So I had a late start this morning. I’m usually up and about at 5am but I didn’t sleep well the night before so my body needed the rest this morning.

I’m in a deep, delicious slumber when I hear my 3 year old at the side of my bed saying “Mami, I can’t breathe” 6:47AM. After thanking God that it wasn’t 2AM and that I got a full nights rest….I got up and gave my son some tissue and said Good morning to him…and the cold that I know he’s getting.

I felt like saying… “Hello, cold, It’s been a while. Welcome, but don’t get too comfortable…I want you out of my house as soon as possible.” And so it begins, the stuffy nose, and whatever will follow from there.

People have asked me before…how come your family eats so healthy but your kids still get sick? I think the mentality is why bother eating all this healthy stuff if you’re gonna get sick just like everyone else. I chalk it up to the same argument certain smokers use when they say..I know a guy who never smoked a day in his life and got lung cancer so what’s the point of giving up smoking. I have tried to find a reasonable answer to that question that has been posed and I even asked my guru doctor about it once…and his response was “part of the problem is that we spend too much time indoors. Therefore, the germs are constantly circulating (especially in schools) and its almost impossible to avoid catching a cold or a virus or the flu from time to time.” And he also tells me…”life is not perfect, people get sick anyway.”

So I have come to grips with the inevitable: we have an almost 4 year old and an almost 2 year old at home. They go to school. It is IMPOSSIBLE to prevent them from getting sick. It doesn’t matter how healthy they eat, how well they sleep,  or what we do…they will get sick. Especially right now… for the last few days everywhere I go I see people blowing their noses, or mentioning they don’t feel well. These colds travel in cycles and you can avoid some and some you can’t.

Although I can understand the “smoker’s theory,” I simply cannot subscribe to it. I see a different side. What I see is that although every single member of my household will unavoidably catch something from time to time… the time it takes us to recover, the severity of what we catch, and how often we can avoid catching that little something or avoid taking medicine is really what I focus on.

So here I was at 6:47AM with a little boy who is on the verge of catching a cold. He only has the sniffles but his body is officially under attack. My response: let the battle begin!

SInce I have been down this road, I know the drill. What foods are good for colds and viruses?

• lots of liquids
• water with lemon or lime. (lots of lemon or lime is great)
• chicken soup
• ginger
• garlic