Chicken Soup as Medicine-Flu Season Returning!

I'm watching the first ever show of "Dr. Oz." He says the second wave of H1N1virus (Swine flu) is coming in October. I have had it, so I HOPE I am immune. Thankfully, it was a very easy flu because we already had an anti-viral medication on hand. I would like to advise you to call your Dr. and ask him to call your pharmacy for a prescription of an anti-virus. In Canada it is "Amantadine", and in the USA it's called Tamiflu or generic oseltamivir.

If you do get the flu, chicken soup, (sometimes called Italian Penicillin or Jewish Penicillin, because those cultures give chicken soup for almost every illness,) has been scientifically proven to have anti-viral and antibiotic properties. It is suggested to have chicken soup twice a day while your symptoms are present. It provides fluids, to keep you from getting dehydrated, the steam opens your clogged sinus passages, some doctors believe it has anti-inflammatory properties.


According to Dr. Irwin Ziment, a pulmonary specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles, the magic ingredient is most likely cysteine, an amino acid that is abundant in chicken soup. It works much like the chemical acetylcysteine that is used in medicines prescribed to combat congestion. The Orange County Register also notes that chicken soup may be a mild antibiotic that could help the body fight infection.
Chicken Soup: At the first sign of a scratchy throat or the sniffles, make a pot of chicken soup. "It works every time," Jyl Steinback, author of "Superfoods: Cook Your Way to Health," told the Orange County Register.

But you have to eat it on the first day of the cold--just as you start to feel sick. Chicken soup has been used for more than 2,000 years as a medicine for respiratory disorders, including colds, flu, and asthma.

According to Dr. Irwin Ziment, a pulmonary specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles, the magic ingredient is most likely cysteine, an amino acid that is abundant in chicken soup. It works much like the chemical acetylcysteine that is used in medicines prescribed to combat congestion. The Orange County Register also notes that chicken soup may be a mild antibiotic that could help the body fight infection.

As soon as my daughter gets a minute she is going to give me her fantastic, easy chicken soup recipe, with homemade noodles that are so easy it will make you laugh. The noodles puff up, filled with soup flavor, and are very filling. Then I'll share it with you. HURRY DAUGHTER!


Other Flu Helps:

Also drink lots of fluids to flush the virus from your body, and stay out of public so you don't pass it on. Wash your hands every chance you can get when you are around a person with the flu, and don't share towels, wash cloths or eating utensils or dishes without washing them well first.
www.doctoroz.com says to keep 5 things in your house for the next 4 months.

1) Cleaners. Just soap and water cleans and kills germs and viruses. No need for all the antibacterial cleaners, which won't work on viruses anyway. Wash hands often, and phones, doorknobs, drawer handles, remote controls, water taps, toys, get a cloth damp with Lysol disinfectant spray, or a disinfectant liquid with water on a cloth and wring out until barely damp, then wipe down cell phones, Ipods, blackberries, other wireless hand held computers, and other things that are touched often. Use the alcohol based gels to clean your hands when you are away from home. Spray the computer keyboard and mouse with disinfectant spray.

2) Medical masks. If your child has the flu and won't wear the mask, YOU wear it when around him/her.

3) One month worth of food in case the health department quarantines your house and no one can go in or out. I wondered about milk, then remembered you can freeze milk in a deep freezer, or if you buy the vanilla soy milk, it is very delicious, all protein and calcium, and comes in large juice boxes that can be kept on a shelf for 2 years instead of in the fridge. Then when they are opened, put them in the fridge.

4) Pre-biotics and Pro-biotics in capsules or in yogurt. This is what strengthens the immune system most. The immune system is based in the digestive system.

5) Tylenol or cold and flu meds; and if possible, get a prescription for an anti-viral now, to keep in the house. You won't feel good enough to go get it when you are sick. Also get a new toothbrush for each person for when their flu is over. Many times colds and flu keep coming back because the germs are stored in the toothbrush.

Get immunized. (This is a controversial subject right now, but do what you think is the right thing.)

Here are his other tips for preventing and surviving the flu.
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/swine-flu-prevention

I found this sign in a magazine and it made me smile, because I really enjoy looking at pictures of retro signs of products that are no longer around, or that have changed their image, and signs that would only be shown at certain times in history like the WW2 signs people would see. Well now, this sign will become one of those signs of the past, that indicates a time in history. It's almost a collectible or retro sign even though it's new!

Canadian TV commercials are urging people to cough into the inside bend of your elbow rather than on your hands, where the germs then get transferred to anything you touch.

The good thing is, once you've had it, you are immune to it! I am, so I don't have to worry about getting it again or about getting the vaccination.

Bless you all!