Just this morning, I heard on the radio about the spread of West Nile - worst in history, etc... Whether the latest fear is West Nile or H1N1 or the Bird Flu, your best defense is your immunity. Have you noticed that some people just don't catch what's "going around?"
Simply put, these folks have the right gut bacteria that kills the bad bacteria/virus before it has a chance to get a hold of you and put you down. Rampant overuse of antibiotics destroys this good bacteria and make you dependent on outside sources to fight the fight. When the drug doesn't exist or the "superbugs" have become immune to the antibiotic - well, that's when you should be concerned.
Sometimes antibiotics are necessary, but it is up to you to decide whether you need to take this measure when you have a sinus infection, etc... Studies have shown in this case, particularly, that it takes as long to fight a sinus infection with or without antibiotics.
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If you let your body fight on its own - you create a stronger you. You create antibodies yourself and if a certain bacteria rears its ugly head, you have a little army waiting. Antibiotics wipe out your army too!
How can we boost our immunity, so we can fight the fight?
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So many ways --and I can't tell you all the ways in one day so I will give you one Immunity Boosting Tip today:
Replace your sugar at home with Organic sugar. We all know that sugar is trouble, but we all love it! By making this simple change, you are feeding your body something it recognizes - sugar in its natural form, actually has some nutritional value (not much). In any case, it is a real food. Sugar as you know it is soo pretty, soo white, and it looks like a winter snow pouring gracefully into your coffee --- WAIT!
Why is it so white? Because the same chemical that you use to bleach your socks is used to bleach your sugar!! If you would not drink bleach, you should not eat run-of-the-mill off-the-shelf, white refined sugar. Your body has to process that bleach, as well as other chemicals used in the processing of sugar. which are toxins. The short term and long term affects of the ingestion of this type of sugar is well-documented and quite scary, frankly.
Luckily for us, Organic Sugar looks much like what we recognize - a little off white because there is a touch of molasses left in the processing, it is available everywhere now and it's used the same way your old white friend is used. I find Whole Foods has the best price for it around here, Trader Joe's a second.
One more note- avoid ALL subtitute sugars except for Stevia. Contrary to the media, your body DOES know exactly what the difference is between sugars and because "its made from sugar" should not give you any peace. Splenda, Equal, Sweet and Low - carcinogens. Spenda metabolizes in your body the way fromaldehyde does. More on this another day...
Eat well and feel great!
Yours,
Rachel