Echinacea Can Ease the Common Cold

It’s cold season and stuffy noses are circulating through my work place like crazy. I believe I caught the same cold twice and everyone is either sneezing, coughing, or blowing their nose. Last year, I didn’t catch one cold and I was trying to figure out the difference between my health this year and my health last year. Why didn’t I catch a cold last year but this year I’m sneezing like crazy?

I realized I forgot a small little pill this year! My Echinacea pill! How could I forget?!

From my personal experience with Echinacea, it cuts my cold in half or keeps me completely immune from them. At first I was a bit skeptical but did my reading to conclude that it does indeed help us cold suffers deal with colds so much better.

The Lancet Infectious Diseases conducted 14 studies to analyze the effect of Echinacea on the common cold. It was found that taking Echinacea reduced the risk of catching a cold by 58% and can shorten a cold’s length.

I’m sure there are some flaws in these studies but I’m going to take what I see and run with it. I’m never going to forget my Echinacea again no matter how bad it tastes swallowing that pill. That is way better than sitting around miserable and blowing my nose every 5 minutes.

Take your Echinacea, my friends, and you will feel better! At least it can’t hurt and looks pretty!

 Vitaminshoppe is my favorite company to buy supplements from. They have a huge supply of all kinds of herbs that I believe have improved my health. Check them out!

Drinking Juice vs Eating Fruit

I’ve been wondering if there is much of a difference between drinking juice and actually eating fruit. My husband and I have recently come to love Naked juice. I”m not one to eat much fruit and find it helpful to be able to drink it instead. Because of  the thickness of Naked and the fact that it boasts that one serving contains “2 apples, 24 blueberries and 3 bananas” I would think that it would be just as healthy to drink this juice as opposed to eating the fruit itself.

After doing a bit of reading, I’ve learned that it’s actually better to eat the fruit itself. The reason for this is because with juice you are missing out the fiber that the fruit contains. When you juice vegetables or fruit you lose a lot of the fiber that you can eat from the skin. Juicing simply takes the juice from the fruit or vegetable. Additionally, some juice companies add extra sugar to their juice in which you would not find in the fruit itself.

However, some claim that juicing gives the digestive system a break from digesting the fiber and makes it’s easier to absorb all the nutrients. Enabling your body to remove toxins, lose weight, boost your immune system, and reduce your risk of cancer. Juicing can be a great way for you to incorporate different fruits and vegetables into your diet that you normally would not eat.

If you decide that juice is the better way to go for you. Make sure that when buying juice from the grocery store check the label so that you aren’t buying a bottle full of sugar. Avoid the juice on the shelves and head for the organic or produce section instead. The selection there seems to hold most of the best juices without all the added sugar.

Although I have come to the conclusion that eating fruit is better than drinking juice, I believe that juicing or buying juice is a great way to get in your daily need of fruit. If you’re like me, it’s hard to make sure you get in your daily need of fruit. It’s easier to be able to sit at work and drink juice instead of eat it. Also, when looking in the fridge it makes me think twice before grabbing a sugar filled soda.

So, it’s really up to the consumer – stick with what works for you. If you enjoy eating fruit – keep on chewing! If you enjoy drinking juice – keep on drinking (but with more caution than the fruit eater)!