Twenty-five days of Christmas: Day #15

Vitamins

Well things are picking up for me and I find myself getting very busy — I should have seen it coming! I vow to continue my countdown to Christmas. The posts might be short and sweet, but do you have time to read these anyway?

Today I’d like to impart my little vitamin regimen that I swear fends off all sorts of ailments, including flus, colds, stress and aboulia: Korean (or Canadian) ginseng, echinacea and Tylenol.

The second I feel like I’m “coming down with something,” I take two ginseng tablets, a dose of echinacea (in any form, see below) and a couple Tylenols. Basically I’m concocting a poor man’s Cold FX (with an added all-around painkiller). While Cold FX claims to be a proprietary formula, I’m skeptical. I looked at the ingredient list and it’s just good-quality ginseng and echinacea, so I decided to buy them separately — way cheaper and just as good in my medical opinion.

I am somewhat loyal to Jamieson vitamins, but I’m sure most any brand is quite good unless you’re buying them at the dollar store. The only word of advice I have is don’t buy Siberian ginseng — it’s quality isn’t as high as the Korean or Canadian varieties. Don’t ask me how I know this, I just DO. It’s a lot cheaper, so that should tell you something right there.

As for the echinacea, the stuff tastes terrible. I made the mistake of buying the chewable form once and never again! I wince at the thought. I’ve found a swallowable Jamieson product with echinacea, ginger and garlic. It might be overkill, but hey, those added ingredients can’t hurt, can they? (Shopper’s Drug Mart makes a cherry-flavoured echinacea tincture that is pretty good, too.)

My BFF N. always takes Tylenol when she’s getting sick and always seems to beat it, so I’ve I’ve adopted this ritual too, not knowing why, really.

Dosage: Take two capsuled each of ginseng and echinacea three times a day for two or three days and then reduce to one capsule of each three times a day until you’re the picture of health. Believe it will work, and it will work. 

(p.s. it’s ok to get sick once in a while, though. We need to fight sickness once in a while to regulate our immune systems, right? More sound medical advice.)

www.jamiesonvitamins.com