Cold Help & Happy May!

Just a quick post to say hi & happy 5th month of the year.  Time flies, ey?  Scroll to the bottom for some cold/flu/sinusitis relief tricks I've learnt over the past month.


I still have extreme sinusitis and am having no fun, so don't have much enthusiasm where cooking and writing is concerned.  I made the boy a cheesy pasta bake last night including butter, white pasta and, obviously, loads of cheese.  See?  I am sick!  It was easy & I have 0 energy.  


I don't have a photo of the sloppy cheese bake I made (I know you were so hoping I did), but I am reading the Wholesome Cook blog this morning and drooling over these chocolate crackers with peanut butter;

I wish I photographed food this well.

Head over to The Wholesome Cook for the recipe & for other amazing recipes.  

I strongly suggest that, if you don't have sinusitis, you action the above at once.

If you do have sinusitis (I hope this relates to NO ONE), or even a common cold, the past few weeks has taught me that the below may help you (don't do any of the below without talking to your Doctor as I am not a Doctor & plenty of the below can interact with other medications or ailments);

- Sniff eucalyptus or tea tree oil.

- Better still, put them in a vaporiser or sprinkle at the bottom of a hot shower.

- Place heat packs on your sinuses for at least 20 minutes (use potatoes if you have no heat packs, they hold the heat), then tilt your head upside down (bend over or lie on your stomach and put it over the edge of the bed), and blow your nose!

- Get a decongestant nasal spray from the chemist.

- Get a neti pot.

- Stay warm, even if it means being hot.

- Get a saline spray and use it.

- Sniff steam, even if you just inhale your cups of tea.

- Drink luke-warm drinks and a lot of them.

- Make simple, brothy soup packed with garlic, fresh ginger and vegetables. 

- Make tea of a cinnamon stick and 5 slices of fresh ginger (this is also very yummy).

- Drink green tea and eat berries.

- Lower your intake of dairy and sugar.

- Try vitamin C and E.

- Sleep with your head elevated.

- Wear a beanie around the clock (yes, I am sleeping in a beanie).

- Try a cough medicine as a decongestant, or a flu tablet containing pseudoephedrine.

- Rest!  No cooking, cleaning, essay writing etc (hear that, Natalie?).

Unfortunately, none of the above has worked well enough for me to get back to work so now a super-cocktail of medications has been prescribed.  It is yuck.

I'll be back!  

Stay well,

Nat x