Vegan Down in the Dumps

It seems that a co-worker of mine was feeling a little generous when he left work on Friday, and left me with this really nasty cold. It hit me on Sunday - sore throat, congestion, and the sudden feeling that I wanted to curl up in bed for the rest of the day. The sore throat was extremely mild at first, but then as the night went on it got worse.

Now, usually, when you have a diet that has no animal-based products included you typically never get sick because your immune system is fortified and healthy, meaning it's in pristine working condition. However, since my current diet doesn't consist of any animal-based products but remains a bit sketchy since I don't eat very much due to long hours and little free time, mine is vulnerable.

There are ways to combat a cold with natural, true to the earth ingredients. If you ever begin to feel like the flu bug has got you by the coat tails, there are plenty of ways to fight it without antibiotics clogging up your system or a trip to the doctors office. The one I'm most familiar with are lemons. These tart babies are ideal for restoring acid-alkali balance in the body and helps maintain its natural pH levels, which support healthy bacteria instead of viruses and harmful bacteria that thrive in acidic conditions.

I'm sure some of you have had mother's like mine that used to tell you to stay away from milk when you're sick. That's because milk produces and aids the growth of bacteria in the body. According to Gabriel Cousens, M.D. and author of Conscious Eating, the undigested lactose and acidic nature of pasturized milk encourages the growth of bacterian in our intestines. Before you go reaching for a glass of milk or a small thing of yogurt while you're sick, grab a glass of lemon water. Not only will this make you feel ten times better, it will also help detoxify your body, ridding it of all those nasty toxins that come from the crap you were eating before. A good recipe to follow (one I love, especially) is hot water, the juice of one lemon, and two tablespoons of honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar. Thinking it's going to be too tart for your taste? The sweetness of whichever sweetner you use will give that sour taste a run for its money.

Some cold fighting foods that I would've never guessed are mushrooms, broccoli, blueberries, kidney and garbanzo beans, pumpkin seeds, garlic, and brazil nuts. Each of these does your immune system some real good. Mushrooms, broccoli, and blueberries help de-stress the immune system so it doesn't have to work so hard; pumpkin seeds are high in zinc, a crucial nutrient to give your immune system a power boost; garlic is simply a delicious antibiotic that fights virus'; and brazil nuts are the number one source of selenium, an antioxidant needed to rejuvenate our bodies so it can kill germs and protect cells from free radical damage.

So when those aches and pains wbegin creeping up on you, remember these wise words from the Lazy Vegan. But if you add these simple foods to your everyday life, the flu or the common cold will ever get the best of you because your immune system will be one bad-ass germ killing machine.

Yours truly,