How should I support a cold?

What causes us to get ill? When our immune system is weakened pathogens enter our body and cause illness. There are a number of different causes for a weakened immune system some of them are listed below..

~ Emotional stress such as sadness, frustration, anxiety and anger.

~ Overwork especially under stressful conditions.

~ Lack of sleep and rest.

~ Diets high in sugar, processed foods, lacking in vitamins and minerals.

~ Prolonged exposure to extreme environments such as hot and cold, wet etc.

~ Poor gut health.

Getting ill is a chance for us to pause and ask your body what it is lacking in. Is your mindset on life not as bright as usual, are you working longer hours or struggling to find the time to nourish your body in the way you usually would?

Cold and flu are about our relationship between our external nature and internal ecosystem. Our internal ecosystem includes sleep, lifesystle, work life balance, mental state, physical state and the external nature is where we live, the people around us, emotions we are exposed to, external stress.

To support yourself when your unwell follow these simple tips to help

~ Rest, rest and rest some more. The number one best thing you can do if you feel ill is if you can cancel plans, prospone work events, ask for help and skip the gym. You help to boost your immune system and allow the bodies energy to be used on healing your body instead of fighting against it.

~ Hydration. Stay hydrated, drink warming teas. If you have hot symptoms like head aches, dry cough, sore throat, feeling hot, yellow mucus ~ drink teas with cooling herbs, fresh lemon and citrus fruits, peppermint, thyme, etc. If you have more cold symptoms poor circulation, feeling cold, white mucus, runny nose, aches then opt for more warming spices, fresh ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, garlic.

~ Eat simple warming easy to digest foods. Stay away from extreme flavours, rich foods, processed, salt, raw foods, smoothies (the exception is citrus fruits), sugar, dairy, alcohol and other stimulants. You need to be eating to expel pathogens we do this by eating soups, broths, stews, soaked rice, porridge. Foods that support our body but don’t need much energy to digest. Click here for a rejuvenating soup recipe (if you eat animal products even better use it as a base to your chicken soup when your ill)

~ Stay warm. Wrap up, stay warm and if you do need to go outside make sure to cover your nose and mouth to protect yourself from the wind as it will cause your cold/flu to worsen. By staying warm we also help the body to sweat out the pathogens.

~ Take a mineral rich bath. Run yourself a bath and add a good handful of sea salt or epson salts and some kombu seaweed. This is a great combination to help your body start to detox the pathogens within.

~ Mindfulness. Illness is a message to your body to slow down, it’s a last resort and as frustrating as it can be to slow down honour this time. Maybe you haven’t been making your health a priority recently, be open to messages that your body is trying to communicate to you. Take a breathe ~ breath work can be such a healer when you're ill look into various techniques that support your body during this time. My favourite is simply just to breathe really deeply in and out from my stomach circulating the breathe around my whole body.

Sometimes it takes a while for our bodies to recover and for us to get our energy levels back up be kind to yourself whilst this is happening.