Can you avoid the flu?

Tips for Preventing/Dealing with Cold/Flu etc

We need to be more Proactive in preventing the flu than just trying to shield ourselves from the virus (which seems to be the basic cdc recommendations). I am fine with that, because we don't need the government to tell us everything, right? (insert political joke here).

So, the flu (influenza) happens because the virus is able to take advantage of a weakness in our immune system. We need to be proactive and make our immune system strong.

Below I reproduce some tips that have worked over the years for me in avoiding the flu and cold etc. In order to bolster my opinion, I searched the internet and came up with some good pages written by medical doctors that reiterate some of these symptoms well.

• Reduce your Sugar/Fructose and grain intake (at least as soon as you see cold symptoms)
  (most grains get broken down to sugars in the body, this is soups such as chicken soup or vegetable soups with lentils are good for during these times)
• Get more natural sun based Vitamin D (go for a walk when sunny and wear half sleeves!) or working out at a sunny location indoors? at the least, take an occasional vitamin D multivitamin.
• A cup or two of green Tea every day!
• Get enough rest - aka proper and good quality sleep!
• Address your emotional stress issues! (this is huge one)

Recently, however, I slipped up on some of these tips (especially getting good rest) and I promptly got hit by some flu/cold and have lost several productive days in January. However, I have been more conscious in February, especially with my sleeping pattern, and feel more healthy!

For being proactive on the "Common Cold" it is beneficial to add these things to your diet: Turmeric, Black Pepper, Ginger.

For sore throats and cold though, the best (imo) remedy is to cut fresh ginger, take some whole black pepper kernels, add these to a spoon of honey and chew it up.

(For Vegans) Another manner to ingest turmeric powder in raw form is to take 2 tbsp of the powder and add it to ~200 ml coconut water and shake it up and drink. I usually added some fresh ground black pepper also to it.
Note that I did this last year for 15-20 days when I wanted to reduce antibiotic usage during some bacterial infection I had in my foot that started from cutting into an athlete's foot scale. While that may or may not have been the reason for the cure, it helped with an overall immunity boost.

Some of these tips were adapted from: www.mercola.com

Disclosure: Would like to point out that the site mercola talks at length about the (in)efficacy of flu vaccines. I am staying neutral on that topic so far as I do not have my own evidence to draw a solid conclusion. I have also not reviewed the evidence discussed on that site.