Sore throats are the kind of ailment that make people reach for anything they can find to dull the pain or to feel remotely normal again so they can focus on something else. Well talk about what you can do in the short term to get rid of or soothe a sore throat in the next chapter, but for now, let’s discuss what I’ve done personally to put a stop to my sore throats on a consistent basis.
Living sore throat-free is all about filling in the nutritional gaps and working with your body so that you give your immune system the tools it needs to fight infections and other causes. Here’s what I’ve done over the long haul to put the brakes on a problem that causes countless hours of untold suffering and lost productivity:
-Cut out processed foods- Every package advertises what types of marginal, synthetic vitamins it contains. What people don’t realize is that they’re getting a totally incomplete vitamin created in a lab in China or New Jersey added to nutritionally dead, overly-heated, nutrient-stripped food. The nutritional percentages printed on packages don’t tell the whole story, as virtually all processed, non-organic foods contain very little vitamins that are easily absorbed and very little in terms of trace minerals that are needed to stay healthy and ward off disease. Once I began to eat more whole fruits, vegetables (organic if possible for both), nuts and seeds, my health improved rapidly. It’s that simple.
-Watch out for pasteurized products- Piggybacking off of the last change, I stopped wasting my money on pasteurized juice products and milk instead of thinking that these products contained the nutrients my body could readily absorb. Pasteurized orange juice from the big corps is usually a part of the post-sore throat regimen of my friends, but it has been heated so much as to reduce it to glorified sugar water in many cases. Need proof? Go look at the label and note that absorbic acid has been added to most juices which naturally contain Vitamin C at high levels. Why should it be necessary in this case? These heated juices will not give you the nutrition you need to stop sore throats from occurring and they certainly won’t help you in a pinch after you’ve contracted one.
-Optimize Vitamin D levels- Vitamin D is the best vitamin according to much research for the universal prevention of disease and bad bacteria taking hold of your system and causing problems. Up here in Michigan, getting enough sunlight to optimize my levels is tough so I take a natural supplement. Check the resources guide for an example of what to take. In the spring and summer, I try to catch as many rays as I can, and I use coconut oil as sunscreen to stay away from cancer-linked sunscreens.
Vitamin D is naturally occurring through sunlight and hard to find in food so be sure to do the former or to supplement to get your levels up and support total body healing.
-Breathe through your nose- This is one of those habits that few people realize they have, but there’s a reason why “mouth breathers” get made fun of sometimes. It isn’t the healthiest way to do it, and it could potentially contribute to sore throat by making that area dry and sore.
For me, breathing through my mouth was a long-running problem that I corrected by researching the proper ways to breathe in order to maximize oxygen intake (which also benefits your immune system, cell and overall health). Now, I breathe the way nature intended us to: Through the diaphragm (pushing out my stomach) and taking deep breaths with my nose before exhaling completely. You should also try to avoid breathing too much through the chest as it can create other issues.
-Clean water- People don’t realize just how contaminated the water supply is, between the pesticides linked to male infertility and cancer to the drugs that have crazy side effects and estrogenic properties. Buying spring water (local brands or those from health food stores are bettero or preferably a reverse- osmosis water filter will allow your cells to get the nutrition and lubricant they need to be health and to prevent disease. Make an effort to drink lots of water and make sure it is high quality; youH be shocked at the difference this makes in your overall health and ability to prevent sickness.
-Attitude adjustment- This is something that is easier said than done, but something that came naturally for me as I educated myself about the power of natural health and the immune system. Once I realized just how powerful it can be once you provide your body with the tools and natural, whole vitamins and foods it needed, I gained a confidence, a placeboeffect if you will, that allowed me to walk around knowing that I would not get sick. If I felt I was slacking in my nutrition or ate an unhealthy meal (which I have done often), I would go ahead and make some green juice or eat some organic fruit and drink some filtered water to help my immune system out. Placebo effect studies show the power of the mind in healing, and once you have the knowledge of what your immune system needs you won’t fear getting sick ever again, unless you’re simply too lazy to do what you need to do!
-More antioxidants-i don’t want to pick on processed foods and drinks anymore, but quite frankly, I don’t have a choice. Most of those drinks for example produce by big beverage companies that arc slickly packaged and tout endless benefits are again nothing more than pasteurized sugar water sweetened with unnatural sweeteners that will confuse your body more than they’ll help it. They come from factories using fairly dirty tap water and come packed with synthetic vitamins that don’t help the way they claim they do.
To get more antioxidants in your diet, there are many options: fruits, vegetables, and other items derived from these whole food items are best such as freshly-made juices. Teas and herbs are also great sources, and learning about each specific one and the benefits it provides is an enlightening journey that will result in radiant health a lifelong barrier against sore throats. Just make sure to buy these items from the health food
store or health section of your grocery store as a general rule because there are many processed items with over-exaggerated health claims out there to steer clear of these days.
-Cut out pasteurized milk- This falls into a prior category in a way, but for extra emphasis I must say that cutting out milk was one of the best things I did for my health. It is phlegm and mucus-causing and it most likely contributed to my ongoing bouts with sore throats. In addition, I’ve cut back on my meat consumption which is key because of the way meat is treated today, with hormones, antibiotics, and GMO feed (genetically modified foods).
Speaking of GMOs, cut those out as much as possible as well. Avoid anything that is non-organic while containing corn, soy, sugar beets (listed as “sugar”), canola, or cottonseed-based. These crops are prevalent in processed foods, unfortunately, but they are lab-created to producc pesticides within the plant, which some studies show leads to catastrophic side effects that deteriorate the immune system and health in general.