Last month I outlined some of the important facts regarding the H1N1 (Swine flu) vaccination that the government and medical community are so fervently pushing on the public. If you missed this article go here to read it: H1N1 Vaccination: What to do?

Unless you have been cut off from the real world this last month you will have noticed that you cannot escape being told about the potential horrors of the H1N1 virus. How real is the scare? No one person really knows. I would be willing to bet that this dog is all bark (many will get sick), but no bite (very few will die). However, I would not bet very much because any new and highly contagious virus could develop into a deadly disease. If you listen to the news you would think a deadly pandemic is a foregone conclusion and that the question is not if this will occur, but when it is going to occur.

I think that anyone who completely dismisses H1N1 as all hype is doing themselves and those around them a disservice. With that said, the most important question you should ask yourself is what you should do to reduce the risks of contracting this disease. Prevention is definitely the answer when it comes to any flu virus. So, let me give you a logical Game Plan to work with over these next couple of months. I suggest you go over this Game Plan with your family and co-workers in order to greatly reduce the chances of being exposed to the H1N1 or other flu viruses.

Vaccine: Yes or No?

The simple facts are that the H1N1 vaccine has been rushed to market and has been FDA approved with little to no testing done to establish its effectiveness or safety. The limited trials used to “prove” the effectiveness of the vaccine only showed that the people who decided to become guinea pigs created an immune response against the strain of H1N1 contained in the vaccination. These trials did not show that this immune response had any effect in protecting the participants from contracting the virus, however. This conclusion was just assumed and accepted by the FDA. There is no doubt that the strain of this virus for which the current vaccinations have been made will change as the H1N1 mutates. This means the expectation that this vaccine will have any significant benefit in preventing this flu is extremely low.

No intellectually honest person can tell you this H1N1 vaccination will be effective based on any scientific information. All any health professional can tell you is that they hope this vaccine will work. None of them can honestly expect that it will if they have any knowledge of how viruses work. In addition, no one can tell you that this vaccine is safe.

The FDA approved the “safety” of this vaccine after a trial with around 500 people did not kill anyone! Let me illustrate just how ridiculous it is to declare the safety of this vaccine by using this study. A horribly dangerous vaccine would kill maybe 1 out of every 100,000 people. Thus, we would see hundreds of people die if millions were given the vaccine, as is planned for the H1N1 vaccine. What are the chances that you would be able to identify this one person who would die in a small 500 person trial? The answer is a 1 in 200 chance. Thus, the pharmaceutical companies, who would be devastated by their loss of profit if the vaccine were shown to be unsafe, reduced their risks by performing a very small trial. That way they only had a 1 in 200 chance of getting a bad result and not being able to make a ton of money off of the H1N1 scare.

To assure everyone that this vaccine is safe is a horrendous breach of public trust by the FDA. If they were honest and stated that the safety of the vaccine could not be determined at this time, they know that very few people would get vaccinated. Thus, they are more than willing to take a chance with your life in order to promote this vaccine. Do you think I am being unfair with this statement? Then why is the FDA assuring the safety of a vaccine when they have no idea if it is safe or not? Why not come out and tell the truth? Because their belief is that they are protecting you by not telling you the truth. They fully believe that the benefits way outweigh the risks and that the public, as a whole, is too Neanderthal to make a decision using their own intellect. In their minds they are simply protecting you from your own ignorance. The problem is that their belief is based on a philosophical basis and not on fact.

So, should your Game Plan rely on getting a vaccination that NO ONE can assure is either effective or safe? You make the call.

Prevention: Game Plan Foundation

#1: Wash your hands during the day!

Prevention is by far your most powerful tool in fighting off the flu virus. The CDC has estimated that up to 40% of flu cases could be avoided if people just washed their hands during the day. There is no vaccine, supplement or anything else short of moving to the deep woods that will afford you a 40% reduction of risk in catching the flu.

Think about all of the items you touch each day that are touched by multiple people. These include shaking hands when greeting someone, door knobs, door push plates, water faucets (in the bathroom and at the water cooler), toilet knobs, hand towel dispensers, gas pumps, pens/pencils, tools, cups handed to you by someone else, common counter tops, light switches, phones, key boards, ATM machines, railings, elevator buttons, door bells, refrigerator doors, lemons put in your drink by someone not wearing a plastic glove, the cap put on your hot drink that needs to be pushed down on by hand, and there are many more. You can contract the flu by touching these surfaces and then simply rubbing your eyes, or nose or mouth.

If you come in contact with any commonly touched surface go and wash your hands before you put anything in your mouth, rub your eyes or scratch your nose! Hand sanitizers do little to kill the flu unless you leave them on your hands for 30 seconds. The squirt and rub it in method gives you a false sense of security but will not completely kill most viruses.

#2: Cough into your elbow!

I think it should be legal to cold-cock anyone who grossly sneezes in public without covering their mouth. But, if you sneeze in your hands and then touch any of the many common surfaces named above you just shared all of your germs with many unsuspecting people. In other words, you just sneezed in their hand! Yuck! Instead, cough into your bent elbow and keep your germs to yourself.

#3: Avoid sick people!

If someone is obviously sick make sure you have the least amount of contact with them as is possible. Give them plenty of room when talking to them. And, if they do not sneeze into their elbow, give them a copy of this article!

#4: Eat fruits and vegetables!

A diet high in sugary carbohydrates has been shown to reduce your immune system activity. Thus, stay away from sugary drinks and candy during the flu season. Eat foods that support proper immune activity and body detoxification. You should be eating dark colored fruits and vegetables at most meals.

#5: Take vitamins A, C, and D

All of these vitamins are important for proper immune function. Vitamin A is needed for your immune cells to multiply. You can stimulate immune function by taking vitamin A when you first feel the symptoms of any respiratory illness. DO NOT take a high dose of vitamin A on a regular basis. My suggestion for dosing for all of these vitamins will be written below.

Vitamin C is used by your immune system to attack intruders. Studies have shown that the immune system can become depleted in vitamin C within 48 hours after infection. Increasing your daily intake of vitamin C is a good idea. My suggestion is to take a vitamin C which contains bioflavonoids. This is the way vitamin C is found in nature. Cheap vitamin C supplements will only contain ascorbic acid (and a bunch of other junk ingredients).

Vitamin D is quickly becoming one of the most important vitamins you can take for immune health. Why is it that the peak of flu season occurs around February each year? Is it not interesting that this time of year also correlates with the lowest levels of vitamin D in our body? The reason is because direct sunlight makes vitamin D in your body from cholesterol. Since you get very little direct sunlight from December to February, your tissue levels of vitamin D can become very low. My suggestion is that you ask your doctor to check your vitamin D levels at your next visit. Your level should be between 40-50 ng/dl. Vitamin D stimulates the creation of a substance called Cathelicidin in your immune system. This is an antimicrobial substance that kills viruses and bacteria.

Get These Supplements from ZimmerNutrition.com Today!

Adults:

Vitamin A: Thorne Vitamin A (2 capsules, twice a day with food for one week)
Vitamin C: Designs for Health Biofizz C or Thorne Vitamin C with Flavonoids or Ortho Molecular C-1000 (2,000 mg/day; Double this dose if you are sick.)
Vitamin D: Dr. Z’s Vitamin D3 (2,000 IU per day with food, 10,000 IU/day with food if sick.)

Kids (8-14 years old):

Vitamin A: One capsule, twice a day with food when sick for one week
Vitamin C: 500 mg/ day; 2,000 mg/day if sick
Vitamin D: 1,000 IU/day with meals; 5,000 IU/day if sick

Kids (3-7 years old):

You can open up each capsule and mix them in C-Biofizz and water.

Vitamin A: One capsule a day with food if sick for one week
Vitamin C: 1,000 mg/day if sick
Vitamin D: 1,000 IU/day with meals; 5,000 IU/day if sick

Infants to 2 years old:

Vitamin A: ½ capsule two times a day for one week
Vitamin C: 250 mg twice a day if sick
Vitamin D: 500 IU twice a day if sick

Other suggestions:

Esberitox or ImuMax

Bottom Line:

It is impossible to completely mitigate the risk of getting the flu. You could do everything right and still get the flu. There is no doubt, however, if you follow the Game Plan outlined in this article you have a much greater chance of not being side-lined with H1N1. I strongly suggest that you sit down with your children and go over all of the ways they can get the flu when at school or in public. Make them paranoid about putting anything in their mouths without having washed their hands and you will safely do much more than getting in line to have the H1N1 test vaccine injected into their body.