Blackberry Leaf Tea...

I found out the hard way that flu season has definitely started.  Our family was hit with a stomach bug this week - mainly causing intestinal distress, if you catch my drift.

Only one of us had a fever and thankfully that was kept under control with an herbal tea of yarrow, peppermint, and elder flower (this tea was made for my husband).  My son so far has not had a fever, but I do have on hand TempAssure by Herbs for Kids, which has some of the same herbs to help support the body when dealing with a fever.  An aside, which really needs to be a post on it's own, fevers can be good!  They are your body's way of killing off germs.  As a rule of thumb, I do not treat a low grade fever (below 101 for adults, 100.5 for kids) with tylenol, but instead will give supportive herbs, like the ones mentioned above, which encourage sweating and eventually help to break the fever.  In my husbands case, he started to have the fever early evening and by the next morning it was gone.

Back to the intestinal distress!  Blackberry leaf tea is a very mild herb and wonderful for treating diarrhea.  I was able to brew this for my husband and my son (who is a year and a half) and in both cases, it stopped the diarrhea in it's tracks.  For my husband, I mixed some peppermint tea in with the blackberry to make it more appealing for him and for my son, I mixed it with some water flavored with a touch of cherry juice concentrate.

A great way to make sure your loved ones are well hydrated during times like these, is to have them drink plenty of coconut water, which is naturally full of electrolytes.  Another great option is Recharge, a natural electrolyte drink.  You want to avoid sugary "sports drinks", as the sugar will only serve to lower your immune system as it is working hard to fight off the bug.

Sambucol

The start of fall, back to school, cool weather...this combination often signals the beginning of cold and flu season.  This is the perfect time to make sure that you have plenty of Sambucol on hand!  Sambucol is a brand of elderberry syrup that has had multiple studies done on it's effectiveness against flu viruses.  It is also extremely effective for fighting colds.  It comes in both adult and children's strength (children can start to use it at the age of 2).  I recommend this particular brand because of it's proven effectivenss.  It can be purchased from multiple sites on-line, including Amazon and Vitacost.
This is a standard in our household and it has proven effective a number of times already this year!  You can take it daily as a preventative or take it immediately when the first cold/flu symptoms are felt.