Vaccination has usually been packaged, advertised, and recommended by doctors as the best approach in reducing the risks of contracting flu. It generally comes in two types: flu shot, or nasal-spray flu vaccine.

However, there are things that many health authorities hold back — things that make natural and healthy remedies a better choice in fighting and preventing flu.

Flu definition

Flu or Influenza is a respiratory viral infection. It is highly contagious and is commonly caught and transmitted through coughing and sneezing reactions that come from the infected individual. Physical contact such as giving handshakes to the infected individual also enables flu to infect others.

Flu symptoms are easily recognizable, including weakness, headaches, fever, sneezing, and body aches; but these should not be mistaken for other viral infections that develop in the lungs. This is because other viruses may possibly cause similar symptoms during rare instances. Furthermore, particular flu-related symptoms are usually more severe.

Usually, influenza on its own does not rank as one of the most fatal illnesses. It’s just usually a nuisance, because sometimes it causes you to stay home and rest than go out and engage in your daily normal activities. However, there are certain vulnerable people to whom flu is more than just an annoying sickness — those who are at high risks of developing severe conditions due to influenza. High-risk people include elders, pregnant women, diabetes patients, steroid users, cardiovascular disease patients, and just about anyone whose immune system has been rendered weak. The most commonly dreaded illness due to flu is pneumonia. Furthermore, influenza can also aggravate chronic health diseases such as diabetes or asthma.

Vaccination: The best way to protect yourself and others from flu, a doctor says

An article at www.newsmaxhealth.com provides some details on why vaccination, for many people and health authorities, is believed to be the key to combating influenza.

According to Dr. Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, taking flu vaccination is the best way to combat flu by protecting you from transmitting and catching the said infection. Furthermore, health authorities urge almost everybody to finally acquire a shot of flu vaccination.

With the swine flu scare that occurred a year ago, more supply of vaccination is expected. Recommendations for a yearly shot are now extended to almost everyone except infants below 6 months old, and those with severe allergies.

Knowing the truth about vaccination: What many health practitioners don’t say

It was also stated in the same article that vaccinations had been observed and monitored for their safety since the swine flu pandemic; and reportedly, the special swine flu vaccine that is sold in the United States did not have any rare side effects. It seems fail-proof, so far. Reports of narcolepsy following a particular European swine flu vaccine are currently investigated, but the United States reportedly did not allow it to be sold in the country. Furthermore, an Australian case wherein the seasonal vaccine for kids was associated with fever-related seizures emerged. As a result, the seasonal vaccine also did not have its place in the U.S. market.

The contents of the said article are one of the manifestations of how easily we believe that avoiding flu is as easy as one flu shot. The doctors almost always seem to be infallible when they advise people to get vaccinated — all other treatment methods will be secondary. As one doctor in the article put it, getting vaccination is the “best” protective measure against flu.

However, not many people seem to know what really occurs when they get a vaccination shot. It’s either doctors don’t delve much into telling people the side effects; or the detriments caused by vaccination are downplayed, as in the said case of vaccination-related side effects in Australia. Also, while it is true that antibodies are increased through vaccination, some doctors do not bother to explain that the flu virus has several strains — strains that the particular vaccine may not be able resolve. Furthermore, the toxic components placed in the vaccine may actually do more harm to the immune system than strengthen it, which renders you more vulnerable to acquire the flu virus. Another recent study that was published in a British medical journal called Lancet showed that the participating elders who took a vaccine did not have more benefits than those who did not.

Given the health detriments caused by vaccination, and other potential ones, plus the fact that certain studies reveal the lacking “promised” benefits of getting vaccinated, it seems you’ll be better off without getting the shot at all.

Natural, beneficial, and non-hazardous ways to combat flu

Natural healing alternatives abound, and even pose other benefits apart from preventing flu or reducing the risks of contracting flu. To explain in an analogy why it is better to go natural than get vaccinated: What potential and proven side effects are to vaccination, potential and proven benefits are to natural remedies. You just have to basically inhibit your exposure to the virus and boost your immune system the natural way.

The following list shows how easy it is to be flu-free and overall healthy at the same time:

• Drinking 8 glasses of water a day can keep influenza away, along with herbal teas and fresh juices. Healthy fluids wash out culprits that make you susceptible to flu while rehydrating you simultaneously.  Furthermore, it helps maintain the hydration of your mucous membranes, which enable these parts to combat flu.
  
  
• Studies show that chronic smokers are mostly the ones who severely and commonly acquire flu. Smoking or being exposed to second-hand smoke weakens your immune system. It also renders your cilia immobile, for around 30 minutes, which makes it unable to prevent the flu virus from entering your nose. Of course, on a broader note, smoking significantly leads to fatal conditions. As such, quitting can immediately spare you from contracting severe diseases like lung cancer, besides protecting you from flu.
  
  
• Regular exercise maintains health by strengthening your immune system. It has also been shown to have other benefits in preventing graver health conditions, such as Syndrome X.
  
  
• Avoid consuming refined sugar. Sugar and salts are some of the substances that the body deems to be foreign, harmful, and invasive agents at some point, especially when these no longer have their nutrients and minerals. An autoimmune response is triggered, which can impair the immune system by draining the body’s protective resources and rendering it less capable to fight the real, harmful viruses.
  
  
• Consume foods and supplements that strengthen your immune system. These include foods rich in powerful immune system-boosters such as vitamin A, an antioxidant; and vitamin C, which increases white blood cells’ quality and quantity. Healthy, organic, fresh fruits and vegetables are rich in phytonutrients that boost the immune system’s functionality. Maitake mushroom contains components or compounds that stimulate the protective cells of the immune system; as such, the system becomes more capable of battling against the virus.
  
  
• Other simple measures are also effective in reducing influenza risks, such as avoiding close and intimate contact with infected people; and washing your hands thoroughly and repetitively within the day.

Read my free, 7 page report titled , "Exposing The Truth About Vaccines" for even more information.

Sources
naturalhealthontheweb.com
naturalhealthontheweb.com
medicalnewstoday.com
healthscout.com
medicinenet.com
newsmaxhealth.com
webmd.com
fluhelp.org