Must have's for cold and flu season

Lemons and Limes (nothing can survive the citric acid)
Ginger root
Raw Honey (local honey is best)
Use the above to make a hot water/tea and drink it about 3 times per day when you are sick.

Triple Leaf Cold and Flu Time Tea - Chinese herb blend tea. I have actually watered this one down and given it to my daughter before and it helped her too.

Yin Chiao - Chinese Cold and Flu Herb. - This one kind of taste earthy...like dirt. It comes in capsules now which is handy. But it is really worth it if you are feeling especially bad. It really helps kick in your immune system and beat it.

Oscilliococcinum - Cold and Flu Homeopathic available at any natural food store or online.

A Good Multi-vitamin - I recommend looking into vitamins without artifical ingredients or a lot of cellulose. That is a filler (and insolluble plant fiber) and doesn't really allow the full vitamin effects to come through by the time it is digested. The more natural varieties cost a bit more but when you need them...it's really a nice thing to have! I recently looking at he ingredients for children's multivitamins and decided to stick with ingredients I can pronounce and know what they are. And no artificial sweetners and flavors.

Plenty of 100% juice and water

and for the kids - Hyland's homeopathic makes a few cold and flu products that work great. I have used the Cold 'n' Cough 4 kids and the complete cold and flu care 4 kids, several times this past season to get my daughter through without too much suffering. The only thing you need beyond that is some Tylenol to help with aches and fevers.

NaturoBio makes a homeopathic liquid formula for cold and flu that is safe and effective for infanta also. It takes like sugar water and is safe for babies 4 months and older. I used it for our family and it was a life saver to help the couple times the baby was sick.

Hyland's also makes adult formulas that work well.

Boiron makes a ColdCalm homeopathic pill that has been tested by people who believe they work, sort of believe they work, and are true skeptics. All have had positive effects. Yay!

And when your throat is very sore, Zand makes a line of herbal lozenges that are great.

Stay well and take care of yourselves!
xo