“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.” 3 John 1:2 ESV
I am not a doctor, nor is this medical advice. By reading this, you agree to our health disclaimer found HERE. This is simply what we do to stave off colds and flu in our home. The fact that it works for us, is not a guarantee it will work for you. There are a lot of other factors at play in the individuality of our bodies. Also, I link to the products we use, but please know that we’ve been using these products long before we had the ability to provide affiliate links for them. None of these companies have asked me to provide reviews for them, I just love them so much that I chose to. I would recommend them just the same even without the ability to use affiliate links.
Flu season woes
I used to dread flu season. Maybe you still do?
That moment when you hear THAT cough- that specific cough that tells you immediately something is off? It used to send me into a panic. And it rightly should have because we had a bad experience with that cough many years ago. But that was before I knew there was anything I could do to help prevent regular illness in my children.
Now I’m older, wiser, and a more experienced mama! I’m not afraid anymore and I have a plan. As you’ll see on my list, the first portion is full of preventative measures, and the last portion is more or less what I do once we hear the cough or the sniffles or the sneezes.
As I’ve said in other posts, I’m not against medicine. It has saved the lives of 2 of my children who had super-rapid onset symptoms (before our drastic lifestyle change for the better), which caused us to seek emergency care for each of them. I praise God for the availability of emergency medical help in this country and know that much of the world doesn’t have what we have. I do not take it for granted.
That said, I’d much rather keep situations like those from ever happening to begin with, so that is my heart in what we do for our family.
So here are my top 10 ways we fight back against colds and flu in our home:
Prayer
First things first, my friends. If you are not regularly praying for the health of your family, get to it! God’s Word tells us to ask and it will be given to us. Why do we not even ask? Is our view of God that small? Make this a part of your daily prayers- that God would keep your family healthy and strong to do His work. Ask for His protection against injury too! This is not only a daily prayer of mine but if someone in our family does begin to show symptoms of something, we pray right then and there over their body that the illness would not take root in the name of Jesus. We even have our 5-year old telling his sickies to “go away in the name of Jesus!” anytime he gets sniffly. And it works! This is a child who used to get overcome by his colds and they would last for a week or more! These days, he’s never more than sniffly and never for more than 24-48 hours tops!
Stress levels
This is another big one. Our immune systems take a big hit when we allow stress to rule our lives. I have seen this in my family regularly over the years. When someone is going through a difficult season and they aren’t fighting against the stress in their life, sickness comes on easier. In fact, we can almost predict it in my husband! He rarely gets any kind of cold or anything- but when we’ve gone through major life changes (like moving across the country FOUR times!), and he’s not cautious about protecting himself from that stress, BOOM, he gets something yucky. (BUT, even when he does, we’re able to do everything else we recommend and it never lasts long or gets serious.)
Be aware of this in your children as well. Are you noticing they get sick more frequently the busier they are? Or when tensions are high at home or at school? You may need to make some changes to their lifestyle, if so. Remember that they are children… let them be children. 😉
Garlic
Yup, this gets its own point. It’s that powerful. I’m sure you know by now that garlic is a potent tool in the fight against, well, pretty much everything! Lol! If someone in our family even feels a hint of “not-so-great”, we bust out more garlic. If we hear people are coming down with stuff in our community, we start putting it in every meal.
Typically what I do is crush it, let it sit for 5-10 minutes (this raises the levels of the beneficial enzymes), then add it to soups, salads, casseroles, pretty much anything (I add it after the meal has cooked, so the garlic remains raw)! I’ve even added it when juicing, and it’s not bad! Some people swear by mixing crushed garlic (fresh- never from a jar!) with honey and swallowing it straight, but I did that years ago, the last time I was sick, and it gave me an upset belly each time I tried. But if I truly got super sick, I would do it again. Otherwise, we just add it to as many meals as possible to get all of its goodness inside to fight the bad guys! 😉
Vitamin C
We all know Vitamin C is beneficial- especially for overcoming colds and flus. But unless you’ve dug deep into the depths of the research out there that discusses exactly how to determine amounts, you’re likely not consuming enough. Ideally, we should be consuming a LOT of vitamin C from diet alone. A whole food, plant-based diet is rich in it, after all. But when the body is facing a struggle, you’re likely to need considerably high amounts. Enter Sufficient C. It’s a bit pricier than plain ol’ vitamin C powder (which, if you get, make sure is non-gmo), but tastes MUCH better. We take this when we’ve been around people who have been sick, when we know a certain bug is going around our community, and at the very first sign of feeling unwell. I cannot tell you how many times we’ve been able to knock something out before even developing any further symptoms! This will always have room in our wellness budget.
Plant-Based Lifestyle
If I had to pick one thing that has had the greatest impact on my family’s health in recent years, in addition to stepping up our prayer game, it would be that we converted to a whole food plant-based lifestyle a few years ago. Before that, we followed a paleo-like traditional foods diet, and while we saw some health improvements from that due to cutting out the junk foods, it still wasn’t the way our bodies were created to eat. I developed some health issues, my husband and I were both overweight (without even really knowing it), and we just didn’t have energy or vibrancy we knew we should be experiencing at our ages. My amazing MD pointed us in a better direction, and we haven’t looked back since! Since going plant-based, my husband and I have lost weight, have more energy, have better digestion, and I haven’t been sick ever since! Friends, I used to get sick about once every other month or more! So for me to say it’s been years since I’ve even had a cold, is truly a miracle. My children still get colds on rare occasions ( they’re kids- they still pick noses, forget to wash hands before eating, roll around on the floor, etc…lol), but like I said, when they get sick now, it’s no longer for days or weeks. I can literally count on it being for about 24 hours, 48 max.
There is so much science out there to back this up. Our bodies truly are much better off without trying to digest meat and dairy! I pray that you really take the time to do the research and give it a try. If you need a place to get started, check out my 8 action steps.
Juice & smoothies
This pretty much goes along with being plant-based, because homemade juice and smoothies have become a regular part of how we get lots of nourishment into our bodies. Freshly made veggie juice is great because it gets the good stuff right into our bloodstream without slowing down for digestion. Because of this, we don’t juice much fruit or that would be a big sugar rush. Our main juice that I make weekly typically consists of carrots, beets, cucumber, green apple, ginger, lemon, and celery. (I use this juicer.)
I should mention that juicing is not a substitute for eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies. Your body desperately needs all of the wonderful fiber that comes with eating those things in their whole forms. But as an addition to a diet that is already full of those beneficial fiber-rich foods, juicing can be a great way to get more of the good stuff!
Our family is also big on smoothies. My husband and I have a smoothie for breakfast each morning, which usually includes homemade almond milk, herbal tea, or water as a base, giant handfuls of greens, frozen bananas, frozen berries, and a handful of some sort of seed (chia, flax, pumpkin, sunflower, or sesame for example).
Please note, I do my best to drink my smoothies slowly and “chew” them just for a moment so I add the digestive enzymes that are made in my saliva, which helps the entire digestion process.
Sniffles ‘n Sneezes
If a child comes to me and says they don’t feel great, this little homeopathic remedy by Hyland’s, Sniffles ‘n Sneezes, is the first thing I give them. I follow the directions on the package and that’s all I do for the first day (in addition to ramping up nourishing foods and prayer). Many, many times, this is all that is needed! They’re fine the next day!
Chestal
If it’s a bit more than a sniffle, and I can hear something in their chest or they are coughing, I use Chestal by Boiron instead. Again, I typically never have to use this very long as it tends to do the trick!
Xlear
I first read about Xlear when one of my children got their first ear infection several years ago. Supposedly, Xylitol, a sugar found in wood, has been known to reduce the occurrence of ear infections in children. (You can read more about it HERE.) Experiments were done with chewing gum, but since I don’t care for my children smacking on gum all the time, Xlear’s nasal spray was the perfect thing! Now, I’m not going to lie- my children don’t care for anything being sprayed up their noses. But, friends, this is a case of Mama knows best, and obedience is expected. It may not be fun, but it has been so worth it! At the first mention of sore ears, this is one of the first things we use. It’s also great for anyone who needs to moisturize their sinuses during the winter months without using other addictive nasal sprays.
Lympha Rub, Hear No Evil, and Scout Out
During that same bout with an ear infection years ago, I also stumbled across TriLight Health’s products. I had read some good reviews and decided it was worth a try. Folks, I will never NOT have these products in my medicine cupboard! They worked wonderfully for us! Be sure to use as directed on the bottles themselves. Lympha Rub was great for rubbing on the lymph nodes that were helping to fight the infection. Hear No Evil was great to rub around the ear that was causing the issue. And Scout Out was a wonderful natural antibiotic alternative. We use these when we see that something isn’t going away without a fight, which, wonderfully enough for us, hasn’t been for a while! (We’ve also used NR Glow for one child who had some eczema issues.) I’m so grateful for these products!
See ya’, sickies!
Since implementing these things in our home years ago, I have not gotten sick at all, my husband has only gotten some minor sinus crud when he allowed his stress levels to overcome him, and my children have had nothing but some sniffles for 24 hours or less at a time. Can I tell you how much I love not having a sick family!?! We get to do more Kingdom work!
These things typically do the trick for us, but we use wisdom and take each sickness seriously. If a temp ever got too high for too long or if we noticed changes in behavior or anything else that would cause us concern, then we would most certainly consult with our family doctor (preferably an MD or DO who is also educated in things such as nutrition and natural methods of healing).
Blessings to you and your family this flu season!
Thanks so much for reading! Stay in touch because I’ve got some fantastic resources for you!
- Subscribe today so you'll never miss an article, personal recommendations, or Q&A!
- Go check out my FREE resource library chock full of the ultimate theologically-solid book list (we're talking hundreds of book reccs!), ministries I trust, resources for your family and church, super-helpful podcasts, and more!
- Join our community of like-minded folks over on Instagram or Facebook!
- Dig into God's Word without the "fluff" in our No-Fluff Bible Study Facebook group!
