My role as a health coach is to guide and educate, highlighting resources that my clients might not be aware of so that they can add them to their wellness toolset.  This is not to be considered medical advice but can be used as a jumping-off point in your own quest & discovery.

Connecting the dots

At the beginning of this series, I promised you that I was going to help you put together a few pieces of a much bigger puzzle as to why the flu shot is seemingly such a big deal.

We uncovered in my Flu Shot Marketing article that only 14-16% of respiratory illnesses that required hospitalization were actually influenza.  We also learned in The (In)Effectiveness of the Flu Shot that the effectiveness of the flu shot waxes and wanes at very low percentages as well.  So for a small group of people, the flu shot has a very low chance of being effective.  Additionally, the flu shot is ONLY weakly effective (which is why I say “in”effective) for 3 or 4 of the hundreds of other respiratory illnesses that have “flu-like” symptoms but are not the flu.

What we do know is that a large majority of what people contract are other respiratory illnesses (for which there are hundreds).  We also know that pneumonia is a secondary infection from both the flu (again, only prevalent in 14-16% of the cases) AND those other illnesses.  The flu shot doesn’t cover the large majority of what people are coming down with in the first place…

So if we are connecting dots, the prevalence of the flu is low and for the small number of people who actually get it, it’s not very effective and can have some pretty severe side effects, on top of the most common side effects (that look JUST like flu symptoms).  The question still stands, why are we getting the flu shot then and why the billions of dollars being spent on marketing?

Prepare & Prevent

With all of that in mind, there are natural ways to prepare your immune system when it’s most vulnerable without getting the flu shot.  There are several “must do’s” to help your body prevent contracting a respiratory illness in the Fall and Winter, including influenza.

There are many reasons our immune systems are more susceptible to illnesses:

  • Lack of good daily hygiene (washing hands, over-use of antibacterial products)
  • Poor nutritional choices (processed/packaged foods, sugar, alcohol)
  • Fast-paced, stressed-out lifestyle
  • Exposure to toxic substances (personal care products and household cleaners/air fresheners)
  1. Wash your hands. Scrubbing your hands frequently and for at least 20 seconds is the best way to keep the flu out of your system.
  2. Eat clean.
    • Fruits, veggies, lean proteins and healthy fats. Focus on fruits and veggies high in antioxidants.
    • Avoid anything that comes in a package, box, or can. This will help you eat whole foods and eliminate sugar. Processed foods and sugar will lower your immune system and thus, make you susceptible to illnesses like the flu.
    • Eliminate inflammatory foods like gluten, dairy, sugar, and wheat.  Inflammation cripples our immune system.
    • Utilize programs like Once a Month Meals or Real Plans if you need help with healthy meals.
  3. Increase your water intake. Flush out toxins from your body to enable your systems to be under less cellular stress.
  4. Supplement. Research the following supplements are known to support your overall wellness. Our soil and food today isn’t what it used to be when our grandparents farmed.  Our farms are nutrient-deficient and if not organic, laced with toxic chemicals.
  5. Eliminate stress. Chronic stress lowers your immune system. Have you ever been really stressed trying to get everything ready for the holidays or for vacation and then suddenly, you’re sick the moment you relax? You’ve suppressed your immune system as a result and picked up a bug.
  6. Avoid using chemicals, cleaners, air fresheners, and fragrances in your hair and body care products as well as home products. These things are synthetic toxins that further weaken your immune system.
  7. Avoid people who have the flu. If it’s going around your office, consider staying home, too.
  8. Avoid people who have recently received the flu mist spray. Those who have received the flu mist have the ability to “shed” the flu vaccine. This means, you could get the live flu virus within the vaccine, whether you wanted to or not. When a person who had the FluMist sneezes or coughs, the vaccine can be transported through water droplets into the air, and into your system.  It’s best to avoid those folks for at least 7-10 days, if not for an entire 28 days, the length of time the vaccine can shed.

Detoxing & Recovering from the Flu Shot

If you choose to get the flu shot, there are many ways that you can help your system deal with adjuvants.

  1. Juice. Juicing celery, parsley and cilantro will pull heavy metals out of your body.
  2. Essential Oils. Applying diluted essential oils like coriander, cilantro, clove and cinnamon are detoxifying oils.
  3. Detox shot site. Using bentonite clay or magnesium oil on the site of the shot will help pull out heavy metals.
Other supplements to support your body:

Videos on Detoxing from the flu shot

  1. Flu shot detox video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=–nWrqIspnQ

I hope this has been a helpful resource. If you’ve landed on this post, it’s one of a series called The Flipside of the Flu Shot.  You can find those here:

Best,

Trisha

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