Nature's Bounty
Winter Health

The winter cold and flu season is when anti-biotics are most often prescribed unnecessarily. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, twenty to fifty percent of all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions and twenty five to forty five percent of antibiotic prescriptions in hospitals are inappropriate. One study found that as many as seventy percent of patients with colds and upper respiratory tract infections and other ailments most often caused by viruses (which can’t be treated with antibiotics), were prescribed antibiotics anyway.

Many strains of infectious bacteria have become resistant to the antibiotics meant to destroy the organisms. More than thirty five medical journals from around the world have released issues devoted to the crisis in antibiotic resistance that is due to their excessive and inappropriate use. The July 26, 2000 edition of the American Medical Association Journal states: "the third leading cause of death in the United States, after cancer and heart disease, is doctor related errors. Some 12,000 deaths occur every year as a result of unnecessary surgeries. Another 7,000 people die annually from medication errors in hospitals. An additional 20,000 deaths happen just from hospital errors alone. Still, the bulk of tragic deaths occur because of antibiotic resistant infections picked up inside hospitals; some 80,000 people are victims to this.”

With antibiotic resistance, the death rate from infectious diseases has risen fifty percent since 1980. Many infections that were treatable twenty years ago cannot be successfully treated with antibiotics now.

Forty million pounds of anti-biotics are produced in the United States. Their excessive use has contributed to a major health care problem in this country. As individuals what we can do is to learn how to best prevent colds and flu in the first place and then not use antibiotics when it is not necessary. Save antibiotic use for when you really need it.

In working with herbs to prevent getting colds and flu, the best thing is to build your immune system before you are exposed to illness. One of the best ways to do that is to take the herb astragalus. You can purchase astragalus root at most herb stores and health food stores. It comes cut in pieces that look like tongue depressors from the doctor’s office. Make a tea with 5 astragalus sticks to three cups of water. Bring the water to a boil and then turn it off. Let the astragalus steep for two hours, reheat and drink two cups a day for two weeks at a time.

You can also make astragalus garlic soup which is wonderful preventive medicine against colds and flu.

Astragalus Garlic soup

• 2 quarts water
• 2 onions
• 1 leek
• 10 cloves of garlic
• 2 carrots
• 1 potato
• 6 sticks of Astragalus
• 3 tablespoons minced garden herbs such as thyme, oregano, bay leaf and rosemary
• Juice of one lemon
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/8 cup Miso paste

Sautee the onions, garlic, leeks, carrots, potato, garden herbs and celery in olive oil until soft. Add water, lemon juice and astragalus and let simmer for two hours. Just prior to serving add Miso paste. Don’t eat the astragalus sticks but leave them in the soup until the soup is gone. Astragalus has a mild sweet taste that lends itself well to enhancing the taste of soups.

At the first sign of feeling a little run down, reduce your diet to eating only this soup for one day. Astragalus is a wonderful immune tonic. This root is anti-viral and anti-bacterial; it strengthens the lungs and increases the immune system’s natural killer cells that fight infection. Astragalus also supports digestion and is known as a tonic to increase energy. Another great way to get this amazing herb into your diet is to put four sticks into any pot of rice or barley that you make. Just add the astragalus at the very beginning and cook it with the rice and water. Remove the sticks when you serve the rice. If you do end up catching a cold, don’t continue to take astragalus. It is best used as a preventative tonic to build the system in preparation for winter ailments. I wish you a healthy winter season.

Kami McBride is the author of The Herbal Kitchen and has helped thousands of people learn to use herbs in their daily lives in ways that are healthy, safe and fun. She is the director of Cultivating the Herbal Medicine Woman Within, an experiential training in using herbs in the home for everyday health. An intuitive and inspiring teacher, Kami works to revive the cultural art of home herbal care and teaches herbology as a relationship with the Earth and a way of life. For a schedule of classes or herbal consultations Kami can be reached at (707) 446-1290 or sign up for her free herbal e-newsletter at: www.livingawareness.com