Stop sneezing and sore throat! Echinacea, dog rose and mushrooms will be your shield!

After a long summer with long drinks, junk food and sleepless nights it is time to pull the oars into the boat and deal with winter. And here comes the autumn, which helps us to rebuild and create our immune "reserves" castle. This is why I thought of plants that we know and that we can find in almost every herbal shop.

Here I would like to add that, especially in this period, we must increase the intake of vitamin D as well as that of C. As we expose little to the sun, Vitamin D decreases in our body. Apart from the animal source (such as cod liver, fish and fresh dairy products), we also have the vegetable one like our beautiful champignon mushrooms. Their white color also gives them the properties of being a defender of the lungs.

Enjoy your reading and I await your comments! See you soon!

Echinacea angustifolia.

 There are several varieties of this beautiful plant. We mainly use the angustifolia (very narrow leaves).It was used by American Indians against snakebites, fevers and wounds that were difficult to treat. Its name is due to the rigid bracted that protects the flowers, echinos in Greek means hedgehog.

It contains its essential oil, echinacoside (phenol which owes its anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties), echinacin (a polysaccharide so a big sugar), inulin (soluble fiber that protects our intestinal flora), phytosterols (vegetable oils), fatty acids.

The integrity of our skin is very important, as it is the first barrier against the entry of pathogenic microorganisms. Here Echinacea acts with the hyaluronic acid already present in our skin, increasing its level and forming a polysaccharide complex (of sugars) in the collagen of the connective tissue and of the interstitial substance (the one found between one tissue and another).

In doing so, when there is contact with pathogenic microorganisms there is no degradation of hyaluronic acid. Your body can overcome any abnormal biological pathogen. This activity (explained in a very simple and not very "scientific" way) is antijaluronidasica action. For this reason, the Echinacea extract is present in cosmetics for infectious processes of the skin (acne, boils, wounds, psoriasis, and eczema), to reduce wrinkles, for the treatment of stretch marks and dry or cracked skin. The polysaccharidic presence (echinacin) confers the cortisone activity so if taken at the same time as the lactic acid bacteria it improves the well-being of the intestine. Unfortunately, inulin makes it unsuitable for pregnant women.

Prepare a decoction using a tablespoon of dried root for 200ml of cold water, which brought to boil and kept boiling for 5 min. After that let it cool for 10 min. Filter and drink up to two cups a day for two consecutive weeks.

Dog rose or wild rose.

This beautiful shrub has small fruits that are very rich especially in vitamin C. Among other things, it also contains Vitamin P, Provitamin A, organic acids, invert sugar, tannin essence. We use it to increase immunity in cases where our body is weaken or in case of infantile diarrhea, anemia, and problems in the urinary tract. It is very important that the fruit picking have to be as soon as it begins to turn red. More time passes to mature more it goes to lose the quantity of vitamin C. Unfortunately, also the preservation time goes to affect this in a negative way that it loses about 50% of vitamin in a year of suitable conservation.

The preparation is like echinacea. As well as the dose.