Flickr user: (matt)

One of the joys of self-employment is that when you first feel the niggle of a winter malady coming on, you can launch a pre-emptive strike to ward it off, employing tactics that would be completely inappropriate for a public workplace.

Need to stay warm? Ditch the nice clothes, and stay in your pajamas, or better still, a onesie. Feel like you need a nap? Get a hot water bottle, and snuggle up in bed for an hour. And you can eat foods that have huge benefits for keeping your immune system humming, but which should never enter a public area. I’m talking, of course, about raw garlic.

Yesterday I started feeling a bit more grumpy than usual, my nose started running, and I wasn’t happy with the way the back of my throat was feeling. It’s vital that I stay healthy, because I’m off to a wedding in a week that will involve a plane trip and a holiday. Last time I flew with a cold I was almost in tears from the pain on descent, and nobody wants to be the person coughing all through the ceremony.

So I did some research into what I could do to nip it in the bud fast, but which didn’t involve drugs. I’ve been a fan of lemon and honey in the past, and ginger and garlic, but I was interested to read a bit more about garlic. Anecdotally, it’s been used for centuries for its antibacterial and antiviral properties, and is best used crushed because that releases allicin, thought to be the active compound. More information can be found here.

After an initial dose of two cloves, I’ll take another one tomorrow, and for a couple more mornings before we leave. Hopefully by then I’ll have results that will enable me to stay healthy. And as for my partner, with whom I share the office? Well, he’ll have to put up with me being all garlicky for a couple of days, but better him than an office full of workmates!