Fall Plague - listening to your body (Goals)

Ugh, been sick as heck over the past week. Of course in the middle of one of the biggest holidays of the year in the USA.

Started really feeling sick last weekend, though I had a suspicion that I was going to be getting sick before I had even left (was working out of state last weekend).

And I really blame the antibiotics for this and several of my recurring health issues that I've dealt with.

I was just speaking with someone close several days ago about being on antibiotics and how it related to a chronic candida issue that I have. We ended up talking about how they would get Strep every year and end up taking antibiotics for it, and then they switched to consistent natural remedies.

Also, I was on them again 6-8 weeks ago for a wisdom tooth infection (they won't remove them), and I was not particularly pleased to be on them again.

So I ended up catching this illness from someone I know on accident, and of course they recovered quickly.

but now it has been a week that I've been suffering.

Today is actually the first day that I feel better since last Saturday, so yeah... a week.

And all my symptoms were of strep throat (or some variety of bacterial tonsillitis - I couldn't say for certain). SO yeah... I don't want to get this every year.

I miss the days when I used to just basically be immune to illness. Those were good times! 😃

Anyways, the point being, I have decided to take a more proactive approach to immunity. I had already been trying to play with supplements to improve immunity and such, but it clearly hasn't been the correct approach.

There's this little voice anytime anything happens with me, good or bad, that says "what can I change to make this situation better?"

Many times nothing comes of that voice, but there is this pain right now associated with dealing so poorly with illness that tells me that I need to do something else.

I plan on traveling again next year and I can't be sick for weeks and weeks while I'm doing all of that, as it is neither practical nor enjoyable.

There are a lot of little ways like this that my body has been telling me that it's unhappy. The candida, autoimmune disorder/joint pain, very easily catching illness/getting way worse from illness than others who catch the same thing, constant musculoskeletal pain.

I've been to the doctor as well, but that's another story I'll get into later...

So when I look at this situation and I ask my question, I come up with this:

Lots of nutrition
Lots of natural remedies taken preventatively
Avoid exposure to high risk situations.

At this point, I'm okay just wearing a mask in public. I don't care if people look at me funny, I am sick of catching the plague every time I shake someone's hand.

It's time to listen to my body and learn what I can do to help myself, because it's clear that the doctor is not the place to learn how to be healthy.

It's a great place to learn how to be a prescription addict though.

I've done a lot of research and experimentation on health, nutrition, and exercise; and I spent a little bit more time looking into other ideas... but mainly here's the plan I've come up with for increasing health.

_{some of this I am already doing or are close to doing}
stick the following to daily routine:

Vegetables/fruits, high micronutrient content (dark leafy greens especially)

_{- goal - 9cups a day (1/9c fruit)}

Garlic & Echinacea (probably as tea, bleh)

_{- 1 serving per day}

Flu vaccination every 6 months

_{- I used to trash on flu vaccine, but even if there's only a 30% effectiveness some years that's better than nothing with how I'm feeling right now}

Always have facemasks with me for public activities

_{Yeah, I'm going to be that weirdo. I don't care anymore.}

I'm already like 80% asian anyways, so I might as well shoot up to 90% or so and start wearing masks 😃

And then comes the first step for this stuff, which is tracking it. I kind of have some ideas with which I'm going to do with that, but I'll roll that out later.

Anyways, my main conclusion that keeps being reinforced over and over for me is that our lifestyles are the biggest contemporary health issue.

So, why not set a goal to change something in your lifestyle for the better?

Get a personal trainer once a week, remove sugar from your diet, eat veggies with every meal.

Find something to make yourself better. If you aren't doing that, then what are you doing?

Thanks for coming by,

- Guurg

^{external link}

_{P.S. what you think of my plans? Think I should do something else or extra?}

Photo Credits:
Unsplash - Annie S.
giphy - pills
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