptoms in a flash.

And a few times I hear my kids with “Mom, my throat hurts and I feel sick”.  So Mom is on call with her herbal remedies.  No one in my home takes the flu shots.  I am depending on my immune system to take care of me once I give my body what it needs.

If you would like my list of things I used to keep my family healthy all winter long click here.

To you health,

Denise