Natural Remedies for Colds and Flu

For colds and flu, there are many natural remedies we can turn to relieve ourselves of the various common symptoms, such as bodily chills, sore throat, hoarseness of voice, coughs and excess mucus.

These natural remedies can be prepared and taken at home, using available ingredients that are organic and proven to be effective for fighting colds and flu while strengthening the immune system.

For chills and colds, dissolve 2 tablespoons of dry mustard and add to a foot-bath of hot water. 

Keep your feet immersed in the foot-bath for 15 to 30 minutes, which will help to warm your body, stimulate circulation and relieve you of any chills. Top up with more hot water to regulate the temperature as needed.

An acute dose of Blackmores PCIP tablets will help to alleviate swollen glands or an inflamed sore throat. Recommended is 1 tablet taken every 15 minutes for 2 hours (8 tablets in total).

As a practitioner-only medicine, these may be purchased from naturopaths or specific naturopathy stores only.

If you’re experiencing an uncomfortable build-up of excess mucus, Fenugreek tea effectively releases mucus from the lungs and is soothing for sore throats.

To make the tea, add 1 teaspoon of the dried Fenugreek herb in hot water, then add 1 or 2 teaspoons of Manuka honey and drink as desired.

For colds, one of the most simple and effective remedies is chicken soup.

In the 12th century, the great physician Maimonides prescribed herbal baths and chicken soup for the common cold – more than 800 years later, the New England Journal of Medicine found Maimonides’ treatment to be highly accurate.

Research shows that chicken soup in fact works as a mild antibiotic and decongestant. Chinese healers also use chicken soup to treat colds, supplementing their brews with ginseng, which helps boost the immune system.

Lungwort tea works wonders for upper respiratory problems and hoarseness and is widely available from most of our health shops.

Making the tea is simple: use 1 teaspoon of lungwort in a mug of hot water, then drink daily until the hoarseness subsides.

Not many know that the use of raw onion is beneficial for soothing a cough. This is done by finely chopping the onion and extracting the juice from it.

The juice should be mixed with 2 teaspoons of Manuka honey and kept for 4 to 5 hours. Once ready, it makes an excellent homemade cough syrup that should be taken twice daily using only 1 teaspoon of the syrup.

You can improve your health at home and prevent many common illnesses with the benefits of natural medicine. It is a wonderful thing to learn as it is both effective and simple, using plants and widely available organic ingredients with healing potential that many of us are unaware of!
To read more Naturopath Online Masterclasses – including a Natural Remedies Masterclass for Aches and Pains – visit Naturopath Australia.

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