At this time of the year traditionally known as the “Cold and flu” season, with more focus placed on the flu part of that, I want to help shed some light on the various bits of misinformation and lies about how valuable the flu vaccine really is, or more accurately is not and some other ways that you can boost your immunity and protection against the flu naturally this winter and all year round.

We're typically led to believe that the fastest and “best” way to increase our resistance to the flu is by taking the quick and easy path, going to your doctor or clinic and getting your free flu vaccine. Of course they scare you into thinking that this is not something that you should take lightly and that this vaccine will help protect you just in case.

What’s never really explained about such vaccines is what’s really happening when you get a vaccine. Sure, they talk about how your body is tricked into making the antibodies for that particular virus so that you’re already protected should you come in contact with that particular strain of flu virus that you were hopefully inoculated against. What they never tell you is that there are several strains of the virus, two of which are in the process of mutating and that the vaccine you just got may not even protect you against those strains at all.

What’s worse is that the chemical preservatives and other toxic heavy metals such as mercury (Thimerosal) and aluminum and who knows what else that are put into the vaccines do more to weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to the flu, colds and other viruses then if you didn’t get a shot at all.

Part of the reason that any medication works or seems to work is because of the placebo effect, which is of course the belief that you will be better now that you got a shot or took a certain medication. The placebo effect is very real, and in natural and eastern medicine it is considered a valuable tool to help a person get better even from the most severe illnesses. In western medicine it’s considered a constant annoyance, since it messes up their “clinical trials” and affects the accuracy of measuring the “effectiveness” of their drugs. This is why they try to minimize that effect by doing blind studies where the recipient does not know if they’re getting the actual drug or a sugar pill.

What’s sad and almost funny is that sugar pills have been shown to be just as effective and in some cases more effective then many drugs! That’s right, more effective. This is because no drug or herb can ever heal without the permission of the mind in doing so. In Chinese medicine, doctors know how incredibly important it is to increase the patients belief that they will get better, so they never tell patients such dire pronouncements such as “You only have six months to live” and so forth. They know that since a doctor is in a powerful position as healer, that their words can have a powerful and almost crucial impact on health and healing, or sickening and death depending on what words are spoken. We’ve all heard many stories of such doctors telling a person you only have so long to live, but because of the will of the person to live they sought out other remedies such as alternative, herbal and other natural cures and are alive years and decades later. Many have also stated that they could feel their immunity and faith be severely destroyed by the harsh and hard hitting words of the doctor.

Words have a Powerful impact on our minds and thoughts, not only in humans, but even in nature itself. It’s known that plants and trees that hear beautiful music grow faster and healthier and produce sweeter and larger fruits. Cows that listen to classical music produce more milk with higher levels of natural immune boosting antibodies and enzymes. I recently read a book called “The Hidden Messages in Water” by Dr. Masaru Emoto. In this book Dr. Masaru shows the amazing power that words have, even on something as seemingly inconsequential as water. In his research into forming ice crystals, he shows that when various words such as Love are spoken to ice crystals as they form, or even the words on a piece of paper are wrapped around a bottle of freezing ice water, the crystals that formed are beautiful, balanced and symmetrical. But when words such as “you fool” or even the word “Satan” were spoken or written, such crystals were deformed and some looked downright sick and twisted in their design. Since we start out as 99% water and end up about 70% water, this research shows just how powerful the right words can be not only to our mind and ears, but to our very body and souls, right down to the very substances that make us up such as water. If it affects the water, then it can and does affect us.

This placebo effect is all tied in with ones words, thoughts and beliefs and most of the flu vaccines seeming effectiveness and in fact the effectiveness of just about all drugs is mostly due to this same placebo effect. Many drugs that tens of millions of people are taking are in actual fact no more effective then taking a sugar pill. Of course the media and medical community always skews the numbers and results to make it look like its 50, 60, 80% or more effective in “clinical trials” than a sugar pill. Most of these results are nothing but flat out lies, manipulation of data, purposely flawed studies, or outright number games and deception. It’s amazing the way that they cheat with data and information, just like a bunch of little kids who don’t want to lose a game and move the pieces around when no one is looking. That’s right, believe it or not and contrary to what we hear over and over and over again in the media, TV commercials and more, most drugs are no more effective then sugar pills, but they’re nearly all Far more dangerous. These people and corporations will do anything for a dollar and they don’t care who they harm, make sick or kill in the process.

According to a recent study that came out in “Lancet” a British medical journal, showed that they saw no benefit in the elderly that took the vaccine over those that did not take the vaccine. When you consider the potential and demonstrated negative health effects of the vaccine vs. the exaggerated or non existent immune benefits, the question of whether to even get a vaccine at all becomes clear.

If the flu vaccine is not what it claims to be and offers no real protection against the flu, then what can I do to increase my own immunity and protection? Well, I’m glad that you asked that question! What we can do it to take control of our own health and lives and stop putting it into the hands of the doctors who know very little about actual healing and can only prescribe some dangerous and mostly ineffective drugs to you. Start by avoiding things like sugar for one. Sugar, especially refined sugar is treated as a poison by the body. That’s because when a substance such as refined sugar and salts are stripped of their life and health giving vitamins and minerals, the body identifies such things as foreign agents and poisons. This causes an emergency and unnecessary immune response which further drains the body of energy and resources to fight real infections and virus within the system. Recent studies have shown that for about four hours after ingesting refined sugars, T-Cell production drops to almost zero in adults, this from just one can of soda with refined sugars in it. Notice that this was in adults, in children the effects are often even more pronounced. At this time of the year when candies, pastries, snacks, soda and so many other so called foods are everywhere, you can hopefully see how avoiding sugar is definitely something that you want to do. Add to that the fact that there is less warming (yang) energy in the atmosphere at this time of year (which boosts the immune system) further makes us susceptible to external attacks of the winter cold and seasons viruses, the increased consumption of sugar is another attack on your immunity that you definitely don’t want to do.

The same goes for consuming all artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame, Splenda, Sucralose, Equal or anything else that is not naturally occurring in nature and has been whipped up by man in a laboratory. No matter what you see and hear on TV or what you read, such artificial sweeteners are dangerous and destructive to the immune system and your overall health. Most are made with chemicals such as Chlorine for example as in the case of Splenda, which alters the original sugar molecule and adds others to it. Chlorine residue always stays in the substance no matter what. The Splenda molecule actually looks more like a DDT molecule than a sugar molecule. There were only 2 (two) human trials consisting of a mere 36 people which studied the safety of Splenda before it was approved by the FDA. Those trials had to do with the effects of Splenda on tooth decay, not overall health or safety. The same kinds of manipulations and lies go for the many other artificial sweeteners too. As Jack Lalane has said “If man made it, don’t eat it”. That’s very good advice for sure.

What can you use then? Some great natural alternatives include Xylitol and Stevia both of which have a low glycemic response, which makes them attractive for diabetics, and Stevia even enhances glucose tolerance or insulin resistance. Another great sweetener that I have been using more lately is Agave nectar. Agave nectar comes in a liquid syrup form, has four times the sweetness of sugar with the lowest glycemic response of all other sweeteners out there. I have been using more Agave nectar over organic sugar because of this, though I still use organic sugar and tend to use both together to limit the amount of sugar in my teas, drinks and anything else that I make at home.

A few other additives to avoid include high fructose corn syrup which is in just about everything since its so cheap and much sweeter then sugar. Hydrogenated oils or partially hydrogenated anything which is used as a preservative in foods but also preserves your cells, which keeps them from dying when they should and allows them to mutate into cancer. MSG which goes under so many names I can’t even list them all here (Autolyzed anything, yeast extract and spices being the most common), propylene glycol and so many others. Make sure to read those labels, especially when it comes to what you give your kids to eat too! I know how hard it is to avoid all these things, but you definitely want to reduce the consumption of these chemical containing foods even if you can’t eliminate them altogether.

Another immune boosting technique to not only to avoid consuming such chemicals and man made foods but to decrease the amount of food you eat overall. Sure, I know that at this time of year, its “traditional” to stuff yourself till your full, indulge and enjoy. But to me it’s simply not worth it to sacrifice my health and immunity for the temporary pleasure from such so called foods. The simple act of overeating has a host of deleterious health consequences all by itself. When we eat low calorie, nutritionally dense foods that naturally occur in nature such as fruits, veggies, organic meats, nuts, seeds, legumes, sea foods such as fish, sea plants and more that have lots of natural nutrients and energy, some with very low nutrients and a low to almost zero fat content, or has good fats in them in the case of nuts for example, we're going to give our bodies the natural nutrients it needs and requires to keep the immune system healthy and strong to naturally fight off any flu virus and other cold germs and bacteria while at the same time we’ll be preserving our limited and natural stores of enzymes which have strong immune boosting properties but are greatly depleted when over eating and when eating enzyme dead, unnatural man made foods.

This doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy some naturally made apple or pumpkin pie, and other snacks and treats made without these destructive chemicals, we can. When its done once in a while you can eat and enjoy without worry or guilt as I do. This is especially true when you consume a whole foods diet most of the time and take other measure to protect your health and immunity.

Supplements such as vitamins A, C and E, the minerals selenium and zinc, taking a good, whole foods multivitamin at least twice a day and food based enzyme supplements with each meal are a good way to help boost your immune system to fight off any such infections naturally and powerfully. The enzymes are especially important if you’re going to consume the man made junk foods at this time of the year or anytime at all. Of course lets never forget the tried and true immune boosting activities such as breathing, meditation, drinking pure water, getting enough sunshine which is hard in the northern latitudes, getting enough physical exercise especially weight bearing exercises which is a bit more challenging but still very possible even though we're indoors more at this time of year and getting enough rest, which is not only a great immune boosting tip but has also been shown to help you lose weight as well.

I personally have never had a flu shot as an adult and never gotten the flu despite being around those in my office and friends that have gotten the flu. Once they also started making such changes to their diet and lifestyle while taking the right supplements and amounts of each, they no longer got the flu at all and those that do know that the severity and duration is greatly reduced. One friend was only out for one day when he would normally be out for a week and another didn’t have to stay home at all. The latter works in a hospital and while others were getting it as it went around, her symptoms were greatly reduced as she loaded up on 10,000mg of vitamin C, 200mcg of selenium and 50mg of zinc. This was her first time using nutrition instead of flu shots and she was amazed at the results. Previously with the shots she would still have to stay home. Now she could feel her body fighting it off and the 10,000mg of vitamin C that she would normally excrete was staying in her body and boosting her immunity till she was totally better two days later, without missing a day from work.

I encourage you to do further research on this topic here on naturalhealthontheweb.com to learn more ways to boost your system naturally and avoid the lies, perils and pitfalls that comes from relying on drugs, vaccines and other man made and potentially health destroying foreign agents that are encouraged to put into our systems on a daily basis.

Rich Stacel is a natural health practitioner, Chinese martial artist and Qigong practitioner for over twenty three years. He has read dozens of books on nutrition, martial arts, fitness supplements, meditation, healing and what he learned from his instructors and Masters.

Interests also include science, astronomy, physics, Einstein, general health, health freedom, spreading truth on health, fitness, spiritual matters and much more. He has been teaching Chinese Gung-fu, health and fitness for over seventeen years helping people achieve their health, fitness and martial arts goals.

To learn more about breathing and Chinese health and fitness, visit Rich's website for his video that's currently in production at: www.geocities.com/Chinesehealthandfitness

If you're interested in learning more about martial arts and Chinese Gung-fu, then please visit: www.geocities.com/shaolinrich