CHICOPEE – It’s the holiday season, that time of year when we’re all busy exchanging greetings, gifts ... and germs.

That’s right – the busiest time of the year is also prime time for a virus to hit, even if you’re religious about hand washing and you got a flu shot. After all, there’s still 200 different rhinoviruses out there according to Jonathan Evans, information specialist at Chicopee’s Herbarium Natural Apothecary and alternative medicine columnist for Reminder Publications’ Prime Magazine.
Here are his tips for staying healthy this holiday season:

Zap the germs

“One of the first things we’re told [about staying healthy] is to wash your hands and use hand sanitizer,” Evans said. “The problem is, hand sanitizer is the same strength over and over and germs develop a resistance to it.”
He said adding drops of an essential oil with anti-bacterial properties – such as palmarosa, lemongrass, oregano, lemon myrtle, tee tree or lavender – to your hand sanitizer solves this by upping its germ-killing properties. Using two oils in combination “really works well because you are throwing a curveball at the virus,” he added.

For example, Evans said if you choose lavender and tee tree oil, “use 10 drops of the tee tree and five to 10 drops of the lavender oil, and add that to a 2 oz. hand sanitizer, and the next time change up your formula – 15 and five drops. That way the germs can’t get accustomed to your oil and sanitizer blend.”
The next stay-healthy tip we’re all told is to keep touch-surfaces clean. Here, Evans said essential oils are also a big help.

“Make a spray of any of these [anti-bacterial] oils using water in a 2 oz. spray bottle,” Evans said. “Add 20 drops of any oil and water and spray surfaces like the phone, doorknobs – any surface you are coming into contact with. Do this at the office, at home, in the sick room.”

Evans said you can also add essential oils to a humidifier or cool mister to “clear the air and kill off the germs.”

Boost your immunity

“If you get the flu shot, fine, but you still have to do something to cover the strains where that the virus has mutated,” Evans said, noting that the annual vaccine doesn’t always hit the mark. Here he said herbs such as Echinacea and Elderberry, zinc loznges, medicinal mushrooms and and vitamin C can help.

“Elderberry is especially good for flu,” Evans said, adding something in the herb “attacks the spike” on the virus, making it harder for it to reproduce. “You can make your own [elderberry] tinctures or buy them prepared. We also have a do-it-yourself kit to make [elderberry] syrup,” that combines the virus-fighter with honey and other flu-fighting herbs. He suggests taking the syrup every day “as a preventative.”

Evans said consuming medicinal mushrooms such as reishi, chaga or shitake “in a tincture, in a capsule or buying them at the grocery store and putting them in a great mushroom soup,” is another way to boost your immunity during cold and flu season.

“Pound for pound, mushrooms have almost an amazing therapeutic power,” he noted.

Vitamin C – extensively studied and promoted by two-time Nobel prizewinner Linus Pauling has been shown to strengthen cell walls, and is believed to make it harder for viruses to penetrate them. (Consult Herbarium or another alternative medicine specialty store for information on proper vitamin C dosing, as excessive use can cause side effects and it can interfere with some standard medicines such as chemotherapy.)

Evans said consistently taking a good, high-quality, high-potency multivitamin” can also “help your body be running at its best performance” during cold and flu season.

If you get sick

If, despite your best efforts, you come down with a cold or flu, Evans offered these natural remedies:

Ginger tea – “This can help you sweat out a cold and break a fever,” he said, adding it is most effective to use fresh ginger, peeled and sliced, steeped in freshly boiled water.

“Always steep actual leaves or herbs, never boil them, “ Evans said.

Peppermint tea – again prepared from fresh leaves – sooths the stomach during illness. This tea can also be brewed, placed in ice cube trays and frozen for when a patient needs hydration.

Cammomile tea is also good to have on hand during cold and flu season. “It’s soothing, helps with restlessness, and it tastes good, “ Evans noted.
For stuffy heads or chest congestion, Evans suggested an old-fashioned garlic steam.

“Chop up about four or five [fresh] garlic cloves, put them in a large bowl and fill it half-way with boiling water,” Evans said. “Put a plate on top and let the steam build up. Then make a tent over your head and shoulder with a bath towel, remove the plate and breathe the steam.”

Breathe the steam in through your nose for sinus stuffiness, through your mouth for chest congestion, allowing “the antibacterial properties of the garlic come in contact with the mucus membranes” while moisturizing the tissues, he said.

For sore throats zinc losengers – especially those infused with Elderberry – are especially effective.

“Why do we get a sore throat? Because viruses can’t reproduce in the heat of the body,” Evans said. “Zinc losengers coat the throat and disrupt the virus’ ability to reproduce.”

Evans also shared this comfort-food cold-fighting recipe:

Dr Ziment's Garlic Chicken Soup for Colds & Coughs

Initially published in “The Food Pharmacy” (1988) by Dr. Irwin Ziment, professor of pulmonary medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, who says he finds it more healing than most modern drugs.

Ingredients:
1 qt. homemade chicken broth
1 garlic head, about 30 cloves,
peeled
5 parsley sprigs. minced
6 cilantro sprigs, minced
1 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp fresh mint leaves, minced
1 tsp dried basil or 1 Tbs fresh,
chopped
1 tsp curry powder
Hot red pepper flakes to taste,
sliced carrots, Bay leaves (optional)
Drizzle 2 beaten egg yolks

Method:
Place all ingredients in a pan without a lid. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30 mins. Strain – or, better yet, remove the garlic cloves and herbs and puree in a blender or food processor, then return to the broth. Serve hot. And be sure to inhale the steam during preparation, urges Ziment.

Serves 4
Per serving:
Calories 52
Total Fat 1.6 g
Saturated fat 0.4 g
Cholesterol 0
Sodium 258 mg