With the Swine Flu now looming as a Pandemic, there is lots of information and misinformation about what to do about the flu. How to prevent it and how to limit its effects if you DO get the flu should be primary concern for everyone right now.

 

While the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is preaching avoidance and handwashing, they Completely Ignore means of strengthening the immune system as a means of prevention. While avoidance and handwashing are powerful tools to keep from getting the flu- if the people that DO HAVE the flu knew who to avoid- don’t you think that they would have?

It’s not always obvious who has the flu, and people may be able to spread the flu BEFORE they have any symptoms, so if you have to go to work or school and shop for groceries, then who do you avoid- EVERYONE? We live in a society- especially right now in this difficult economy – where it is simply not practical to stay home from work.

And right now, a large part of the US economy is driven by health care. So, the millions who actually work directly in the health care industry AND those who actually work with patients are not going to just be able to stay home. They will also have increased susceptibility to contracting the flu and increased ability to TRANSMIT the flu as well.

 

So, the rational and practical thing to do is to make your immune system as strong as possible right now ANDstart to take specific natural immune boosting and antiviral supplements that will improve your chances of fighting off the flu if your ARE exposed to it.

So, this is the first in a series of blog posts that will tell you more about antiviral and immune boosting supplements, likeSelenium and Influenze, that may help you to ward off the flu and/or decrease the severity of your illness if you DO happen to get the flu.

 

There is a great article on Strengthening the Immune System on the Ora Media website. The owner, Tom only talks about dental health on his site, but amazingly, most of the techniques that Tom talks about to prevent and treat Periodontal Disease and cavities are EXACTLY the same things that you would do to help prevent the flu!

 

Garlic

The first supplement that I wil discuss with you today is Garlic. Garlic, also known by its botanical name of Allium sativum is a very old and very well known antiviral, antibacterial and immune system modulator.

Garlic contains a wide variety of ingredients that may contribute to its effects. Among them are: Selenium, sulphur, germanium and magnesium. Many of these particular compounds are sorely missing in the typical westerners diet and each of these compounds, individually, have been widely studied for their beneficial effects. But put together, they produce an amazing product whose properties are matched no where else.

 

How to Take Garlic and why it works

One account of health care workers in Japan during a 1970′s flu epidemic showed that many who did not get the flu were taking garlic. The ‘traditional’ way that they were taking it is illustrated below:

This garlic preparation [of minced garlic and honey] is chewed and retained in the oral cavity as long as possible for the liberated volatile compounds to penetrate and be absorbed by the tissues of the mouth, nasopharynx, and sinuses

This preparation is in agreement with a study done of 125 traditional healers in which 94% stated that the best way to use garlic medicinally is to mince it and eat it raw- mixing in butter or honey was acceptable. But only 20% used it cooked or steeped, while still agreeing that it negatively affected it’s medicinal value.

Garlic MAY help to coat the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose when taken this way, effecting a so called antiviral barrier that could potentially kill the flu virus when and if it were to come into contact with the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose- the most likely way to contract the flu.

 

Taken this way, garlic may also have the potent effect of keeping  people far enough away from you to keep you from being able to inhale their exhaled viruses!!

 

While garlic is DIRECTLY an antiviral and antibacterial on contact, as shown in many studies, garlic is ALSO an immune system booster in its own right. Many studies show that it can significantly boost the effects of the immune system when taken orally. One study on AIDS patients who ALL had a decrease in the level of their ‘Natural Killer Cells’, a potent immune system cell, before treatment- showed EVERY PATIENT to have NORMAL levels after 12 weeks of taking garlic orally!

 

Aside from the antiviral and immunomodulating effects of garlic, another reason that it is potent protection from diseases is its detoxification abilities. Garlic has sulphur containing amino acids which act of the liver to help with detoxification. In fact, it is such a potent detoxifier that studies show it has good effects on getting rid of lead and cadmium! This effect of garlic could generally produce an effect of making the body work less and allowing it to heal rather than to detoxify.

 

All of these reasons put together make garlic a powerful protector against possible infections and possibly even the flu.

 

But if taking raw mashed garlic mixed in honey doesn’t appeal to you, you do have other options. Immuni-T2G From Longevity Plus has freeze-dried raw garlic in capsules that still retains the active component, Allicin. It is ALSO combined with immune boosting mushrooms and can be taken regularly with virtually no toxic effects having been noted from continued use.

 

 

Garlic, therefore, appears to be a safe and effective antiviral, immune system modulator and detoxifier that you could consider adding to your arsenal of herbal preparations during this Swine Flu outbreak.

 

Resources

High Quality Garlic Powder in Capsules
Money by the Mouthful- If you take care of your teeth, then you automatically boost your immune system. Learn what dentists simply DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW!
Vitamin D Supplements- If I could only choose ONE supplement to get me through flu season, it would be Vitamin D. Vitamin D is probably one of the BEST immune system stimulants that there is. Seriously, if you are not taking Vitamin D, then you are setting yourself up for getting the flu. You heard it here first, and don’t blame me if you get the flu and you are not on Vitamin D!

 

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

 

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I was talking to my mother the other day and she told me that she had already had the “flu” this year. Upon further questioning, it turned out that she had a gastrointestinal illness for a day or two.

A couple days later when I was working in the hospital Emergency Department, the paramedics called to say that they were bringing in a person who had “flu-like symptoms”.

It also turned out that she had a gastrointestinal illness.

So obviously there is much confusion, even in the medical world, about what the “flu” is.
 
 

The REAL flu is a virus called influenza.

 

When you contract influenza, you get “cold-like symptoms”: stuffy nose, joint aches, headache, coughing, fever and fatigue. It often seems like the flu except that you feel a LOT worse and it generally comes on VERY quickly.

When people get a “flu vaccine”, they are getting vaccinated against THIS virus- Influenza. When the news reports on the Avian Flu or the Bird Flu, it is THIS virus that they are talking about.
 

 
Now, when you get a gastrointestinal illness, usually accompanied by diarrhea and often nausea and vomiting, this is NOT influenza, but likely it’s some other virus… possibly the Norovirus.

Norovirus is a very contagious virus that causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. It often goes through a household or office with EVERYONE getting it very quickly. Many people think that they have food poisioning when they get the norovirus.
 
 

But it is NOT the flu
 
 There is no vaccine to prevent you from getting this uncomfortable gastrointestinal problem.

I hope that clears up any confusion about the flu for anyone who thought that gastrointestinal problems were somehow related to the influenza vaccine or the Bird Flu.
 
 

However, these two viruses ARE LINKED!

 

A poor immune system is responsible for BOTH of these diseases. While yes, they are “contagious”, you need not CATCH them from other people if your immune system is “bulletproof”.

It is a MYTH that someone else GIVES you a cold, the flu or the norovirus- YOU give it to yourself by not being able to fight it off.

Want to learn how to make your immune system “bulletproof”? I can teach you and you’ll stay healthy for the rest of your life.

Contact me for a free “quick consultation” to learn if I can help you to recover from most chronic health problems, improve your energy or just get your immune system bulletproof!
 

Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitioner
http://www.easy-immune-health.com

A worldwide Flu Pandemic was averted by just a HAIR when Baxter, an American Pharmaceutical Company, shipped flu vaccines to 18 different countries.
 
 

The flu vaccines were “contaminated” with
LIVE AVIAN FLU VIRUSES!
 

By a stroke of luck or chance, a laboratory testing the vaccines discovered the contamination and alerted Baxter.
 
 

Supposedly, there were only approximately 35 people “exposed” to these vaccines- but no one has yet defined what the word exposure means in this case, so whether people were given vaccinations with these live viruses has yet to come to the public’s knowledge.

According to reports by Baxter in the past, they have extraordinarily high levels of security and hygiene in place that makes the contamination “Impossible”.
 

 

So, how did it happen?Baxter has commented only to confirm that the virus, was indeed, live and to state that it was a mistake.
 
 

A Mistake or a Bioterrorism Attack?

 
Interestingly enough, the Avian Flu virus that the vaccines contain cannot be transmitted from human to human (yet!), so a person infected with that strain poses little risk.

HOWEVER, researchers had put out a report last year stating that if the EXACT TWO STRAINS OF FLU that were found in the “contaminated” vaccines, were ever to infect the same person at the same time, the genetics of the two could combine and allow the Avian Flu to be as easily transmitted from person to person as the regular flu virus.
 
 

Coincidental?
 

Maybe. But the intense security measures making this an ‘impossible’ event and the fact that these are the EXACT two strains of virus that researchers said had the possibility to create a new global flu pandemic that could dwarf the 1918-1919 pandemic are making some question the idea of a bioterror attack by Baxter.
 
 

What Baxter has to gain by a Flu Pandemic…

 
Not only does Baxter have the live flu virus and the vaccine facilities that could be called upon to make millions of vaccines for distribution around the world, but Baxter could ALSO benefit from critically ill patients.

Not only does Baxter make vaccines, but it also supplies medical fluids, IV supplies and intravenously administered nutrition that are required by tens of thousands of critically ill patients that would be in the Critical Care Unit with the avian flu.
 
 

So Baxter could benefit from the prevention AND the treatment of a global pandemic of their making!!
 
 

They even stole the idea…

 
The IDEA of a pharmaceutical company STARTING the next flu pandemic is not even unique to Baxter. The novel Lazarus Strain
by Ken McClure outlines this nearly exact scenario!
 
 

Almost a grim joke.
 
 

 
 

So while the European equivalent to the CDC is ‘investigating’ this potential epic global disaster, why do I have a feeling that Baxter will get away with a hand slap!?
 
 

Why is the US media not covering this…

 
This is a scandal that could have started the biggest worldwide plague since the 1918-1919 flu pandemic.
 



 

In the 1990′s, ONE letter that contained Anthrax set off a nationwide panic: a nationwide manhunt, policy changes in the US postal system and warnings to all citizens.

Yet Baxter’s act of intentional or unintentional Bioterrorism hardly gets a PEEP! No news, no headlines, no planned investigations by the US government, no one warning us not to get flu shots until it is determined that our vaccines are safe from contamination.

Is American Media and the US government in the pocket of the Trillion dollar a year Pharmaceutical manufacturers?

You decide.
 
 

Kerri Knox, RN

Functional Medicine Practitoner
http://www.easy-immune-health.com
 

The CDC is now recommending that you take TWO antiviral medications this year if you get the flu. Tamiflu has been recommended previously due to resistance to the drug rimantadine.

However, most of the flu this year appears to now be resistant to Tamiflu, another antiviral medication.

So, now the CDC is recommending that we take TWO antiviral drugs for the flu- BOTH of which have been shown to be resistant to most flu strains that are out there!!
Am I the only one that sees that this does not make any sense?!

Really, the governmental organization that is supposed to give us guidelines to help us prevent and treat disease outbreaks is:

1) Recommending that all people have a vaccine for the flu- even though it has been proven to be virtually worthless

2) Is recommending that we now take not one- but TWO drugs that have BOTH been shown to be virtually worthless

3) Is NOT recommending to ANYONE that they take Vitamin D to PREVENT the flu- even though it is totally harmless and has tons of circumstancial evidence and a few small double blind studies that show that it TOTALLY PREVENTS the flu in most cases!!

To me, this doesn’t seem like very good governmental policy, but it sure seems like great financial policy for the pharmaceutical companies…

Kerri Knox, RN

Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com

Tamiflu is a prescription medicine designed to shorten the duration of the flu and has been touted as the all encompassing savior of the flu season. Leading hospitals and even entire governments to stockpile the medication.

But it doesn’t seem like it’s savior status is going to last much longer and all of the money spent on stockpiling is going to go to waste.

It’s being found that Tamiflu is ineffective in 99% of flu cases this year!!

However, is the flu really what ‘they’ say that it is. Is it the next scourge of mankind. Does it REALLY kill 36,000 people a year- when as an RN for over 14 years in ER’s and ICU’s, I’ve never had a single person with the flu die that I can even think of.

And if, in fact so many people die of the flu, wouldn’t hospital admission rates for the flu be pretty high? Yet I have RARELY take care of anyone with the flu besides people that come into the ER, get diagnosed and sent home with a prescription for Tamiflu- and even then, that is not very frequent.

Many have questioned the Centers for Disease Control’s statistics of 36,000 deaths per year, citing evidence that most of the deaths were actually from pneumonia and NOT from the flu and that this statistic has not improved despite HUGE increases in flu vaccine administration.

And even how we GET the flu is in question. Much of what we know about transmission of the flu is taken from what we know about colds. But the flu is NOT a cold and it’s likely that it is not transmitted in the same way.

In fact, the ONLY evidence we have that it is transmitted from person to person is the case of an airline flight that had someone with the flu on it and a short time later dozens of others also got the flu.

But the only studies done on flu transmission showed that volunteers DID NOT contract the flu- even when secretions from sick people were put directly into volunteers’ throat and nose (yuck!).

Right now, there are researchers who believe that the virus is harbored inside of your body and gets ‘expressed’ when you get stressed and get low on vitamin D- like you do in the winter. That’s why there tend to be multiple outbreaks- even in different countries- at the exact same time.

But no matter how the flu is transmitted, your best defense is PREVENTION! While most health authorities stress handwashing- that strategy may or may not work against the flu.

So your BEST bet is to boost your immune system health from the inside out.

-Get your Vitamin D levels checked and keep it within normal ranges.
-Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and lean meats
-Avoid processed foods, sugar and white flour products
-Eat organic foods whenever possible
-Drink plenty of pure clean water and stop drinking sodas!
-Add Cultured foods like kefir, yogurt and RAW sauerkraut
 to your diet. These foods provide good bacteria for your
 intestines that help to keep the immune system strong
-Get regular vigorous exercise

You can’t rely on Tamiflu or handwashing to protect you from the flu. YOU are your best defense against the flu- don’t let the health authorities tell you any different!

In Good Health,

Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com