This is an updated version of my original article written in Oct. 2009
Dear Neighbor,
I am an avid study of health related issues. Probably it comes from my do-it-yourself mindset. I figure no one really cares more about my health than I do and therefore, I have to do something about it because who else will? Caring for your body is possibly one of the most empowering things you can do for yourself.
From my studies over the years, I have learned that there is incredible money in sickness. I have seen the power and profits of creating public hysteria over disease because Rx companies make large profits from fear. Before relying on what the news is pumping out as fact, take time to understand who will really benefit from the “cure” and always do a little research.
Last year, H1N1 was the poster child of public health hystericalitis and possibly the biggest income generator in recent years. Everywhere you turned, the media was showing children who died, mentioning the numbers of the sick and advocating the flu shot. Many ran to get them and some areas actually ran out of the vaccines. Yet, it was amazing to see people like Dr. Oz were not willing to take flu shots. , nor his family, though he promoted them religiously.
This mixed message was troubling to me and I did a little research. I found out why he was so enthusiastic over recommending them. In sick care , always follow the money train. This train led me to find out that Dr. Oz owns 150,000 shares of SIGA stock, the company that makes the H1N1 vaccine and he even sits on the board. Of course he is going to promote the vaccines! Enough said.
While the flu can be dangerous, the fact is there isn’t any one flu more deadly than the other, not even H1N1. The flu viruses change yearly, morphing into a new strain and the reality is that since they only had last year’s strain to work with, the flu shots are fairly obsolete before they prick your arm. Just as the strains get a tad more sophisticated, Rx companies get better at scaring people. Dr. Oz wouldn’t take the shot or give it to his family because he didn’t think it was proven safe. Frankly, taking vaccines are a real shot in the dark and a risk you will have to measure for you and your family.
So, How do you prevent the flu? Here is a homesteader check list of what you can do:
- Build your immune system so you can fight off any attacking, contagious disease. Take a multi-vitamin supplement that is free of sugar, dyes or animal by-products. Make sure they dissolve in less than 15 minutes or you are literally flushing your vitamins down the toilet.
- Take at least 2,000 IU of vitamin D, daily. (children 1,200 IU) Vitamin D makes peptides that prevent the flu virus as well as the common cold virus. Ironically, low vitamin D is linked to fibromyalgia as well. So we do need our vitamin D, but as with all vitamins, we can’t take one alone. Take a multi-vitamin to support the absorption of the D as well as all the other vitamins.
- Wash your hands. Touching contaminated surfaces and then putting your hands in your nose or mouth create instant petri dishes for growing bacteria and viruses.
- Get plenty of sunshine. At least five minutes without sun screen, daily.
- Stay away from packaged food, fast food and chain restaurants. They all use chemicals in the food that tire the immune system and create addictions.
- Avoid sugar because it suppresses your immune system. This is likely why so many people are sick during the holidays when sugar intake escalates.
- Avoid Omega 6 oils. Canola (Rapeseed) peanut, safflower, corn and soybean oils are all full of Omega 6. Americans are said to consume more than 50 times the desired range of these oils. Eating too much suppresses the immune system creating sickness. Use coconut and olive oil instead. Hey, you’ll likely lose a little weight making this switch, as well.
- Eat as much organic as you can. Start by replacing the foods you eat the most of with organic. Then evaluate the foods that are the most contaminated and start replacing them.
- Keep an Echinacea and Goldenseal blend supplement in your house. Take them the second you feel yucky in any way and continue taking until you don’t. Never take more than two weeks.
- An organic apple a day really can keep the doctor away. It also keeps your weight down.
- Get plenty of sleep; allowing your body to use your energy only to heal.
- Play music that soothes and makes you happy. Make a playlist on Pandora. Type in “piano solos” or “spa music” and go from there.
- Do yoga or some other form of exercise that calms you body and mind.
- Breath in the nose and out the nose, four seconds each way. Oxygen is a miraculous element.
- Pray
Happy Homesteading, S