Flu Survival Guide!

Three days before Christmas, I got ridiculously sick. I am feeling a LOT better today, but I was the sickest I have been in as long as I can remember (I think the last time I felt that terrible was over 3 years ago when I was living in China, and I got food poisoning, which led to dehydration, which led to me in the hospital passing out and getting a shot in my butt!)! I guess I had the flu. My throat was really swollen and painful, I had a cough, I had a very bad fever, and I just layed in bed crying nonstop for hours, because every single muscle in my body was hurting SO bad! Luckily, I have a wonderful boyfriend that took great care of me, so that made it a lot better! So here is my Flu Survival Guide;

1. If your lucky enough (like me), have someone rub your body with coconut oil (I am in the process of writing a post about the wonderful healing power of coconut oil, so this will be explained better there). Heat up 100% extra virgin coconut oil, and rub it onto your head, face, neck, tummy, and back. When coconut oil is warmed before being rubbed onto your body, it absorbs better into your skin.

2. Take a bath
Use not too hot, but comfortable water, and sprinkle in a bunch of Epsom Salts. Epsom salts are magical at healing sore muscles. Soak. I stayed in my bath until the water got cold, because when I was in there, my body wasn't even sore! It just felt sooo wonderful, I wanted to stay in there as long as I could!

3. Drink lots of Orange Juice, hot tea, and Apple Cider Vinegar (1-2 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar, honey to taste, mixed in a mug with hot water. Drink it as a tea. This drink is very good for preventative care also).

4. Sleep a lot.

5. Take your Vitamin C, and Echinacea pills. I also was eating a lot of Ibuprofen. I don't usually like eating pain pills, but when I'm in so much pain that I'm crying, I'll take them.

Me and my love were talking about my sickness, and we figured out that one of the reasons that I got so sick, was because lately I have been slacking on taking care of myself; not eating healthy (a downfall to working at a bar/grille), and too much alcohol consumption (pointing you back to the bar/grille!). So we decided that we are going to start taking better care of ourselves! Here are the goals I have set for myself to get me back on track:

1. Do yoga 5 times a week, instead of just whenever I feel like it.
2. Drink at least 5 glasses of water a day.
3. Drink my ACV (apple cider vinegar) drink every day.
4. Stop eating so much deep-fried food at work.
5. Cut down my alcohol intake to only two times a month.
6. Eat 2 Tbs of coconut oil a day.
7. Eat wholesome, nutritional, healing foods; 
    a. Salads (with grilled chicken, oil and vinegar).
    b. Whole wheat ferena (with raw sugar, soy milk, and coconut oil).
    c. Eggs.
    d. Stir fried vegetables.
    e. Fruit smoothies.
    f.  Oatmeal.
    g. Tempeh salad sandwiches.
    h. Tuna salad sandwiches.
    i.  Cheeseless, homemade pizza (with olive oil and spices for the sauce, and tomatoes
        and onions as topping).
    j. Homemade curry.
    k. Homemade tuna pasta sauce over whole wheat pasta.

                                                            Peace Love and Health
                                                                          Jess <3