Cold and Flu
Reprinted from Nature's Field
Also read this article about Modern Medicine and the Flu
Another good article to read about Viral Infection

In this issue, you'll discover the secrets to rapidly curing colds, flu and other common winter time ailments, using safe, all-natural remedies. You'll get some great tips for preventing colds and flu, too.

Most common infections, like colds and flu, are viral and antibiotics have no effect on viruses.
Most coughs, sinus problems, ear infections, sore throats and other common contagious diseases are viral in nature.
It is a waste of time and money to treat them with antibiotics.

Prevention
* When you detoxify your body by doing a cleanse before cold and flu season every year, you can keep your internal environment clean so you won't catch any colds. It also helps if you avoid junk food which is like filling your body with "garbage" that attracts the microbes like flies.

* Eating fresh fruits and vegetables helps to protect your system, too.

* When colds and flu are going around, you can boost your immune system by taking Elderberry D3fense or Ultimate Echinacea.

Note from Four Winds Nutrition
First line of defense...2 teaspoons Silver Shield (10 ml) twice daily
Silver Shield Gel in nostrils and on hands twice daily
Repeat Silver Shield Gel as necessary
-- Dr. Gordon Pedersen 
Dr. Gordon Pedersen is an International Authority on bacteria, viruses, fungi, mold, etc.

Key Products For Prevention
Silver Shield Instructions important!

1. You should have all these 3 products on hands at all times, add Eldeberry For Kids if necessary.
2. Cold and flu season (or after the New-Year celebrations)... a gentle cleanse using one of the suggested products on this page is a good idea!

If you catch a Cold or a Flu

Most of the time, it's pretty easy to cure a cold, and just about any other acute ailment, too. Basically, all you have to do to get rid of a cold is to remove the cause. Oh, you think! That means we have got to get rid of the virus?
Well, that would be true if the virus was the real cause of the cold, but it isn't. Yes, I know we have all been taught to think that you caught a cold because you got infected with a virus, but we need to do a little "unlearning" here to understand and look a little deeper.

You see, there are two theories out there about germs and disease, not just one. The theory that says germs cause disease was advanced by Louis Pasteur, and it's become the most popular, so most people accept it without question.

But, the approach we are about to teach you is based on the theory advanced by a contemporary of Pasteur named Antoine Beauchamp. Interestingly, Pasteur did not discover "germs", Beauchamp did, and Beauchamp's research showed that germs lived in diseased tissue. Pasteur plagiarized Beauchamp's research, but gave it a different twist, because Pasteur believed that germs made the tissue diseased. Today, most people believe Pasteur's theory, even though Pasteur is reported to have admitted on his deathbed that Beauchamp was right.

But, if Pasteur was right, and germs alone cause disease, then why is it that a group of people can all be exposed to the same microbe and some will get sick and some won't? We say it's because some of the people are immune, but what that really means is that some people didn't have an environment in their tissues that was favorable to serve as a host for the infection. In other words, their tissues were healthy!

You can only "catch" a cold when your system is weakened in a manner that makes you susceptible, so isn't it smarter to focus on creating a body that's immune rather than worrying about trying to kill all the microbes? If we can do that, we can not only cure colds and flu rapidly, we can also learn to prevent them.

A simple analogy that will help you understand this concept is flies. Do flies cause garbage piles? Of course not. Are flies found in garbage piles? Of course, because flies are scavengers and feed off of decaying organic matter. In the same manner, germs are associated with diseased tissue, not because the germs made the tissue weak, but because the germs were drawn to the weak tissue.

The lesson is, keep your internal environment clean and you will rarely catch colds, flu or anything else. So, consider doing a cleanse in the fall or early winter to "winterize" your immune system against cold and flu season.

Curing a Cold is as Easy as A-C-B !
The coughing, sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes and other cold-related symptoms are all generated by the immune system trying to throw off both the microbes and the toxic material that creates the host environment for the disease. When you try to suppress these symptoms, even with natural remedies, you're working against what the body is trying to do.

Healing colds is as easy as A-C-B, which stands for Activate, Cleanse and Build. Basically, what you want to do is give the body an energy boost to help it push what is causing the irritation out of the system-that's A for Activation. Then, you want to help the body get rid of what is irritating it by opening up the various channels of elimination in the body-that's C for Cleansing. Finally, as soon as you start to feel better, you want to replenish the nutrients the body used up in fighting the disease and bring your internal environment back to a state of health-that's B for Building. Let's take a closer look at each of these steps.

Activate
The Chinese have a concept in their system of medicine called the wei qi (pronounced "way chee"). This is an energy system, like the energy shields around a space ship, that protects the body from disease. This energy pushes outward on the surfaces of the mucus membranes lining our lungs and digestive tract and our skin.

Herbs with a pungent taste, such as capsicum, horseradish, ginger, etc. help generate this wei qi energy. Think about what happens when you eat these spicy foods. You perspire, your nose runs, your eyes water and mucus clears from your throat and lungs. Eat enough of these spicy foods and they'll even promote evacuation of your bowels. In short, these pungent herbs activate the energy that helps the body discharge whatever is irritating it. That's why they are your best friends when you have a cold. As soon as you feel a cold or flu coming on, stop eating, start drinking lots of liquids and start taking some of these pungent herbs.

As some herbal compositions are too strong for kids, children can use liquid CC-A with Yerba Santa. Give a small dose (about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon every 15-30 minutes with plenty of water. Adults can also use this blend in a larger dose. You can also use the encapsulated CC-A formula for adults or children old enough to swallow capsules. Take 2-4 capsules every hour, again with plenty of warm or room temperature water.Again, don't eat any solid food while you are doing this. If you get hungry, limit your food intake to fresh fruit or vegetable juices or clear soups (broths). These help flush the system.

Cleanse
Just activating the "wei qi" or defensive energy of the body is enough to speed recovery. However, we can also do other things to support the body's efforts to flush what is irritating it.

Clear the Colon
For starters, clearing the colon will often break a fever and dramatically reduce congestion within minutes. The fastest way to do this is with an enema. However, if you're not brave enough to take an enema, there are other ways
Try taking digestive enzymes along with your herbal activator. For example, take 2 Proactazyme Plus or 1-2 Food Enzymes every hour with plenty of water. This will break down material in the intestines and will usually clear the colon within 2-6 hours. Drinking freshly made apple juice or prune juice will also help.

If there is a fever, then bitter herbs will help to more rapidly clear the digestive tract and cool the system down. Goldenseal-Echinacea or Oregon Grape are good choices here. Again, the key is small, frequently repeated doses. Use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per hour.

LB Extract combined with lobelia can also be used to clear the colon and reduce the fever. Use 1/4 teaspoon of LB Extract with 5-10 drops of lobelia every 30-60 minutes until the bowels evacuate.

Break a Sweat
Perhaps you've heard of the idea of sweating out a cold. Well, it really works. Native Americans used a sweat lodge to do this therapy, but you can also use a sauna if available to you. Since most of us don't have our own sauna or sweat lodge, here's how to do a "sweat bath" at home.

Brew up some HCP-X tea or some tea made with Yarrow and Chamomile (2 capsules each per cup of water). You're going to drink this while you're sitting in a hot bath. If you just can't stand the tea, then as an alternative, you can take 2-3 capsules of yarrow or 2 capsules of HCP-X and sip warm water while in the bath. (It is very important that the tea or the water is warm, not cold). Now, draw a bath as hot as you can comfortably tolerate. Optionally, you can add a few drops of your favorite essential oils, or 10 opened capsules of ginger, to the bath. Sit in the bath and drink the warm liquids for about 15-20 minutes. Get out of the bath, dry off, go to bed and pile on the blankets. Continue to drink plenty of liquids until you start perspiring. It's amazing how quickly this can break up colds, flu and many other acute ailments.

Flush the Kidneys and Lymphatics
You notice that we keep stressing-drink lots of water. The old adage, "rest and drink plenty of fluids," is good advice because water is absolutely necessary for all eliminative channels. It lubricates the colon, helps the sweat glands, waters down mucus in the respiratory passages and, of course, is needed for kidney function.

Often when you are sick you will notice swollen tissues, such as swollen lymph nodes in your neck or chest. You can reduce this swelling and lymphatic congestion by mixing 1 teaspoon Kidney Drainage Formula and 1 teaspoon Lymphatic Drainage Formula into a quart of water and sipping the water frequently. This is paricularly important when a person has a sore throat or earache.

Clear the Congestion
When you are coughing or sneezing, your body is trying to expel irritating substances from the sinuses and lungs. Trying to dry up the sinuses or suppress the cough is counterproductive. What you want is a remedy that will break up mucus and then help the body expel it. These remedies are called decongestants and expectorants.

Hands down, Seasonal Allergy (ALJ) is one of the most effective herbal decongestants and expectorants we know. This valuable blend is available in capsules, liquid and tablets, and can be used by persons of all ages from kids to the elderly. Take 2-4 capsules or 1/2 teaspoon every two hours along with plenty of water and your herbal activator when you're congested. When taking ALJ, do not expect it to dry up your runny nose or suppress your cough. That is not what it's going to do. On the contrary, you may cough or sneeze a little more at first, but this is just the body clearing out what's bothering it, As soon as it has expelled the irritants, you'll feel a lot better-guaranteed!

When there's an infection in the lungs, combine ALJ with garlic. For kids, poke a hole in a Garlic Oil gel cap and give the oil to them orally. You can also dilute it with a little massage oil and rub it on their chest. For adults, take one tablet of High Potency Garlic every four hours. If you can tolerate it, eat 1-2 cloves of raw garlic every two hours. Combined with Seasonal Allergy (ALJ), garlic is really effective at eliminating congestion in the lungs.

Note from Four Winds Nutrition
Clearing the various bacterial and viral infections with Homeopathics.
We suggest one or more of the following (read the description for the best choice(s):
Infectistat and/or Virustat and/or V HP

Build
We have stressed avoiding food while helping the body clear out the disease. This is because the body needs to concentrate its energy on fighting off the illness, not diverting it to digesting food. When Hippocrates said, "Feed a cold, starve a fever," what he meant was "If you feed a cold, you will have to starve a fever." Eating solid food, especially animal proteins, dairy, grains or products containing refined sugar, will only contribute to the environment that is allowing the "germs' to take hold.

Once the symptoms have subsided, and your energy is returning, you can start eating again, but don't introduce heavy foods right away. Start with soups, fruits and vegetables and then work up to heavier foods over a 24-hour period. This helps prevent relapse.