Herbs

Prevent Catching the Cold and Flu this Season

The Best Defense Against the Cold and Flu Season is Prevention!

“How can I prevent catching a cold or getting the flu this fall?” is the question that everyone should be asking during the month of September. We all know that the cold and flu season is just around the corner. Fall is famous for being the cold or the flu season. Sometimes getting sick in the fall can make for a miserable winter as well. It seems that once our immune system is broken down in the fall it has to play catch up all winter. Then every little thing in the air causes a sniffle, stuffy sinuses or worse. Avoiding the cold and the flu in the fall gives one a chance of avoiding being sick for the whole season.
Is there a way to avoid getting sick all together? The answer to that question is a resounding YES! Your immune system is set up to guard against diseases, viruses, bad bacteria that cause the onset of the flu and a myriad of other issues. The problem comes when your immune system isn’t strong enough to fend off the attacks of the season. According to Dr. Linda Page Ph., D. Traditional Naturopath, “Today there’s another paradigm shift in healthcare – one that emphasizes disease prevention instead of disease treatment”. She also states “Preventative medicine is the best medicine. Alternative healthcare emphasizes prevention over crisis intervention, seeking to improve health rather than simply to extend life by heroic means. Holistic practitioners believe healing originates from the human body, not from medicines, that toxins in the body often cause disease, and that natural remedies which remove toxins help the body regain health.” In essence Dr. Page is stating that the old wife’s tale “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is absolutely true. This fall we should all seek the ounce of prevention that will help us get through the cold and flu season instead of being slave to numbing cold medicine and sick days flat on our backs in bed.
One might ask, “What is the key to preventing illness?” The answer lies in our immune system. The ounce of prevention would be to strengthen our immune system so that it is effective in finding and eliminating those disease causing toxins located throughout our bodies. The immune system responds well to certain properties found in specific herbs. One of those herbs is echinacea. Echinacea is commonly marketed to help treat or prevent colds, flu, and other mild upper respiratory infection (URI)-like illnesses. The plant was traditionally used by Native Americans to treat infections and wounds, and as a general cure-all. Although popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, echinacea's use declined greatly in the U.S. after the introduction of antibiotics. It was introduced in Germany in the early 1900s, where in recent years it has been avidly researched and promoted as an immune system stimulant to help the body fight infections. Several clinical trials have shown that people who take echinacea as soon as they feel sick reduce the severity of their cold and have fewer symptoms than those who do not take the herb. One study of 95 people with early symptoms of cold and flu (such as runny nose, scratchy throat, and fever), found that those who drank several cups of echinacea tea every day for 5 days felt better sooner than those who drank tea without echinacea. A review of 14 clinical trials found that echinacea reduced the odds of developing a cold by 58% and the duration of a cold by 1 - 4 days.
Like echinacea, astragalus has a wonderful reputation with naturalists and doctors alike. Astragalus is an ancient Chinese herb called Huang qi. But you probably know it by its more common name, astragalus. Dozens of studies show that astragalus is a powerful immune booster that increases your body's production of T-cells, macrophages and NK (natural killer) cells. And recent studies show it's a potent cancer fighter, as well. In one study, astragalus was able to restore immune function in 90% of the cancer patients studied! And in 2 other studies, cancer patients receiving astragalus had TWICE the survival rate of those who only received standard therapies. That makes astragalus one powerful immune system booster! And you can take astragalus every day without fear of long term side effects. There is a very prestigious list of herbs that make it to the immune system boosting list. Some of the others at the top of the list are garlic and golden seal.
If it’s not fairly obvious why this article mentions all of these herbs, it’s because they all help individually to boost our immune system. What would happen if all of these herbs were put together in one formula? Have you heard of synergy? The definition of synergy is; the working together of two things (muscles or drugs for example) to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects. So it is true that the sum can be greater than the individual parts. That is the case for herbal formulas that combine these herbs together. Each of the herbs has specific properties and strengths. Where one herb might lack a little another one will excel, therefore a well thought out and researched herbal formula can be extremely health effective to one who uses the formula. Not only is the formula an effective remedy but there is less to keep track of and less cost involved if someone were to try to take all of the same herbs as individual products.
Using that same principle Grandma’s Herbs has three different formulas that have an astounding amount of synergy. We call it our Cold and Flu Package. Since colds and flu’s have common roots and they have common seasons for making their appearance we thought that it would be awesome if there were a package of herbal formulas that could cleanse, detoxify, strengthen the immune system and arm the smart people who use this package against the onslaught of infections, airborne viruses and seasonal influenza epidemics. Grandma’s Herbs’ “Immune Enhancer” uses herbs like echinacea, astragalus, golden seal and pau d’ arco to really enhance the natural abilities of the immune system. This is the strengthening formula that assists in fighting disease. Grandma’s Herbs’ “Nature’s Biotic” utilizes garlic, golden seal, myrrh and propolis to hunt down infection and kill it before it has a chance to become strong enough to cause a health issue. Lastly Grandma’s Herbs’ “Respiratory Relief” uses mullein, elecampane, and yerba santa to reduce the mucus and clear the respiratory system from congestion that may be the beginning of troubles to come.
These three products work well all by themselves, however together they have been very effective in strengthening the immune system and reliving or eliminating some of the issues that may over tax the immune system. This year is the year to go as symptom free as possible and Grandma’s Herbs has the perfect tools to aid in that goal.
Stay healthy, be happy and productive this fall and winter with Grandma’s Herbs Cold and Flu Package!

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