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Ten Top Tips for Avoiding the Flu
© Susun S Weed 2006

1. Wash your hands. (Rub briskly under hot running water for at least 30 seconds.)

2. Don't use antibacterial soaps. (They encourage the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.)

3. Drink lots of fluids. (Especially hot herbal antibacterial teas such as sage, thyme, rosemary.)

4. Start your day with a cup of cool yogurt or hot miso soup. (Both encourage strong immunity.)

5. Make nourishing soups with the immune-enhancing roots astragalus and eleutherococcus.*

6. Spray your nasal passages with a saline solution or a xylitol rinse. (Kills viral particles.)

7. Be wary of diets that radically alter what you eat. (They tend to depress the immune system.)

8. Eat well-cooked leafy greens like kale, collards, and mustard greens. (Strengthens immunity.)

9. Add lots of arugula and watercress to your salad. (They're antiviral.)

10. Eat garlic. (Even powdered, even cooked.) Eat ginger. (Or drink it.)

If you do get the flu, elder berry (Sambucus nigra) tincture or syrup may shorten its stay.

Green blessings
Susun S. Weed

* Deeply Rooted Chicken Soup
Serves 8-10

Rinse one organic free-range chicken in cold water. Place in a pot and cover with cold water. Add 4-8 dried whole shitaki mushrooms, 2-3 bay leaves, 1/4 cup dried celery tops or 1 tsp celery seed, and 4 tablespoons dried parsley.

Bring to a boil and cook for 1-2 hours, depending on the age and size of the chicken.
Then add 4 medium potatoes, 4-8 carrots sliced diagonally, 2-4 sliced parsnips, 1-2 burdock roots sliced thinly, 1 small (or 1/2 large) celeriac root, and 2 turnips or winter radishes. For really strong immunity, add up to one ounce each dried astragalus root and eleutherococcus root (Siberian ginseng). (Tie the herbs in a handkerchief or a jelly bag so you can remove them before you serve the soup.)

Bring the soup to a boil again, and reduce to a simmer.
Immediately stir in 1-2 teaspoons thyme, 1-2 teaspoons rosemary, 1-2 teaspoons marjoram, 1-2 ounces dried kelp seaweed (wakame, alaria, nereocystis), 1-2 teaspoons organic granulated garlic, and 4-8 tablespoons salt. (Salt draws the nourishment and flavor into the broth. When you have enough, the soup it will taste great. When there isn't enough, it will taste flat.)

Simmer until the vegetables are tender, about one hour. Turn off heat. Pick up soup pot and take it to a cool place, like a basement, or a cement floor in the shade.
Allow soup to steep for at least four hours before reheating and eating. This is the most important step in the recipe. Be certain to let the soup steep before eating. Leftovers keep refrigerated for one week.

Anti Anti-bacterial Soap
The FDA has advised that "antibacterial soaps and washes are no more effective than regular soap and water in fighting infections." A growing body of research has found theat "triclosan promotes the emergence of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. . ." Further, it is implicated in the formation of the notoriously carcinogenic chemical dioxin.

On October 25, 2005 fifteen public health and environmental groups proposed that the FDA remove from the market the hundreds of products -- such as toothpaste, deodorant, cosmetics, fabrics, plastics, and nearly half of all commercial soaps -- that contain the antibacterial triclosan. Triclosan is not only used in products, it is also a contaminant of waterways as it not removed from wastewater. Widespread use of triclosan has spread it so widely that it is now found in umbilical cord blood and breast milk.