We made it. First cold, over and out. And we did it without heading to our Western Medicine doc. Yes, we did see our acupuncurist and yes, I did some home remedies. But mostly we just rode it out. It’s amazing what your body can do if you just give it the chance to heal itself. I don’t know if you know this or not..but something like 70% of our immune systems live in our gut. What this means is, alot of what we eat affects our immune systems. If your gut is out of whack, you can catch illnesses easier and if you let your gut STAY ouf of whack..those illnesses will hang around a lot longer. Here are a few ideas of some things you can do the next time you’re feeling sinus-y and like a cold is coming at ya!

1) If your sinuses are feeling gooped up and congested…lay off the dairy. Dairy is damp and it tends to cause us to produce mucous. So if you’re feeling “mucousy” – lay off the dairy for a while and see if it clears up.

2) If you’re only a day or two into the onset of your cold – definitely try the Gaia Quick Defense that I’ve talked about before. I swear to you – it works. BUT if you’ve got a full blown cold and are feeling like your head could explode at any second…running a fever..etc…the echinacea will do you no good. And your body will fight the echinacea and you will develop a tolerance to it. So you only want to take it at the very beginning of a cold and when you’re well. Also – if you’re sick…skip the vitamins too. Same thing happens.

3) Try a little aromatherapy. I bought an oil burner and used eucalyptus and peppermint…man o man! Really opened things up and was super soothing. That being said stay away from incense or smoke. Only irritates the sinuses.

4) Add a little cayene pepper to tea, food, anything really. Will help to dry you out.

And most importantly, get rest when you can. I know that’s that hardest part but if you can just take it easy on yourself, your body will do it’s job and not get too over stressed. I took the week off from doing pretty much anything other than caring for Kiki and I’m glad I did. I did go to my Ashtanga yoga class and it made me feel better. But other than that – I chilled at home and took care of myself.

Hopefully you’ll get lucky and won’t catch whatever it is that is making its rounds around our town…but if you do, just try the ideas above and see what works.

Naturally yours, Dallas