Following on from my last post (
http://angieshealthykitchen.blogspot.com.au/2013_04_01_archive.html) about preventing coming down with a bad case of the Winter illnesses that are on their way around, I thought I'd do a quick blog about some of the natural ways you can treat yourself if you do happen to get sick. Let's face it, we're not invincible, but I'm pretty sure majority of us want it over as quick as possible when it does strike. Here's some tips that may help you this Winter.
- Start treatments at the very first sign of sickness. Don't wait til you're flat out in bed cos chances are you'll have no energy to get yourself prepared and end up relying on quick fixes like Panadol or Codral which in most cases in only masking the effects, not helping!
- Most illnesses start with a sore throat, especially in young children or those prone to throat infections (I'm in that category being a mouth breather and no longer having tonsils). At the first sign of a sore throat grab yourself a teaspoon of manuka (10+ UMF) or organic raw honey, sprinkle a little ground cinnamon onto the honey and place into the back part of your mouth, sitting against the throat. Leave it there for a good couple of minutes or as long as you can keep it there for. Swallow slowly and repeat dose when the soreness returns. First 2 days of sickness aim to repeat this at least 3 times a day! Don't forget the old remedy of a warm honey and lemon drink can be wonderful for a sore throat and foggy head too!
- Once the illness has attacked your throat it's most likely going to move onto your nose. Make sure you have a box of soft tissues and a bottle of pure eucalyptus oil. Place a drop of the oil onto a tissue and sniff regularly. To ease a stuffy nose place a few mls of the oil into a bowl of steaming hot water and place your head over with a towel covering. Inhale sitting over the bowl for at least 10 mins and repeat this twice daily. Be careful not to open your eyes over the bowl as it will sting!
- Whilst you're at it with the Eucalyptus oil, grab a clean cloth, moisten and add a couple of drops of the oil to the cloth. Wipe over all surfaces you commonly touch, such as door handles, bathroom tap handles, computer keyboard, phone, etc. This will help prevent the spread of germs to other people in the family. There's nothing worse than just starting to feel better and then having to play nurse to your children or husband!
- Eat loads of garlic! Add it to all your food and if you can handle it lightly crush it and eat a clove every few hours. Choose fresh Australian or spanish garlic (purple/biege in colour), not the Chinese ultra white variety. The extra white garlic looks more pure and fresh but in actual fact it is bleached to look that way!!
- Once the illness has moved to your head and chest you're usually in the last phases but it's at this point you may feel your worst! Get plenty of rest, plenty of water, drink small snacks throughout the day (grapes, mandarins, crackers with vegemite/nut spread are all handy food to stock up on when you start to feel run down).
- If you happen to come across a nasty tummy bug in your household I can't stress highly enough how important it is to clean all surfaces that may have come into contact with the person who is sick. We use a spray bottle filled with a small amount (5ml) of Eucalyptus oil, half pure white vinegar and water.
- For tummy bugs: Administer fluids in small increments. Plain water or electrolyte fluids are good or you can use a teaspoon of Manuka honey dissolved in a glass of warm water and take one sip every 5 minutes. You may also find that 2 tsp of plain natural yoghurt a couple of times a day will help to restore the good gut bacteria. Using this method this week on 2 of my boys meant one of them suffered vomiting for 1 hour and the other twice in a 24 hr period. The remaining 4 family members did not suffer from the bug, not an easy task when you have 4 children aged 9 and under in a household! All of us used the 'yoghurt treatment' and 5 of us had the honey.
- I choose to use Homeopathic remedies to treat myself and the family on occasion. I'm aware that Homeopathy is not everyone's cup of tea. I can tell you that in the last 12 mths our family have not taken a single panadol, nurofen, strepsil, codral, in fact no conventional medication besides Ventolin for asthma as required. I use the following Owen Homeopathic pills in small doses when the body needs a little help recovering: Aconite for a mild sore throat/cough/headache, Belladonna for a harsh sore throat/cough/headache, Gelsemenium for a runny nose, Nux Vomica for an upset tummy. These are a just a few of my collection of natural homeopathic remedies. The only real side effect I have noticed is that taking 4 or more Aconite or Belladonna at a time can cause slight drowsiness. I only give one pill at a time to the children for this reason. Keeping our stock of remedies costs us no more than $200 per year which includes the occasional use for Hayfever related causes (4 of the 6 of our family members have Hayfever). Prior to switching to this type of treatment we were spending close to $1000 per year on both prescription and over the counter medications. Our medicine cupboard resembled a Pharmacy!
Best of luck this Winter! We've already encountered a mild cold and tummy bug in this family this month but luckily our natural remedy approach has meant we've managed to keep it to only a couple of family members and with little disruption to our normal lives. Take care xx
