Take 7 Simple Steps to Protect Your Health

Take 7 simple steps to protect your health and the health of your family.

 1. Frequent hand-washing with regular soap or, even better, a hand cleanser with manuka honey (a type of honey produced by bees that harvest nectar from the flowers of the manuka bush, native to New Zealand). Make it a ritual habit. This is most important if you are already sick.

 2. Do not touch your face or nose if you can help it. This will reduce the likelihood that the virus will enter the body if it has been passed to you via a handshake or other hand-to-hand scenario.

 3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water, or 1 tablespoon of manuka honey and 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water; or even antiseptic mouthwash. H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

 4. Clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water using a spray/ syringe applicator, or Neti pot, or even by “snorting” a palm full of salt water. Blowing the nose hard once a day and /or swabbing just the first 1/4 inch of your internal nostrils with Q-tips dipped in warm salt water are also effective in bringing down viral population.

 5. Boost your natural immunity with fresh fruits and vegetables that are rich in vitamin C. You may also supplement with 500 mg vitamin C tablets, preferably in lozenge form.

 6. Drink as much warm liquids as you can, especially green tea. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. It helps wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach, where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

 7. Get some sun and fresh air with a brisk 15-minute walk. Getting out easily is key to preventing transmission of H1N1 and other flu strains.

 As a closing thought, consider the following quote from Ronald Goldman, MD, co-founder of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine: “Chronic infection is a vastly underestimated cause of disease and disability. The public needs to be mindful that low-grade infections are estimated to potentially reduce the healthy human lifespan by up to 20 years, robbing them of a lifetime of bountiful energy, productivity, and happiness. Bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites may well be the single most important yet undiscovered cause of premature aging and the chronic degenerative disorders of aging that now plague Americans.”

Protect yourself from the flu virus and countless other “bugs” out there by taking natural, common-sense steps such as those outlined above. Talk to your doctor for more information.