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Life, you little prankster you.

James was gone last week. A solo RV trip to San Francisco, I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it. I had big plans for that week, and I mean grandma-gone-wild big…Joni Mitchell cranked 24/7, sleepovers with the grandkids, too many cocktails with Mackenzie, eating foods I never get to eat because James doesn’t like them, etc.

It was going to be insane!

I actually planned ahead and ordered new speakers for cranking Joni in my office and texted Mackenzie the cocktail list off the new restaurant down the road. Really, I did:

cocktail-list-from-spitz

Excitedly anticipating the Week of Fun!

And then Life played his little joke. Instead of Stef’s Week of Fun, it turned into Stef’s Week of Opposite-of-Fun.

Alas, I had come down with a cold.

The first few days James was gone I didn’t even mention it during our phone chats. Didn’t want to be a downer, but mostly didn’t want to admit to being sick out loud. Denial can be blissful. But eventually my voice changed, and I couldn’t hide the coughs any longer, and just like that I was busted.

I don’t get sick very often….it’s been years. And usually when I do, it’s something so mild it’s inconsequential. Kinda surprising being I work in a total germ infested environment; a gym. I’ve always chalked my lack of sickness up to healthy living. But it didn’t save me this time. Last week’s cold was a doozy. The kind where you want to stay in bed with the covers pulled up to your eyeballs, but then you have to stay propped really high up on pillows because laying flat means your sinuses would explode… splattering what little brain matter I have all over my impressive tower of wadded up Kleenex.

But now here’s the crazy part. The whole thing had passed in 5 days. Five days! I went from bed ridden to doing my typical weekend 8 mile jog in that short of time! Pretty impressive, right?

I’m pretty sure drinking ridiculous amounts of this iced tea concoction had something to do with it:

iced-tea-recipe-fit-rv-healthy-fight-cold-2

And by ridiculous amounts I mean I drank more than double the Mayo Clinic recommendation for daily fluid intake (2.2 liters for women). I drank 2 pitchers of it a day, and my glass pitcher you see there holds 3 quarts. Since this tea is dang tasty and I was chronically parched, it was pretty easy to chug down.

The tea is quite simple really, just a combination of 3 teas loaded with good cold-busting stuff like ginger, turmeric, and polyphenols galore. Throw in some some fresh citrus, because Vitamin C is one of the best anti-viral agents available, and a little Manuka honey for its infection-fighting properties and ba-da-bing! Bye bye cold!

 

Stef’s Super Awesome Cold-Busting Iced Tea Recipe

Ingredients:

iced-tea-combat-cold-fit-rv-recipe

Directions:

Bring around 4 cups of water to a boil. Remove from heat. Once the water stops boiling, add the tea bags. While they steep, cut the orange and limes in half and use a lime squeezer to squeeze the juice into an empty 2-3 quart pitcher. Once squeezed, slice the fruit and add to pitcher. Fill the pitcher 1/3 way full with ice. After the tea has steeped at least 5 minutes (I usually wait 10), remove the tea bags and squeeze out the extra water in the bags. Add the honey, stirring until just dissolved…do this as quick as possible so the honey won’t stay hot longer than a couple seconds. Pour the tea over the ice in the pitcher and stir. Fill the pitcher the rest of the way with more water and more ice. Enjoy!

*As for the type of honey I use, Manuka honey ain’t cheap, but there’s loads of research on its healing properties. Really, any raw honey has some level of healing properties and should work, too.  And if you’re vegan, replace the honey with any sweetener of your choice, but DO sweeten it, and feel free to add more if it helps you like it better. When you’re sick with no appetite, those carbs become important!

So there you go…my secret cold weapon exposed. Now that I’ve probably jinxed you, you might as well start stocking up on the ingredients so you’ll be all set next time YOU have a Week of Opposite-of-Fun. Here’s to hoping it’s a long, long ways down the road.

Healthy travels, gang!

xoxo,

Stef