If you are looking for a natural remedy to treat your cold or flu symptoms, you’re not alone. Millions of people around the globe prefer to use natural treatments when possible as opposed to turning to pharmaceuticals. Here are five natural remedies that can help treat your cold.
1. Hot Tea
Hot tea can relieve congestion. It can ease the membranes of your nose and throat. It can help keep you hydrated, which is crucial in fighting a viral infection. Not all teas are the same, nor do they have the same power to fight colds and coughs.
In the Dominican Republic, it is common to mix cut passionfruit and oil and boil them together in hot water. Strain the liquid, and mix it with honey. In other parts of the world, ginger tea is used by boiling fresh ginger in water and then letting it steep before drinking it.
In the southern parts of North America, both garlic tea and cinnamon tea are seen as mighty natural cold and flu remedies. Garlic tea is usually mixed with lemon. It doesn’t taste great, but it can soothe a sore throat and fight infections. In India, a cup of milk is brought to a boil and has some turmeric is added to it to fight sore colds.
2. Honey
Honey is a natural way to treat a cough. Many studies have seen that honey produces effects on par with most over-the-counter cough suppressants. The antibacterial qualities of honey mean that it does a great job at fighting infections.
In India, honey is mixed with black pepper and powdered ginger. In the Dominican Republic, peeled shallots are mixed with honey and allowed to sit, absorbing the flavor and power of each one. A tablespoon of honey is then eaten three or four times a day. For an extra kick, you can even eat the onions.
In West Africa, they will mix honey with warm water to make a simple tea. Honey is thrown into a blender with radishes and watercress in the Caribbean. Sick individuals will eat a tablespoon or two at a time.
3. Hot Soup
Hot soup is pretty much a worldwide treatment for a cold and flu. In many parts of the world, chicken noodle soup is the go-to.
In other parts of the world, different options run supreme. For example, congee is a soup made from rice stock with several ingredients in China. It’s often consumed in the morning, but it is also used as a healing food whenever a person is sick.
If you have a cold in Cambodia, you may be served a broth with vegetables and spices. In the Philippines, your soup will consist of rice-like porridge with chicken and ginger.
Many people have fond memories of having their mother or father prepare a vegetable soup using all-natural products. Eating it while it was still warm had a powerful effect. Maybe it was the soup. Perhaps it was the love that was sprinkled into the soup’s preparation.
4. Lemon
Most people know that they need to increase their vitamin C intake if they have a cold. Vitamin C supports your body’s natural defenses. Lime or lemon juice has been shown to decrease the strength of a cold and reduce phlegm in the body.
Those who are brave of heart can peel a lemon and eat it as they would an orange. Or they can squeeze the lemon juice into a cup and drink it straight.
For most people, the acidic taste of lemon is too strong. They opt to mix it with tea, prepare a lemonade, or make a lemon honey combination. However you use it, it can help to defeat a cold.
5. Saltwater
Saltwater, especially homemade saline nasal spray and mouthwash, has proven to be effective on your sore throats, it keeps your respiratory passages moist, and it is decongestant after a cold. If you have a cold and a sore throat, take half a teaspoon of salt and combine it with a cup of warm water. Gargle multiple times during the day. Using a neti pot or a bulb syringe with a fourth of a teaspoon of salt and one cup of warm water for nasal irrigation can clear out sinus irritation that results from a cold.
Benefiting from Standard Home Remedies
There is a reason why your grandmother and your mother passed down standard home remedies to you. Many of them work. Some help boosts your defenses against colds and cases of flu. Others help to minimize the impact they have on your body.
