Tengo Mocos!

I rarely get sick, but I have been fighting a cold all week, and this morning it finally got me.  I woke up with a sore throat and some stuffiness, and so I had a quiet work from home day with my usual home cold remedies.

First, I am a big believer in liquids.  I don't know if there's any medical evidence that drinking fluids all day helps you get well faster, but I do it anyway because that's what my mom always said to do, and then I can punctuate my dull sick day with lots of trips to the bathroom.  Neat!  I also try to get lots of vitamin C, but since I'm less enthused about most vitamin tablets these days, I try to get it from food sources.

A frozen smoothie was a great solution for both the sore throat and Vitamin C needs, so I blended up a bunch of frozen mango, frozen banana and tangerine juice.  Plenty of C and other goodies, and the cold felt great on my throat.

After that I went with a series of crunchy hippie home remedies that might do nothing but soothe my symptoms, but they sure do soothe!  First, for the throat, I went with a licorice root tea.  Lots of brands sell a variety of "throat coat" teas, and I generally use one of those rather than going to the herb store and buying licorice root and blending my own.  I also made a few of my favorite feel-better toddies: a cup of chamomile tea with a tsp of honey, a tbsp of fresh-squeezed lemon juice and a splash of apple-cider vinegar.  There are people out there who believe that you can cure anything from pneumonia to cancer with apple cider vinegar, and while I do not have quite that much faith in it, I do find that it opens up my congestion and makes me feel very good in this toddy.  Yay!

I also drank my body weight in seltzer water, not because I think it helps cure colds, but because I love that stuff and I use our soda maker to fizz up a bottle every few hours when I am home.

Also, totally unrelated anecdote:  one of my favorite Spanish phrases is the one used to say that you are congested: Tengo mocos!  Literally translated, it means "I have mucus" and for some reason that has always tickled my fancy.  My sister and I both like to say in whiny voices "Tengo mocos!  Tengo mocos!" when we are sick.  Yes, we are super duper weird.  But kind of cute in a mucus-y way.

Perhaps I should go to bed now.