Kicking Flu in the A***

Well it had to happen didn't it...we have the flu in our household...never mind "Christmas in July"...this is even more ridiculous!

Seeing as I have done one post about food today why not make it today's theme!

I am nuts about nutrition, nah that's not quite strong enough...I am obsessed about nutrition...to the point that I have realised that more often than not when I cook, I am cooking with the prescriptive benefits in mind more than the pleasure of eating... It is a damned good job that we like the flavours of this prescriptive diet!

Take for example a couple of days ago...we had HM chilli not because that is what we felt like but because I thought that is what we needed. The perfect meal would have been something that involved many spices and chicken on the bone but alas all I had was a whopping great solid lump of chicken breast in the freezer and that in my mind wouldn't have quite hit the mark so I saved that for another day and just went for minced beef and spices.

Why did I want chicken on the bone I hear you ask? What I have gleaned from the many "using your dinner plate to heal you" type of books is that chicken skins and bones contain something ( called cysteine, I think that is right without checking the name ) which works as a decongestant, and that many over the counter decongestants use a derivative of the same thing...so the idea is...if you make yourself a tasty chicken soup,/stew and throw in other prescriptive stuff, garlic and onion for the antibiotic qualities, chillies and ginger for their anti-inflammatory effects and so on, you can cut out the middle man and make yourself better in the way that nature intended...well why else would things that grow in the ground have these fantastic qualities?

Now that is not to say that if you have a bout of flu or other illness that you should always try and treat it at home, no way...we followed the gov advice, checked out the symptoms on NHS direct and on their advice phoned the GP. He said it doesn't sound like Swine flu but another flu virus and said how to treat it at home...well after a couple of days there was no improvement with the suggested symptom relievers so that is when I decided to get my skillet out ( translate as cauldron for the purpose of this post! ) In just a couple of mouthfuls ( is that a word? it doesn't look right! ) it started to work and clear the sinuses right away...thus making the patient's headache much better! I drip fed other meals throughout the day along the same theme....The next day, as expected...there was a dramatic improvement! I am putting it all down to the combination of prescriptive ingredients and low GI. So far I am thinking this is working as a preventative as well as a cure ( touch wood ) ... I have not gone down with anything and seeing as the doc said the patient should be kept isolated I think I too must be doing my immune system a favour or is it just the incubation period is very long? We shall see, but personally I do have much faith in this way of truly FEEDING your body with what it needs at the right time.

In my opinion eating low GI is so over looked as a health benefit...it is not just something to be looked at as a faddy way of loosing weight...did you know that the amount of sugar in your system vastly effects the amount of white blood cells whizzing around! I eat mainly low GI myself these days and feel pretty flipping good!

My family groan when I stand on my nutritional soap box BUT I know the message has got through seeing as DS advised me the other day to eat a handful of walnuts before my driving lesson to help with my concentration...What was that, health advice from a teenager? LOL!

I could go on and on...infact I think I could start a whole new blog on prescriptive eating alone but I will spare you that for now...what do you like to include in your diet that goes beyond the 5 a day and why?...I'd love to know. ;o) ...and Min, if you are reading, I know you could kick it off with parsley and turmeric just for starters lol. :o)

Stay healthy folk.
Doxie, so far bug free!