Herbal Healing, Infection, Colds & Flu

Getting Ready for Flu Season

Dara Dietz
A cup of tea with a cinnamon stick among autumn leaves

The cool mornings are here, and with them comes flu season. The best time to build up your defenses is now, before illness arrives rather than after.

Why We Have a Flu Season

Why does a flu season come around every year? As the weather cools, we bundle up, close the windows and drapes, and stop going outside into the fresh, cleansing air. Our homes become closed boxes, and our bodies slowly become clogged with waste. Germs, viruses, and bacteria love a closed-up, stagnant system.

Then the holidays arrive. The sweet, rich treats clog our systems further, and the emotional drama of the season weakens us even more. Add tightly closed homes and very little sunshine, and you have the perfect recipe for sickness every fall and winter.

The good news is that each of these causes has a simple answer.

Open Up Your Home and Your Body

Prevention starts with keeping both your home and your body open, clean, and moving.

  • Air out your home. On the warmer days, open the windows for a few minutes and let fresh air circulate. In very cold weather this isn’t always easy, but even a few minutes helps.
  • Let the sunshine in. Open the curtains. Sunlight purifies your rooms, and a morning walk in the sun does the same for you.
  • Keep clean. Take a daily bath, and change your bed sheets on a regular weekly schedule.
  • Go easy on the sweets. Sugar clogs up the immune system just when we need it most. Enjoy the holidays, but keep the treats in their place.
  • Stay warm. Keep your feet and neck warm so your circulation stays strong.
  • Rest. The shorter days are nature’s cue to slow down. Early nights give the body time to repair and rebuild.

My Fall and Winter Herbal Routine

Through the fall and winter months, I suggest adding these to your daily routine:

  • Vitamin C: 3,000 mg time-release, at least once a day.
  • Echinacea: 1 oz a day, 4 days each week. Echinacea strengthens the immune system and helps the body clear out what doesn’t belong.
  • Garlic: When everyone around you is starting to get sick, add the Super Tonic or Herbal Aid 1 to your day. Both of these formulas are all about garlic, one of our strongest infection fighters. Use garlic and onions freely in your cooking too.

When You Think You’ve Been Exposed

If you’ve been around someone who is sick, or you feel something coming on, rest comes first. Your body needs its strength to fight off the incoming invaders. Then step up your program right away:

  • Echinacea: 1 oz each day, 4 to 6 days each week
  • Super Tonic: 1 tablespoon, 3 times a day
  • Vitamin C: 3,000 mg, twice a day
  • Lobelia: 1 dropperful a couple of times a day

Lobelia as a Preventive

Dr. Christopher called Lobelia one of the greatest herbs in the world. It is a relaxant and an anti-infection herb, and its greatest gift is that it removes obstructions and congestion in the body.

That is why it works so well as a preventive. Between the time a virus is contracted and the time symptoms appear, the virus is busy blocking up the system so it can take hold. Keeping the body open, so normal waste is properly removed, keeps that blockage from getting established.

Dr. Christopher told of an elderly student who worked at a nursery where mononucleosis swept through the staff. She kept a bottle of Lobelia tincture at work and took small, regular doses in a little water through the day. She was the only employee who did not come down with it.

Lobelia is a powerful herb and deserves respect. It is not for everyday minor complaints, and larger doses can cause vomiting. If you haven’t used Lobelia before, call me first and we’ll work out the right amount for you.

If You Do Get Sick

Rest right away rather than pushing through, drink plenty of warm fluids, and reach out to me. Please get medical care promptly for a high or lasting fever, trouble breathing, or symptoms that keep getting worse.

I’m here to help you put together a fall wellness plan that fits you. Wishing you a healthy season!

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Published by Dara Dietz

Dara D Dietz is co-founder with her Husband of H.E.A.L. Marketplace, a private Natural Healing Association. As a teacher and counselor she has been supporting the members of H.E.A.L. with Natural Healing information and herbal supports since 1998. She continues to maintain strong ties to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Since healing her own kidney ailments she has assisted thousands of people in discovering and using natural herbal remedies. Dara has written and compiled numerous articles on a wide variety of natural healing topics. Drawing from her own healing experiences and borrowing from the vast wisdom of natural healers long departed, she continues to provide H.E.A.L.’s international membership with down to earth natural healing wisdom in H.E.A.L.’s bi-weekly newsletters. Dara and her husband currently reside in Rutherfordton, North Carolina.