At first I thought all of this was a little lame, but I am starting to think this is probably a good thing. For one, taking time to recover definitely helps in the getting-better-faster department, which I am currently a huge fan of. Also, today's society undervalues the importance of taking care of yourself, and I think it is good to see the University urging people to make a conscious effort to do so (even if it is just due to fear of a pandemic).
Before I get into the body of this post, I should probably add that my sick day yesterday was not used very wisely. I stayed home from class, but then I decided I needed to go to the gym* and run some errands for a couple of hours. Despite these choices, after some late-afternoon relaxation I still was feeling better in the evening. I then felt that it was probably a really good idea to go to my friends place for dinner, and then go out drinking and swing dancing. Brilliant. Needless to say, I felt like crap this morning.
SO, without further adieu, here are 5 things I will be doing today to get healthy again in a hurry:
<<1>> Stay home from classes. This lowers my stress level (which is associated with boosts in immune function), and avoids spreading whatever it is I have to others.
<<2>> Drink herbal tea. Chamomile (caffeine diminishes nice, healing sleep) with lemon (to kill bacteria in the throat) and honey (to soothe) is delicious and healing.
<<3>> Rest. I know this seems obvious, but it's SO hard to convince myself it's OK to do nothing on a day when I was intending to do so much. Movies and naps good, beating my head against a statistics book bad.
<<4>> Take a hot bath. It's starting to get cold here (down to 35 last night, and the landlord hasn't yet turned on our heat... ugh), so actually warming to the core seems like a great idea. And I know that being cold doesn't actually cause a cold, but it can make it worse by forcing your body to focus it's energies on staying warm enough rather than fighting the virus.
<<5>> Eat healthy. Fighting off a virus seems like one of the body's harder tasks, so chowin' down on good, healthy food seems like a good plan. started off with Raisin Bran with skim milk and the aforementioned tea, and I'm making homemade tomato soup (see recipe below) with grilled cheese for lunch. Yay!
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Tomato Soup Recipe:
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes and their juice
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
4-6 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tbsp. dried or 2 tbsp. fresh basil
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup lowfat milk
Over medium heat, saute pressed garlic in olive oil. When garlic has started to brown, add canned tomatoes, carrots, onions, celery and vegetable broth. Simmer 20 minutes on medium heat, or until vegetables are fork-tender but not mushy. Reduce heat to low, stir in milk and basil, and simmer 5 additional minutes. Serve warm (with grilled cheese!)
This makes about 4 1-1/4 cup servings of only about 130 calories each. This recipe is low-calorie, low-fat and low-salt, and has added veggies for extra nutrients. As for the grilled cheese, I am planning to use whole-grain bread, olive-oil-based cooking spray instead of butter, and local, organic extra-sharp cheddar cheese. This is one of my favorite comfort meals, and it ends up being relatively healthy too.
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* Going to the gym was actually done with good intentions- working out is known to increase serum anti-body levels, and hence should help me get better, right? The reason I opted not to put that on the "good list" for sick days is that it's probably not so healthy for other gym patrons when I show up all virus laden. Consideration for others, blah blah blah...
