Have you ever attempted to open a doorknob in a public place with your shirt covering your hands? It’s slippery and ineffective, it also makes you look like a crazy person.

Everyone is sick right now and it’s taken me from regular ol’ germaphobe to full blown handwashing addict.

Selfishly, I’ve compiled a list of kick-ass cold preventing tactics that I couldn’t wait to share with you:

a) Because we are friends and I promised to always have your back

b) If you don’t get sick, that’s fewer germs in my overall environment

1. Load up on Vitamin D. Notice people get fewer colds in the summer? Cold and flu season happens in the winter for good reason! We are all deficient in Vitamin D. This Vitamin is integral to our immunity, so time to load up. It is best to test your Vit D through blood work to assess where you are starting off. I’m currently taking 10,000 iu per day with Vitamin K. You can get it here.

2. Elderberry tea is amazing for healing a sore throat and a bad cough. The leaves and berries of this plant are known to naturally boost immunity.

3. Zinc deficiency is associated with increased colds and flu, chronic fatigue, depression, acne, low birth weight babies, learning problems and poor school performance in children, among others. Check out more facts on zinc here.

4. Have oil of oregano on hand (P73 Wild Mediterranean Oil of Oregano is the specific kind all of the studies have tested - this is our favorite that we sell in our office). This is nature’s antibiotic. Take three drops in water three times a day. Warning: this tastes like ass. Make sure you have a chaser. I keep it in the house and travel with this at all times. If people around me are getting sick then I start using it before I even feel anything.

5. Get tons of rest and wash your damn hands… a lot.

6. Don’t bite your nails or rub your eyes, it’s an easy way to bring infection into the body.

7. Carry your own pen everywhere. Don’t touch a pen that 100 sick people touched that day.

8. If someone is coughing or sneezing around you, gently and slowly breathe out until you are beyond the ten feet zone around them. This will keep you from inhaling the air they just contaminated.

If it’s too late for you and you are already sick, stay far away from south Austin (to avoid me) and heed this advice:

1. If you're taking antibiotics, wait at least three hours before taking your probiotics so they don’t cancel each other out. Once your antibiotic round is finished, double up on your dosage of probiotics and add the strain S. Boulardii, which is great for post-antibiotic therapy to avoid getting the yeasties. Ladies, you know. Grab it here.

2. Antibiotics and decongestants can dehydrate the body tremendously (especially if you're having diarrhea) so make sure you're getting tons and tons of water to stay hydrated and flush everything out. Electrolytes are great in this situation. Grab here because they have no sugar and only good stuff.

3. Take zinc (lozenges are probably easiest, get low sugar), and tons of Vitamin C (up to 10,000 mg per day taken throughout the day a few thousand mg at a time - it's best to get the ascorbic acid Vitamin C). Vitamin C doesn’t help to prevent a cold, but it will speed it up and boost immunity so you can get better quickly.

4. If your sinuses got you down, use a neti pot with warm filtered water and a heaping 1/4 tsp of pure sea salt (non-iodized) plus 1 drop of Grapefruit Seed Extract by Nutribiotic (commonly called GSE, found at Whole Foods, white bottle, and red cap) per 2 oz of water.

5. While you are at Whole Foods, you might also want to pick up some oregano oil. See above for why I always have this on hand!

6. Echinacea tea is a great way to soothe your throat and boost immunity, especially for respiratory infections.

7. Rest up. The body is hard at work fighting and healing. Don’t push yourself and take a break from exercise until you feel better.

*Pregnant women cannot take GSE or oil of oregano (or eat sushi, or sit in the sauna, or do anything fun, really).

Have someone who could benefit from this information? Be a gem and forward this blog to them.