But today I'm feeling great, minus the residual junky sounding cough. Here's what I did to take care of myself and recover quickly from the dreaded late-winter cold:
1) I ate nourishing foods and drank plenty of liquids.
When I'm sick, I pretty much only want to eat liquid foods. It's a lot easier to breathe when you are sipping rather than chewing. So this week I lived on soup, smoothies, and herbal tea.
The day I felt the worst, I somehow gathered enough strength to make some chicken soup with homemade bone broth. I added some crushed garlic at the end, since raw garlic has so many healing properties. I also pulled some tomato soup from the freezer (made last summer with heirloom tomatoes). I had a smoothie containing frozen fruit, yogurt, coconut oil, and pastured egg yolks every day to get some more nutrients in me - since other foods weren't very appetizing. I drank like six cups of tea a day - mostly immune system support and throat comfort (we like Yogi Tea and Traditional Medicinals). And I drank a lot of water.
2) I supplemented my diet with superfoods.
I continued taking all the things we usually take: Homemade elderberry syrup, fermented cod liver oil, and liver capsules. In the first couple days, I took the elderberry several times a day, in hopes of giving my immune system the extra boost it needed. I have also taken a homeopathic remedy in the past at the first sign of a cold with definite success - it's called Alpha CF.
3) I rested.
I took two days off of work, let the housework and laundry go, slept in as much as I could, and rented Jane Austen films from the library. (I recommend the BBC version of Sense & Sensibility!)
And now I'm back to my chipper self and ready to face the week ahead of me!
