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Interesting, I've never heard that, so I'll look into it. That might explain a lot. Not to be graphic, but I always seem to have a lot of phlegm in the mornings especially. I cut out most dairy long ago, and I was unpleasantly surprised that it wasn't really making a difference either way.
That reminds me... A friend of mine is a big believer in the blood type diet. Since I'm type B+, I apparently should be relying less on carbs, and having a little more dairy. I miss sour cream and kefir!
Breakfast:
Potato pancakes with jelly or kimchi
Sugar free Red Bull
Berries when I remember
Lunch:
Bubble/boba milk tea (with soy milk)
Chips
Either a burrito or pad thai from places near my office
Dinner:
A home cooked meal (pasta, jambalaya, roasted chicken and avocado rice, salmon and rice)
A few milk chocolate bars
Sometimes a shot of alcohol (once or twice a week maybe)
Believe it or not, this is actually a huge improvement from how I ate before, when I essentially lived on chips, candy, salami, Slim Jims, ramen and several energy drinks. xD
Lose the Red Bull.
Have some protein for breakfast.
Lunch:
Lose the chips.
Eat a salad with some protein (chicken, yogurt, cheese, etc.)
Dinner:
A "few" milk chocolate bars? Reduce it to a bite of A chocolate bar.
You need to add in some more real fruit and veggies. Drink LOTS of water. Wash your hands a LOT. Actually wash them - don't just wet them. Eat raw garlic. Put some on a salad, add some to your pasta, jambalaya, chicken, and salmon. Eat some raw ginger daily. Add it to a smoothie if the taste is too sharp alone (hint: breakfast = a home made smoothie with frozen fruit, almond milk, yogurt, raw ginger is DELICIOUS and healthy.)
Take vitamin C and vitamin D3 to boost your immune system. Cut out the sugar and refined carbs.
Breakfast:
Potato pancakes with jelly or kimchi
Sugar free Red Bull
Berries when I remember
Lunch:
Bubble/boba milk tea (with soy milk)
Chips
Either a burrito or pad thai from places near my office
Dinner:
A home cooked meal (pasta, jambalaya, roasted chicken and avocado rice, salmon and rice)
A few milk chocolate bars
Sometimes a shot of alcohol (once or twice a week maybe)
Believe it or not, this is actually a huge improvement from how I ate before, when I essentially lived on chips, candy, salami, Slim Jims, ramen and several energy drinks. xD
Wow, you're right, that is a huge improvement! Congratulations! Now, overall your new diet is not exactly terrible, it's just unbalanced. Do you not like vegetables or do you think you could try adding some to your meals?
Wow, you're right, that is a huge improvement! Congratulations! Now, overall your new diet is not terrible, it's just unbalanced. Do you not like vegetables or do you think you could try adding some to your meals?
I add them to dinner. For example, green onions baked onto the salmon, avocado slices in the jambalaya (I know avo is technically a fruit lol), sprinkling mung bean sprouts on rice dishes, etc.
When I get a burrito, it usually has roasted veggies inside, same with pad thai.
Sleep more.
Multi vitamin + C.
Sleep more!
Water water water.
Wash yer hands. Cannot say this enough.
SLEEEEEEEEP MORE.
Eat really clean/healthy.
The Vitamin C is important. You should get as much as possible on a daily regiment even when you're not sick. I take a 1000mg a day supplement on top of eating vitamin c rich food daily. I used to get sick quite a bit. Since I had started doing this I either don't get sick or if I do it's very mild. You should boost your immune system and avoid motels...
Acupuncture seems kind of gimmicky, herbs and essential oils seem to help temporarily relieve symptoms during a cold, but don't help prevent it. In terms of diet, I already eat semi-healthfully, and it doesn't seem to help.
I think maybe I just have bad genes or something.
Don't dismiss it without trying it (with an open mind). I had a pinched nerve in my neck and after 4-6 physical therapy appointments, it wasn't much better. I talked to my Dr about it, he was in favor of it.
I loved it and responded very well. Is there some pain, yes, depending on where the needles go, but when I started I could barely turn my neck, gave me back full mobility, helped with stress, colds, allergies.
Only 2 downsides, first was it wasn't covered by insurance (this was years ago though) and second my acupuncturist moved. I tried a couple others but no one I could connect with, I think one reason I did so well is because my acupuncturist made me feel so comfortable.
If it was covered by insurance and I find someone I really liked, I would go even if once or twice a month, mainly for stress and allergies.
Stay at a motel? Eww do you know disgusting hotels and motels generally are? They are NOT cleaned like one normally cleans their house. Watch Hotel Impossible is you want to see what I'm talking about. even if 75% of that stuff is made up for tv, it's pretty disgusting. I don't know how you create an inch thick layer of dust or mold. So gross.
Bed bugs? Cockroaches? Earwigs? Other mysterious bugs? Umm yeah no thanks!
I have a crappy immune system. I have since birth. I had pneumonia when I was 6 weeks old. Good times. If someone sneezes within 10 miles of me, I'm guaranteed to get a cold. It's called life. I don't stress over it. Stress crushes your immune system.
Wash your hands! You're not washing them enough. Neither is your husband. Wash them properly as well. And no hand sanitizer isn't the same thing or better.
If he's sick, sleep in a different room. Get plenty of rest and fluids. Start taking vitamin C. Buy some nice tissues like Puffs Plus and suck it up. Eat better. Don't stress. It's a cold not the Black Plague or Ebola.
Hmm. I don't really exercise, aside from 10-15 minute strolls. That's a good point, and something I should probably work on.
I don't really wash my hands except after using the toilet or before preparing food for anyone other than just myself, since it seems like clean freak germaphobes actually get sick more, since they're not strengthening their resistance to germs.
The odd thing is that I seem to be completely resilient to flu, norovirus, etc. Whenever these things go around the office, I'm fine. But when it comes to colds, I'm never spared. lol. So perhaps my germ theory works on many things, but not with colds.
As for garlic.... nope, nope, nope, I'm a vampire!
SO I'm not big into washing my hands either (except for the reasons you've already mentioned) but when someone is sick, that is the number one thing you BOTH have to do.
Rather than staying away, you should:
-Both wash your hands, especially after touching things the sick person has touched (phone, doorknobs, refrigerator handles, etc.) and if not washing, use the antibacterial stuff. And wash your hands the right way (wet, 15 second scrub, wash, turn off faucet with napkin, etc.)
-Wipe down surfaces that have been touched with germ hands with one of those wipes
-Not kiss/sleep in the same place. Couch? Other bed?
BTW I never do any of these things (since I'm usually the one who catches the cold first) but they are probably things people should do to avoid getting sick.
Seven months ago I bought a NutriBullet so I could make low-calorie nutritious drinks. I bought it to lose weight and that has worked, but what is shocking to me is how much healthier I am overall. I had chronic swelling in one of my ankles for almost 10 years after several accidents. It went away completely after two months and has yet to return. I can get shoes on my feet I haven't worn since the last time I broke my leg. My skin is glowing, my hair is shinier, and long before I lost much weight all the puffiness disappeared from my face. Most importantly, I have osteoarthritis in several joints and a lot in my hands and the pain from it has been cut in half. I guess that's the result of inflammation being decreased.
I make one large drink every single day and substitute it for a meal. (If you don't need to lose weight, you can certainly eat some other food with the drink.) I put in:
- 30% baby spinach,
- 20% a shredded slaw mix that contains broccoli, carrots, and purple cabbage,
- one piece of whatever seasonal fruit is ripe in my fruit bowl (pear, orange, mango, peach. pineapple, banana, etc.),
- half a cup of berries (usually blueberries since they are healthiest, but I use others if they're cheaper at the market),
- two tablespoons of flax seeds, gogi berries, cacao nibs or some other antioxidant-rich item.
If my diet the rest of the day will be low in protein, I add sliced almonds, change the spinach to kale, and/or stir in some vanilla Greek yogurt right before I drink the mixture. I pack all those things in the large cup, add water to the line marked on it, and pulverize the entire mix into a drink. Other than the piece of fruit or the berries, I would NEVER eat any of those food items alone with no dressing or not in a prepared dish. But I can consume them in their natural state (fruit with peels on) in the form of a drink. This drink is plenty sweet enough for me, thanks to the fruit, but to people who want something sweeter, honey can be added to taste.
I can't believe what a difference these raw foods eaten daily have done for my overall health. I never expected this outcome when I started the regimen. A lot of people who do this say they sleep a lot better. You say you're sleeping 6-7 hours a night, but that might not be enough for you. Some adults need 8 hours OR MORE. Also, I agree with those who say the diet you describe is too dependent on carbs. Try to cut as much white food as you can out of your diet: sugar, white rice, noodles, white bread.
I also agree that you probably would be helped by vitamin supplements. Certainly Vitamin C. But make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D (most American adults are deficient in it and that can be checked by a simple blood test). While you're at it, get your iron checked, too. Zinc, magnesium, and potassium are other minerals people are often low on and it shows up in your state of health pretty dramatically. The amounts found in a one-a-day vitamin pill are not nearly enough for most adults. Most of the foods we consume just aren't that packed with minerals.
Above all, stay well-hydrated, wash your hands all the time, and constantly disinfect things like phones, keyboards, doorknobs, faucet handles, etc., at home and at work. Also, when's the last time you had your teeth checked? It's possible a chronic sinus trouble can actually be the result of an infected tooth root.
Have you ever tried the zinc lozenges like Zicam if your spouse or you start getting sick? We use them and feel like it helps to decrease the duration of the cold.
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Reduce it to a bite of A chocolate bar.
Now, overall your new diet is not exactly terrible, it's just unbalanced. Do you not like vegetables or do you think you could try adding some to your meals?
