Some people have been asking what we're doing to avoid the H1N1, since we don't vaccinate and we are in high risk groups three ways: Benj is a nurse (fortunately, he is somewhat protected since he works on an oncology floor that refuses flu patients and the new restricted visitors policy is preventing the unwashed masses from carrying it to his floor), we have two toddlers who are high-risk because of their age, and I am pregnant (for some unknown reason, pregnant women are highly susceptible to H1N1 and have a high incidence of complications resulting in hospitalization and death.) Now in many ways, we're no more susceptible than we usually are. Benj has been a nurse for nearly seven years and has never had the flu, and small children and pregnant women, like the elderly, are always more at risk for devastating complications from influenza that don't affect the general healthy population. It just seems that the H1N1 is much more virulent than other strains, and according to the Virginia Department of Health, by October, the state was already seeing the volume of cases that it sees in February, the peak of flu season. There is some worry what the peak season will look like. I am a bit nervous, I admit. So here is what we are doing to reduce our chances of getting the flu:
REST AND PLAY
We've been doing our best to get plenty of sleep. This is a challenge when there are small children, especially small children who can survive on very little sleep, but we've made adjustments. Judah is generally sleeping through the night (thanks be to God!), and they are in bed around 7/7:30 in the evening. It may seem like a no-brainer to make sure small children get sleep, as they're grouchy and unbearable when they don't...come to think about it, Benj and I get kind of grouchy and unbearable when we don't get enough sleep too...but it's harder for the adults in our house. We were getting caught up in activities that are hard to do with small children fussing or needing attention, and we were staying up far too late, enjoying the peace and quiet. Benjy and I have started going to bed soon after the children do. It has meant foregoing some activities we enjoy, such as reading, watching movies, working in the woodshop, etc. I have even had to let things slide in the housework department.
(I came out from the back of the house to find Mercy like this. She informed me she needed a rest.)
We've been avoiding crowds and groups of children (germ factories!), which means missing out on our favorite indoor playground and discovery museum, but the children have been spending a lot of time outside. Vitamin D has been shown to play a key role in resistance to influenza (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/51913.php), and sunlight is the best way to get it. The fresh air doesn't hurt anyone either. We've been bundling the children up, even on rainy days, and heading out into the woods or to the now-abandoned toddler playgrounds.
NUTRITION
While we are always careful with the foods we consume, I have been extra vigilant in my meal and snack preparation to ensure that all of us are getting nutrient-dense foods. I have been thinking about writing a full post on food here since I get so many questions about our foodways, but for now, I'll touch briefly on some of our "superfoods."
We enjoy many raw foods. The children still don't do very well with raw veggies, so I give them enzyme-rich raw milk and cheese and fruits. We consume large amounts of probiotics in the form of smoothies. I make yoghurt by the half gallon, and my mom makes kefir by the gallon for us. I puree the yoghurt and kefire with organic frozen fruits (heavy-hitters like blackberries, blueberries, acai, along with mango, strawberries, and bananas to switch it up.) I add raw greens, raw hempseed, sometimes coconut, along with cod liver oil and brewers yeast (B vitamins).
We also eat complex and filling carbs. This has become more challenging since my celiac diagnosis, as many nutritious grains contain gluten, but we are learning (the children are also completely gluten free, since they have a high chance of inheriting celiac from me. We don't want to put them through the invasive tests to confirm celiac for them and our GI doctor recommended gluten free diets for all of us but Benj). Common breakfasts for us are oatmeal cooked in the crockpot overnight and homemade buckwheat and flaxseed waffles. I mix up the batter, and Benj makes them by the dozens. We freeze them, then pop them in the toaster and add organic butter and real maple syrup for quick breakfasts. We've been eating a lot of winter squash with blackstrap molasses, as well as beans such as lentils and hummus.
I try to make stock several times a month. My goal is once a week, but it usually doesn't happen quite that often. I use all-natural chicken or grass-fed beef bones and simmer them in a stock or crock pot for 24-72 hours. This makes a delicious base for many different soups, as well as for cooking rice and quinoa. Chicken soup has become cliche as a cure for all ills, but according to Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions, there is science behind it. Some of the nutrients in the stock specifically target respiratory health. It is also filling, nutritious, and fairly inexpensive to make. For other proteins, we consume oily fishes such as wild cod and salmon, grass-fed beef, and dozens of eggs. I buy between eight and ten dozen eggs per month. I enrich homemade custards and baked goods with extra eggs, make quiches, and serve plain sunny-side-up eggs for any meal I need something quick, hot, and nutritious.
For snacks, the children eat foods such as homemade muffins made with coconut flour, homemade trail mixes made with nuts, raisins, seeds, and a little organic dark chocolate, and "candy" that I make by pureeing figs, ground walnuts, and ground flax, and rolling it in coconut. I have just introduced nut butters to Mercy, and I will be using those on homemade GF crackers as snacks in the future.
(Ahem. They ARE organic, but chips were not quite the nutritional giants I had in mind. I heard rustling behind the closed pantry door, and this is what I found.)
(Ah, that's more like it. A smoothie made with organic fruit, homemade yoghurt and kefir, greens, cod liver oil, and brewer's yeast. Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!)
SUPPLEMENTS
While money is much better spent on high-quality, organic food than on supplements that try to make up for poor eating, I've come to believe, through reading research, that some supplements ARE useful, especially in certain circumstances. For my family, we are taking just a few key supplements that scientific studies are showing as useful. We are taking elderberry extract (mass-marketed as Sambucol). This is one of the most amazing products in our medicine cabinet. Benj is prone to pneumonia and bronchitis, and he has been able to completely cure bronchitis in just two days by taking elderberry along with oregano oil. I have a friend who recently gave elderberry to her son, who was recovering from swine flu but had a nagging cough that was preventing him from resting. In just four hours, his coughing had completely stopped. I'm a believer in the product, but that amazed even me. I've heard similar stories this year as others have turned around respiratory infections or shortened the duration of influenza with elderberry. In one study, elderberry extract was shown to be more effective than Tamiflu, without side effects: http://www.naturalnews.com/026354_elderberry_Tamiflu_immune_system.html
The children and Benj are also taking olive leaf extract, which is thought to be an antiviral.
OTHER TIDBITS WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT MATTER
Besides avoiding crowds, which I already mentioned, we try to practice good hygiene. Good handwashing is something we enforce all the time, but during this flu season, I am militant about clean hands, especially with two little ones who constantly have their hands in their mouths, eyes, and nose (and in mine, now that I think about it). The rare times we venture out, such as for grocery shopping, I carry sanitizing wipes and wipe down the cart. I wipe down their hands when we get back in the car. We avoid public bathrooms like the plague itself (I carry a portable potty for Mercy in the truck). I also spray saline in the children's noses before bed and when we've been out in public to flush any germs out of the nasal passages, as well as a special herbal throat spray that accomplishes the same purpose in the mouth and throat.
Will we still get the flu? Maybe. But at least we are doing all we can to prevent it.
