Cold and flu season is at it’s peak and predicted to stick around for the next few months. Following these eight tips can help keep you sniffle and cough free, right through spring. But, you need to take action immediately because cold and flu viruses reproduce faster than data overage charges on your cell phone plan.

1. Wash Your Hands. Your mother was right. Nuf said.

2. Drink Water. You are already running it to wash your hands any way. Water thins mucus, cools the body, flushes toxins, and keeps nasal passages moist so they can fight invading bacteria.

3. Go to Sleep. Sleep is your body’s secret weapon for good health. You need the right amount for your body; 6-8 hours nightly works for most people. Optimum sleep recovery time is between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. So go to bed already why don’t ya?

4. Exercise. Make it fun and get your heart rate up for twenty minutes each day to help eliminate toxins from your body.

5. Get Outside. The sun converts your body’s cholesterol into vitamin D, which plays a role in supporting a healthy immune system. Low levels of Vitamin D have been associated with an increase in upper respiratory illnesses. So put down that remote control and get outside.

6. Cut the CRAP (carbohydrates, refined sugars, alcohol, and processed foods). With approximately 80% of your immune system in your gut, what you eat really matters. Instead, eat nutrient-dense real foods like leafy greens and colorful root vegetables, wild caught fish, grass-fed meats and bone broth. Also try to eat some high quality probiotics and fermented foods every day.

7. Open a Window–or two. I know, it’s cold outside and your furnace is running. Windows need only to be opened for just a few minutes and just a tiny bit to get moisture and fresh clean air circulating which can reduce the viruses in your home.

8. Be smart. Know the difference between cold and flu symptoms. Know when it is time to see your doctor.

There is no cure for the common cold and new strains of flu viruses occur faster than your can say “achoo.” It isn’t very practical to lock yourself in your home til spring. And, it is nearly impossible to stay completely clear of the snot trails your runny nosed, red eyed loved ones leave behind. However, you can practice these eight simple steps to have a happy and healthy winter.

Be well!

Navigating the holiday season can be a challenge for people like me who experience food sensitivities. We are bombarded daily with colorful ads enticing us to indulge in all of the seasonal goodies on display from Halloween, right through New Year’s Day. But beware, those colorful signs and packages are nothing more than camouflaged sugar ladened, artificially colored, chemically tainted land mines just waiting to explode your immune system.

I’m here to encourage you to muster up the willpower to run far, far away from the sugar and artificial garbage hiding in those enticing packages. They are not worth having an allergic reaction. Here are some tips I keep in mind, when I’m surrounded by a sea of sugary temptation:

1. Caution. Holiday specific treats have a greater chance of being made in a different facility from where normal varieties are produced the rest of the year.
   Example: Seasonal shaped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are not gluten free but regular Reese’s Cups are.
2. Think before you drink. That seasonal beverage might just contain something you shouldn’t have. I never knew potato powder was sometimes added to hot chocolate.
3. If you don’t know ask. This applies to both commercial goods and homemade products. Don’t expect your friends and family to remember that you are allergic to something. It’s nice when they do, but that’s not their responsibility it’s yours.
4. READ THE LABEL. Even if you have to get out a magnifying glass to do so. If you can’t pronounce it, you probably shouldn’t eat it. And never,ever eat food whose ingredients have numbers in them.
5. Don’t be afraid to call the manufacturer. They put their phone number on things for a reason. You have every right to call and ask what is in something.
6. Know Your “go-to” brands. These are products you’ve done your homework on, so when temptation arises you know they are safe.
7. When in doubt just say, “NO.” No harm will come from walking away from temptation. It’s not always fun, but neither is getting sick or having an allergic reaction.

But, if you want to test your willpower and you can limit yourself to one funsize piece of candy or treat, go ahead and enjoy. Below are a few websites that can help you know exactly what is in that goodie.

Happy holidays!

• celiac.org
• naturalcandystore.com
• celiacdisease.about.com
• traderjoes.com/dietary-lists/gluten-free

Date night with my honey! We were curled up on our old striped love seat watching some mindless drone of a movie.We had just polished off a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey and had the Lay’s Lightly Salted Chips bag strategically positioned between us, so that neither of us would have to move too much to get a good handful, when the first assault happened.

It started in the base of my neck, crept up the back of both of my ears and stealthily ascended to the top of my head, then moved quickly down my face. In just moments the heat coming from my body made the two of us so uncomfortably hot that my husband started fanning both of us. And as quickly as the fire rose to the top of my head, it stopped. Then the perspiration began to pour down my brow. We were both in shock. What the…!?

My sister had tried to warn me, but alas, I didn’t heed her warning. Only a couple of years earlier she had told me the story of her first assault. She was leaving her house one morning to go somewhere with a friend–fabulously attired no doubt. Before leaving her driveway she realized that she had left something behind and quickly ran back inside to get it. Out of nowhere she found herself under full assault. She had no recollection of actually getting naked, only the embarrassment she felt once her friend came in and found her stretched out on her bed, vowing to never put her clothes on again!

I actually laughed out loud at what I thought was a fanciful tale by my sometimes dramatic beloved. But boy, do I owe her and every woman who has ever been attacked by a “hot flash ninja” a huge apology. Please forgive, I was wrong…I get it!

Listen, it doesn’t matter what you have ever heard about hot flashes from your momma, your aunties, your sisters, your friends, even your doctor, you will have no idea what they are talking about until you experience them for yourself.

The good news is that hot flashes along with other common menopausal symptoms are not a secret and do not have to make us feel like we are under a ninja assault. The key to taking charge is knowing the facts.

Fact 1: Menopause really doesn’t just hit you from out of the blue. Our hormones change gradually as we age. Those changes begin years earlier during what is known as perimenopause. Perimenopause starts when your ovaries cut back on production of estrogen and progesterone, and your ovaries release fewer eggs. For most women this occurs between the ages of 45 and 55. (You are still fertile and can definitely get pregnant).
Fact 2: You are not officially in menopause until twelve months after your last period.
Fact 3: Menopause is only the end of menstruation, (yay) not the end of life.
Fact 4: Common menopausal symptoms may include hot flashes, night sweats, difficulty falling or staying asleep, weight gain, uncomfortable or painful intercourse, changes in sex drive, increased risk of heart disease, increased risk of osteoporosis, brain fog, mood changes, or incontinence.
Fact 5: Only 50% of women experience any of the above systems.
Fact 6: Some common hot flash triggers are cigarette smoking, caffeine, alcohol, salty, sugary and spicy foods, red meat, tight fitting clothing, and stress.
Fact 7: Regular exercise and clean eating can reduce or even eliminate many of your symptoms. (No more chip and ice cream bingeing for me!).
Fact 8: You should get regular medical check ups and talk with your doctor about your menopausal symptoms.
Fact 9: Many herbs and natural supplements can be beneficial in addressing uncomfortable menopause symptoms without the harmful side effects associated with Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) or prescription drugs, but you should always consult your healthcare professional before introducing herbs and supplements into your diet.
Fact 10: Menopause is not a sickness or disease. It is a normal and natural part of a woman’s life. In fact, you are not alone. There are over 1 billion menopausal and postmenopausal women in the world.

Somewhere between menopause and death there is a healthy, happy, sexy you. Zilphy’s Garden can help you get there. You will get through this. I have!

My earliest recollection of family is somewhat disjointed. I learned rather abruptly that the couple that I knew as mom and dad, who had rocked me to sleep as an infant, kissed my skinned knees, filled my Christmas stockings with my favorite treats, and encouraged me to sing to whomever would listen to my four year old rendition of the latest Motown hit were harboring a secret.

That secret came to light when I was about seven years old. One sunny and peaceful afternoon while I was playing on the front porch with my favorite doll a strange little blue car pulled in front of our home followed closely by a police car. Both cars stopped directly in front of our driveway.The police officer stayed in his car, but two ladies got out of their car and walked briskly up the driveway to the open porch door.

I don’t remember any words. I don’t remember any shouting. I do remember my doll laying face down on the floor and the wet face of the woman I called “mommy,” standing in the doorway in her blue apron as I looked back at her over my shoulder. I never laid eyes on either of those faces again.

An illicit child, conceived by a married woman who already had three children was quite the scandal in 1960. I was blessed to not have been born into a wealthy family. The families of wealthier girls and women usually sent them away for nine months, or worse, paid to have the “problem” quietly go away.

Poor people – well they just talk and whisper words that children are not supposed to understand like adultery, illegitimate, and bastard. I suspect these words landed much more painfully on my mother’s ears and heart than mine. After all, she bore the ultimate consequences of an exposed love affair. As a result, she had lost her husband and the baby girl that resulted from the affair.

I think it took a lot of courage for my single mother to acknowledge to the world her shame and to reclaim her child after seven years. She had only mentioned my father to me two times. The first time was when I was twelve years old and he showed up at our home asking to meet me. That was the only time I ever laid eyes on him. The second time was about two years later when I learned that she was very sick and needed to send me away once again.

I don’t know when my mother learned that she had cancer. I have wondered if the thought of her own mortality gave her the boldness she needed to reclaim me. We had seven years together. She told me to be courageous and to go to places she had dreamed of going in life. She taught me to be strong and curious. But most importantly, she gave me a connection to an ancestry that I might never have known. This is the heritage that I pass on to my own three children and now, to my granddaughter. My mother, Edith Williams, died one week before Mother’s Day; just one month before her thirty-ninth birthday.

It turns out that I come from a long line of strong, courageous, hardworking women who survived life’s complexities with determination and grace.

My gggrandmother, Zilphy Claud was born a Virginia slave in 1820. The 1857 Southampton County estate inventory of Philip J. Claud, recorded the value of Zilphy and her unnamed child at $500.00.

I have often looked at her photograph and wondered would I have looked as proud and strong if I had lived the life of a nineteenth century American slave. I wonder if she ever knew her mother and father. I wonder if she ever longed for the land of her ancestors. I wonder if she knew that she had been a free woman for seventeen years when she died at the age of forty in 1880.

The newest addition to my family bears the name of her ggggggrandmother. My first grandchild was given the middle name of Zilphy after Zilphy Claud. Young Zilphy is the daughter of my own first born. She is beautiful like her mother. She is also inquisitive, independent and strong-willed like her mother. I like that! I am proud that the legacy of Zilphy Claud lives on.

Zilphy’s Garden is dedicated to my ancestral past and future. It is my hope that as we share our family’s journeys of life, health, and wellness that others will find hope and strength to do the same.

Eat well… Be well,
Derona

But after wearing my favorite braid styles for more than a decade I began to notice some unwelcome changes to my hair. It was dull, lifeless, and so thin and broken off on the crown of my head that I could see my scalp. It was a self inflicted wound…a hairicide. I had starved and suffocated my own hair. The damage, I thought, irreparable.

Truth: I had noticed the changes many months before, but braids were not only convenient and versatile they were also my way of hiding all of those unruly gray hairs that were multiplying around my temples.

The grays (I shall call them) are inevitable. They show up for most of us about midlife. They tend to increase under extreme physical or emotional stress, like when you have a major surgery or become president of the U.S. They also seem to have a mind of their own. When all of the other hairs on your head are going in one direction the grays will always, always go in the other direction. My impending decrepitude felt certain!

The harsh reality was that my twelve year relationship with my braid master would have to end. It was a Gladys Knight and the Pips moments. “I keep wondering (wondering) what I’m gonna do without ya (do without you). And I guess you must be wondering the same thing too…Because neither one of us (neither one of us) wants to be the first to say goodbye…farewell my love, goodbye (goodbye).”

Transition: A wig,of course! I found one that looked very similar to my loose braids style. Underneath, I dutifully conditioned and treated my lifeless locks with Neem oil and pea sprouts. The wig worked out well in early spring, but I live in the Atlanta area. By late April temperatures begin to hit 80 degrees and above. It took me roughly ten seconds with a wig on my head in the heat to decide that I needed to shave off what was left of my hair.

Truth: I am thrifty: The least expensive way has always been my way. I picked a hairstyle, asked around, and was referred to a “natural hair” stylist who was guaranteed to deliver what I wanted… for $180.00! My head is not that big and I certainly don’t have that much hair. I checked the prices of other “natural hair” salons and most of them wanted nearly $100.00 for the short cut and color I desired.

Tragedy: Friday rush hour traffic in Atlanta is always a nightmare, but on Friday, May 8, 2015 a small engine airplane tragically crashed on I-285. The billowing smoke from that accident was the only thing moving on the north and east interstates for hours that afternoon. Like thousands of people that day, I took an alternate route home. It was a long sobering ride home at the end of a sweltering week.

The temperature had reached 90 degrees that week and was hovering above 80 on this day. I needed relief. I could not imagine wearing a wig one more day. My circuitous route provided the answer I needed. There at the intersection in front of me was a barber shop. I had never noticed it before. There was only one other customer inside. I just walked in and sat in an empty chair.

The young barber listened to what I wanted and asked if I was certain. He said, “I have never shaved a lady’s hair so closely before.” I said, “Not to worry, I have never had my head shaved so closely before,” but for the $13.00 he was charging I was all in.

Triumph: Leaving that barber shop was like being released from my hairicide sentence. I had been imprisoned for that crime, but now I felt the sun and breeze on my scalp for what seemed like the first time in my life. I stood in the shower longer than I ever had that evening, letting the shampoo wash away every trace of the bondage from which I had just been set free.

Truth: I am a germaphobe. I do not touch elevator buttons, doors in public places, or kids with runny noses. I have sprayed my own children with Lysol disinfectant and would be a wealthy woman if I had invested half of every dollar I have spent in my lifetime on Clorox. So, I am wondering why it did not occur to me to question my barber on his sterilization methods. BIG mistake! One in which I will never make again.

One week after my second hair cut I am getting ready to go to a friends house warming party. I pulled out my latest thrift store find. A designer LBD (scored for $5.00) and a pair of Betsey Johnson peep toes; a previous discount outlet store steal. I notice a burning and itching sensation on the back of my neck. I also realize that I have a faint headache and some tenderness in the glands of my neck. My husband notices also and comes for a closer look. “You need to take a look at your neck,” he says. “What does it look like to you?” I ask. “You have a circle of raised bumps,” is his reply. Silence.The expression on his face says it all…RINGWORM! Me, the germophobe, has a highly contagious parasitic fungi growing on the back of her neck.

Taking action: I can handle this. I am the preacher of natural healing. It is time to prove that food really is medicine, so off to the kitchen I go. Garlic (check), apple cider vinegar (check), turmeric (check), organic coconut oil (check)…all known for their antifungal properties. To get the full benefit of these healing foods I needed them inside of my body as well as outside. While in the kitchen I made a healing raw kale salad with red onion, raw pumpkin seeds and sliced fresh Georgia peaches. I dressed the salad with a healthy dose of fresh garlic, juice from a whole lemon, ½ teaspoon of lemon zest, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, about 4 tablespoons of EVOO, 1 teaspoon of raw honey, a pinch of Himalayan sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper.

While the salad was marinating, I made a garlic and turmeric paste with just enough coconut oil to make the paste smooth. First, I washed my neck with my favorite black soap and left the black soap to dry for one hour on the area of the ringworm infection. I used the drying time to eat my salad. After all, it is important to keep your strength up in a crisis.

After rinsing the soap from the infected area I made a vinegar compress by soaking several cotton balls in the vinegar. I kept the vinegar compress on my neck for 15 minutes. The vinegar went deep into the wound, which stung quite a bit. I did not rinse the vinegar. Next, I applied the garlic and turmeric paste and covered it with a gauze bandage, which I left on overnight. My husband is apparently part vampire. He stayed as far away from me as possible that night.

In the morning I washed the area again with my favorite black soap, rinsed and let my neck air dry. Now here comes the good part. I mixed several drops each of Tea Tree, Neem and Lavender oil into two tablespoons of liquefied coconut oil and applied this mixture to the infected area with a cotton swab.  The relief from the itching and stinging was almost instant. With the exception of the garlic compress, I have repeated this process 3-4 times each day for the last four days. On the first day, I also increased my daily intake of Olive Leaf Extract from two teaspoons to two tablespoons. That was aggressive treatment but the results have proven to be effective.

Apple Cider Vinegar, garlic, turmeric, black soap, Tea tree oil, Neem oil, Lavender oil, coconut oil, and Olive Leaf Extract all work individually to provide natural antifungal treatments for skin infections, but together they are a powerhouse that works as fast as anything you might purchase over the counter from a pharmacy, but with none of the dangerous side effects.

I have not decided where I will go for my next hair cut. But I am too old, too cheap, and too germaphobic to risk my time, money or health on any more $13.00 dollar deals.

Derona King is a nutrition and wellness designer for Zilphy’s Garden, Restoring Your Nutritional Heritage. Visit her at https://zilphy.chattapparel.com/ to learn more ways to use the foods in this article and many others to restore your nutritional heritage and heal your body.

Eat Well, Be Well!