The worst thing I ever ate...

... or rather drank.

But who knew something that tasted so bad could make you feel so good?

I was feeling a bit under the weather all week, like I was coming down with a little cold or something (I ruled out H1N1, despite my constant interaction with small children). It didn't help that most mornings I woke up to a sky of thick fog and stifling humidity. Just the kind of weather where it seems the only place to be is under it.

It must have been pretty obvious I was off my game because the principal at the elementary school I visited Thursday asked if I was feeling OK. I told her I felt like I was coming down with something.

After giving me the horrified "I can't believe you came to my school, already a cesspool of germs, when you think you might be carrying something" look, she immediately suggested I try this natural herbal supplement.

"I swear by it for my family" she told me. "You will feel a million times better."

The one caveat ...

"It tastes NASTY," she said, much emphasis on the nasty. "But just choke it down, and I swear you will feel better."

Her stellar sales pitch didn't quite convince me to run over to Whole Foods and buy some. I stuck with my Yogi cold defense tea. But when I woke up Friday morning with a terrible sinus headache and all congested I became slightly desperate.

It's called Buried Treasure and it's basically a liquid puree of all sorts of herbs and plants that are supposed to be good for your immune system.

I have never tasted anything so awful. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it tastes like, probably because I've never tasted anything like it. But I believe it would probably be similar to eating fish sauce, which also smells awful and is made of decomposed fish.

The directions on the bottle suggested mixing it with "your favorite juice." But I didn't see any sense ruining a perfectly good beverage. I thought if I mixed a few tablespoons in a glass of water that it would dilute the flavor and I could just sip it. Um yeah. That didn't really work out for me.

I probably would have just given up and succumbed to whatever virus was looming in my system if I hadn't spent about $25 on the bottle.

It's also important to note I have terrible gag reflexes, which made this experience all the more interesting. I finally gained a full understanding of the phrase "choke it down."

I realized the only way I would be able to get this little "treasure" down was to dilute it with some water and shoot it. At some point I became smart enough to plug my nose so I couldn't taste it. Even though I couldn't taste it, if I thought about what I was drinking I started to instinctively cough it up. So the only way I could make this work was to plug my nose, close my eyes and think about anything else.

(My editor who I shared some with, on the other hand, sucked it down like a champ. But he does occasionally go on this all sauerkraut juice diet ...)

So was it worth all this anguish? Heck yes. I've never felt such immediate relief to anything. Not only did I feel better, I felt great. No sign of a sniffling nose, or sinus headache.

Perhaps I should make it my next mission to come up with some sort of concoction to just make it taste better.