Is There Really a Flu Season?

by lotus_admin | Nov 23, 2015 | homeopathy and influenza, influenza, Uncategorized

We often hear about the flu season along with dire predictions about how bad it will be the next six months or so.

Sneezing is just one symptom of Allergies Is there really a flu season? Or is it a payback season for all the unhealthy living we have done, coupled with cold weather and the lack of sunshine, which equals lack of vitamin D?

Diet

Let’s begin with the Standard American Diet or SAD. Sad indeed.

When I look through the grocery advertisements in the Sunday paper, I see more specials for junky food than for healthy food. The week of Thanksgiving, this week, tends to actually have healthier ads that other weeks. Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, Mashed potatoes are generally on the healthier end of the spectrum, depending on how you prepare them. But there are still the discounts for buying multiple cases of soda pop–which is never healthy. Stove Top Stuffing–bad news. Jello or pudding–full of nasty ingredients. (BTW, Gelatin itself is good. Its the sugar and artificial color that ruin it. So make it yourself from scratch.) Let’s face it. Eating healthy is an expensive venture. Thanksgiving or not.

CandyGrid-Bulk Then we have the trifecta of candy holidays, Halloween, Christmas and Valentines Day. Then throw in the jelly beans and chocolate bunnies at Easter and you have the entire flu season covered. They are perfectly spread out so that they are about equal distant apart, to be sure there is a regular supply of sugar running through our veins, suppressing our immune system. Even WebMD admits that sugary foods and drinks curb the positive effects of cells that affect bacteria and viruses. This is even true of orange juice, which has a high level of natural sugars.

And of course alcohol. Alcohol begins flowing around Thanksgiving and continues through the new year. Alcohol is highly refined sugar, so any negative affects that can be assigned to sugar and also be assigned to alcohol. Plus additional ones all its own.

Vitamin D

As you have probably heard by now, we get a steady supply of Vitamin D from the sun in the summer, as long as you spend at least 15 minutes out side in the sun each day. Winter becomes problematic. Not only do we not spend time outside during the winter, usually, the sun is at the wrong angle to absorb much Vitamin D. So even if you are a winter outdoors enthusiast, you are probably deficient in Vitamin D. This is especially true if you live north of a line from Philadelphia to San Francisco. In Minnesota, we do.

Why is this a problem? According to Harvard University, low levels of Vitamin D has been linked with all sorts of immune system problems, chronic and acute. This includes influenza. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamin-d/

Exercise

Regular exercise can also help reduce your risk of getting sick. But of course, if you tend to prefer exercising outdoors, you may be reducing your exercise. Exercising in the gym is always an option, but puts you in contact with a lot of other people, spreading their germs because they too eat poorly and don’t get enough vitamin D and are exposed to cold weather as well.

Weather

Conventional wisdom says that getting cold doesn’t give you a cold or make you sick. But spend a day with a homeopath during changes of seasons and particularly cold weather and you will see that there is an effect. For example, the homeopathic remedy Aconite is well known to be effective against colds, high fevers, and ear infections that come on after exposure to cold, dry wind in the winter. So yes, getting cold can make you sick.

The interaction of diet, lack of vitamin D and the cold weather in the winter can converge and increase your susceptibility in the months of November through April, the most common months to get colds and respiratory influenza.

So if we tie it all together–Standard American Diet, low levels of Vitamin D, lack of exercise and cold weather–we make a perfect host for bacteria and germs of all sorts, just lurking around, ready to make us sick if we give them the chance.

What does a healthy host–that is, one that doesn’t attract germs–look like? That is a topic for another blog.

Flu Season? Is it natural or a consequence of our lifestyles? You decide.

Kathryn
651-748-1556
lotushomeopathy.com

3,924 total views, 2 views today

Meet Kathryn Berg the Classical Homeopath at Lotus Homeopathy, Inc.

Some of you know me, others of you may have heard of me. And for most, you probably have no clue about me or my business. So I wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself, my family, my business, why I am a homeopath and how I became a homeopath—not necessarily in that order.

Like many people, I found out about homeopathy accidentally. I fell down while walking my Akita pup on an icy sidewalk on a typical Minnesota winter day. I was scheduled to go to a friend’s house later that day, so when I did, I asked her for some ice. You need some Arnica, she told me. Arnica? What’s that? She explained that Arnica is a homeopathic remedy for trauma.

At the time, the only place to get homeopathic remedies was a book and herb store in South Minneapolis. So I went there to get some. When I got there, I decided I should read some books so I actually knew what I was doing. I left with the Arnica 30c and three books. By the time I got done reading them, I knew I wanted to be a homeopath.

It was only several years later that I realized that I was attracted to homeopathy as a profession because I am a problem solver. It is what drives me. There is nothing like a well chosen homeopathic remedy to solve problems.

At the time I decided to become a homeopath, there wasn’t even a school here in in Minnesota. But eventually, my homeopath and his business partner started the Northwestern Academy of Homeopathy. I was a graduate of the third class. At the time I went there, it was a part time program taking three and a half years! Since then I have studied with numerous other well known and respected homeopaths in continuing education studies.

While I do work with all sorts of folks with a variety of conditions, I really have studied how to treat people suffering from PTSD, health issues related to aging women, and children’s health issues of all sorts, including autism. I have also been successful in removing blockages to healing due to suppression of symptoms by western medicine. I chose those specialties because people really suffer who have those forms of dis-ease, and Western Medicine doesn’t seem to have much of a solution for them.

After over twenty years of practice, I still get excited for clients when a remedy has helped them heal.

So that is about my business. Now, a little bit about me.

I have two adult sons in their early twenties, so I have shed the title of “Soccer mom”. My husband and I are empty nesters living in Woodbury, MN. For fun, I like to play piano, sing, sew, garden, hike, and travel. I am in a community choir. I also enjoy cooking healthy meals and, out of necessity, am an expert at cooking for special diets.

If you have any questions about homeopathy or my approach to homeopathic case taking, please feel free to put some questions in the comments below.

If you have a health issue you need help with, please click the Book Now button on my Facebook page or Main page of my website and schedule a complementary consult to see if homeopathy can help you!

Thanks!