You are the only person who can empower yourself. You can, however, get and find the needed help to enable your empowerment.

Regarding Covid-19 and seasonal flu and their effect to date – and the numbers are sobering, first, the seasonal flu; Global Research reported on Feb. 22, 2020, that “The common flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization .”

In the US alone, here’s an image from the CDC showing 2019-2020 US-only seasonal flu statistics through the end of March 2020.

Staggering!

Now, Covid-19; As of yesterday, April 6, 2020, according to the WHO, there have been 1,210,956 reported cases and 67,594 deaths related to Covid-19 globally. According to the CDC, again as of yesterday, there have been 330,981 reported cases and 8,910 deaths related to Covid-19 just in the United States.

The big problem with Covid-19 is that it is new, hence the name Novel (new) Coronavirus 2019-nCoV, and that means that avoiding the disease can only be accomplished by following all but the first of the WHO-published five easy steps to avoid the flu:

• getting vaccinated (Only about 4 in 10 US adults get vaccinated. I’ve not been vaccinated in years. I will start getting vaccinated next season – and document it here.)
• frequent handwashing
• avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth
• avoiding being around sick people
• staying home if you are sick to prevent contamination to others

These are all common sense steps to take, and following each can help empower us to cope with all strains of the flu with less fear.

That said, let’s switch gears to help empower better eating, which always improves a brighter outlook, with a quick, easy, richly flavorful and incredibly versatile recipe that you can make no matter how little cooking experience you have. The instant 5-ingredient salad dressing you see here  goes great, of course, on warm or cold salads but is also a go-to for me on sandwiches, with cooked grains, over pasta, and much more. 

As shown in the picture below (yes, I did use 2 vinegars for added flavor that count as only one ingredient), the only five ingredients you need are garlic powder, black pepper, mustard, vinegar and oil. For equipment, all you need is a 16-ounce jar with a snug fitting lid (if you don’t have a jar, you can use a measuring cup instead).

Click this link or any salad dressing related picture on this page for a complete, easy to follow step-by-step picture book recipe.