I caught a cold

During the term, the last thing I want to do is to call in sick. You'd never know how hateful it is: I need to call the office at 7:40 am, think of lesson plans for all my classes so that the teachers who substitute my lessons know what to do with my class and send emails to the colleagues who would help covering my lessons. After you sick leave, you'll need to cover others' lessons in the future to settle your 'leave account'.

C'mon! I'm sick in bed and wanna catch more sleep. How could I do all these? In order to avoid all the fusses, I would persuade myself to get out of my bed and head to work. So, how to survive the eight hours when you have a blocked yet runny nose, a sore throat plus a headache? That's what I did last time.

First, you need something on your desk. Number 1: fresh fruits! I intentionally went to the supermarket for some fresh fruits. I picked some oranges and gold kiwi fruits. Even the gold ones are more expensive, they contain more Vitamin C. That was what I needed.

Number 2: CalVive C 1000 (or any Vitamin C supplement)

Number 3: Honey (it would be even better if you have cinnamon powder with you!)

So, I tried to increase my vitamin C intake on the first day, I ate an orange, a gold kiwi fruit and drink two cups of CalVive C 1000. From time to time, I drink some honey water to moisturise my poor throat. But you can't drink honey water only. You need to get some warm water as well. Drinking too much honey isn't good. You wouldn't want to have phlegm in your throat.

If you have cinnamon powder with you, you can add half to a teaspoon of cinnamon powder to 2 teaspoons of honey. Mix them well and swallow it slowly. Cinnamon carries anti-bacterial properties. So it helps!

When I suffer from a headache, I'd comb my hair until I feel a bit of 'heat' from my head. This would help ease the pain a bit. But the best type is wooden comb. Or you can just your fingers. Just to stimulate the blood circulation. You can always see people doing it at Chinese massage.

This was how I maintained my survival at work. Of course, the best thing to do is rest more. So I usually leave on time when I'm not feeling well. Catch more sleep. Eat less but more healthily. At night, you can make yourself a cup of turmeric milk. Easy steps.

Add a teaspoon of turmeric powder to a cup of warm milk. Stir well, add some honey. It helps you to recover fast and sleep better too. (I'm not going to explain the benefits of turmeric. But you can google this powerful spice easily!)

I continue the same practice the next day but with less vitamin C intake. After all, you can't take in too much vitamin C. So I reduced the number of CalVive C 1000 I took to one cup only. Then the day after I just relied on fresh fruits, water and sleep.

Turmeric powder and cinnamon are quite powerful. But you can't overdo it. When I find myself too 'hot' (or 熱氣 in Chinese), I wouldn't take the two types. I'd opt for honey water in this case.

Your body tells you what you need. When you crave oranges, your body is actually telling you that you lack vitamin C. So, listen to your body all the time. :)

Gargling with apple cider vinegar

I've tried this natural remedy for few times. It really worked!

What I did was: dilute a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar with 250ml water. Then gargle with the liquid for 10 seconds.

Remember to buy organic, raw and unfiltered apple cider vinegar. Most importantly you need to get one with the 'Mother'. I've read lots of blogs about natural remedies. Most people use the brand Bragg. I bought my big bottle from the food expo last week. It cost less than $70 for 946ml. You can also get this from Taste supermarkets in Hong Kong at a similar price but smaller size.


There's another brand you can try. This is my first bottle of organic apple cider vinegar. I got it from Taste supermarket as well. (This is not an advert. LOL) See which one you can find if you wanna give it a try. Just make sure you see the three important words: RAW, UNFILTERED & ORGANIC.


It works on me and my hubby. Hope it helps you as well. But do consult your doctor if you are too sick. Every time when I tried out different natural treatments, I read a lot of blogs. Then I'd consider if it would be harmful to be by taking the nature of the ingredients into consideration. Sometimes, I would take the perspective from Chinese medicine. For example, Chinese doctors think that cinnamon is 'hot'. So I wouldn't take cinnamon with honey if I could feel my throat being really hot. But for apple cider vinegar, I think it should be okay when you have a sore throat.

I will share with you how I dealt with my cold last time without any medication.

Sore throat

It's been the third day I caught a cold. It started with a sore throat, probably because of the pack of potato crisps I ate while I did my essay.

The pain woke me up at 4am on Monday. So I decided to gargle with diluted apple cider vinegar. It worked! At least it wasn't as painful and I could speak. I tried this twice a day, for two days. And this morning when I woke up, the sore throat has gone 80%! I'll keep it up and see how it goes.