The cold and flu season is upon us and many people prefer to use natural methods to fend off germs and stay well. You may have heard about effective natural remedies and would like to know how garlic can fight off flu bugs to keep you feeling great during this season of the year.

flu, no matter which strain, can be dangerous if your body is already weakened due to other medical conditions or a weakened immune system. However, most people who come down with the flu usually recover within a week or so.

Of course, you know to cover your mouth if you sneeze or cough, wash your hands often, get plenty of fluids, eat a healthy diet, and get plenty of rest when you feel a cold or flu coming on. You can also add garlic to your repertoire of cold and flu season knowledge.

garlic has been used for hundreds of years in herbal medicine because it is a broad spectrum antibiotic. While doctors won’t generally prescribe antibiotics for viruses, garlic is much more than an antibiotic. The compound allicin has powerful antibacterial and antiviral properties which may provide more benefits than fighting off a flu bug.

garlic may also bolster the immune system as a whole, which could mean garlic could help the body fight off illnesses that modern antibiotics aren’t appropriate for. You can find many supplements on the market which contain garlic. Quite often it’s mixed with Echinacea, which also acts to boost the immune system.

You don’t have to wait until you’re in the throes of the flu to start taking garlic. In fact, if you start taking garlic before you catch a cold or flu, it may be even more effective in preventing the infection in the first place. Some research recommends taking large amounts of garlic to reduce recovery time, but you may want to discuss doing so with a doctor since garlic can interfere with some prescriptions.

Eating raw garlic is probably the best way to get the most benefit from it; however, making a tincture of 1/4 pound of peeled and separated garlic in 1/2 quart of brandy might be less offensive to others. Place the ingredients in a clean glass jar with a lid. Seal the jar tightly and shake the mixture every day for two weeks. After the time is up, strain the jar and put the tincture in a bottle with a dropper. Take 25-30 drops a day to build up immunity.

You can also make a cough syrup out of garlic. Slice a pound of garlic and place it into a glass bowl. Pour one quart of boiling water over it and allow it to sit for 12 hours. Drain the water and add sugar to it until a syrup consistency is obtained. You can also add honey to make it taste better. Use this in place of over-the-counter cough syrups.

While you can get odorless garlic tablets so your breath isn’t offensive, some of the essential ingredients which make garlic beneficial are removed in these. Taking enteric-coated garlic tablets will enable the garlic to remain intact until it reaches the location in the digestive tract where flu bugs, or viruses, reside.

If you’ve wondered how garlic can fight off flu bugs, it does so by having antibacterial, antiviral, and antibiotic properties. Start taking garlic before you get the flu and the illness may not stick around as long as if you let it run its course naturally.

Related posts:

1. The Health Benefits of Honey and Garlic: Cure Directly from the Kitchen The Health Benefits of Honey and garlic: Cure Directly...
2. Black Garlic versus Raw Garlic Garlic has long been used in food dishes and...
3. The power of non-distilled vinegar as a natural healer Even with the amazing medical strides in recent years, sometimes...

cold remedies

It’s not called “common” for nothing. Before long, millions of people will be affected by the common cold or the flu. Some people use traditional methods to stay healthy. You may want to try some of these super foods to keep colds at bay this winter.

Colds and flu are similar in that they’re both respiratory illnesses. They also have some of the same symptoms. While there are similarities, such as both being viral infections, there are also differences. Symptoms from colds generally begin slowly and consist of runny or stuffy noses, wet or productive coughs, mild fatigue, and slight body aches. flu, on the other hand, makes itself know quickly (often within three to six hours); symptoms include fever, more severe body aches, chills, moderate fatigue, dry or burning cough, severe chest congestion, and headache.

Obviously, preventing a cold is preferable to treating one and you can do much to reduce your chances of catching a cold: washing your hands with hot soapy water, avoiding touching your eyes or nose, getting plenty of rest, staying hydrated, and maintaining a healthy diet. In fact, adding vitamin and mineral-rich super foods to your daily diet can be your front line to avoiding a cold this season.

Start by incorporating more immune-boosting foods such as garlic, onions, mushrooms, fish, oats, tea, and even Mom’s home-made chicken soup. You could also include vibrant fruits such as blueberries, oranges, raisins, and kiwi fruit. California avocados, ginger, horseradish, and turmeric round out the foods you’d want to add to increase your immune system. Of course, you’d be hard-pressed to find a recipe that incorporated all of these foods at once, and you probably wouldn’t want to.

It’s also important to eat more magnesium-rich foods, and adding them into your diet really isn’t difficult. These would include dried apricots, leafy green vegetables, sesame seeds, black beans, broccoli, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, cooked spinach, whole grain cereal, and whole wheat bread. Having enough magnesium is essential for over 325 different biochemical reactions in your body, including producing energy from the foods we eat, enabling muscles to relax, and regulating blood pressure.

When taking magnesium, it is also helpful to increase calcium intake as calcium will enable more of the vitamins and minerals to enter the bones. Calcium-rich foods such as almonds, tofu, plain yogurt, oats, and seafood can easily be used in a daily diet. If you have a cold already, you may want to avoid the obvious calcium food – milk – as it can make post nasal drainage worse.

Don’t forget to include foods such as carrots, garlic, onions, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, tuna, natural peanut butter, bananas, cantaloupe, kiwi, citrus fruits, brown rice, oatmeal, flaxseed, black beans, and lentils. These are high in vitamins B6 and B12 which may help you recover from a cold quicker.

Many people believe it’s easier to get the vitamins and minerals they need from over-the-counter products. You can do that, but you can also eat some of these super foods to keep colds at bay this winter. Let’s face it, super foods taste better than the nutrients which come out of a bottle, so you’ll also be able to enjoy getting and staying healthy during cold season.

Related posts:

1. Top Five Super Foods You Shouldn’t Miss Out On Top Five Super Foods You Shouldn’t Miss Out On...
2. How to Keep Off the Pounds this Winter and the coming new year What you eat greatly influences how much you weigh. That’s...
3. What are functional foods? With functional foods there also comes a responsibility. Your body...

Maybe you have seen that golden viscous liquid in the cute little bear jars in your grocery store. It tastes as delicious as it looks. Learn what honey bees have known for centuries about the curative properties of honey.

Honey is a sweetener that comes from bees. It is made in their hives. Before you get it in the stores, the honey has been pasteurized but it still maintains the cure that people seek. You can also purchase pure honeycombs from the farmer’s market.

What is it about honey that makes it so special? Maybe because it comes from honey bees it has some of their natural immunities which are passed on to us. So what are some of the healing properties that have been attributed to honey?

1. Pain reliever – This is why honey is used for sore throats. The honey soothes the raw throat and reduces the pain. Honey is often added to cold medicines and lozenges to treat the symptoms of a sore throat.

2. Antiseptic – Honey has been used in ancient times as a wound dressing. The infection was neutralized and no further infection could enter the wound cross the barrier. The bacteria sometimes took a few days to give up the fight but the honey was effective with even the strongest of bacteria. Use it on acne breakouts for the same reason.

3. Digestive health – When the tummy hurts, honey may be the answer. Remedies containing honey or using honey by itself have been sought to treat stomach ulcers and gastroenteritis as well as other digestive problems.

4. Antifungal – If you are suffering from athletes’ foot, honey may be the answer. Fungus grows and multiplies in warm moist places like between the toes. Using raw honey on your feet may stop the itching and burning that you feel.

5. Beauty treatment – Honey is not just for the problems but also for pleasure. Use this sweet treat as a conditioning facial mask or combine it with coarsely ground nuts to create a facial scrub. Instead of mayonnaise, use honey and water to condition your hair after shampooing.

6. Dry skin healer – Dry skin can be a problem, especially during winter months. Smooth those rough dry places with a little honey mixture that contains honey, olive oil and lemon juice. Wash off after fifteen minutes.

Did you think that honey was only for your tea? It is an all-purpose remedy that may help heal you inside and out.

Related posts:

1. The Health Benefits of Honey and Garlic: Cure Directly from the Kitchen The Health Benefits of Honey and garlic: Cure Directly...
2. Natural Acne Treatment Products:Honey The very fact a gigantic number of folks have...
3. The Symptoms and Treatment of Strep Throat Strep throat is a possible cause of a sore throat....

People have discovered what their ancestors knew a long time ago: the earth can be used to heal the people who live on it. Some remedies for cuts, scrapes, cold, fever and internal ailments are as close as the kitchen in your home. Two of those cures are found in honey and garlic.

Bees have known since the beginning of time that they were special. They spend their entire lives gathering pollen to create nectar and turn it into honey. You enjoy the sweet-tasting fruit of their labors in your tea and desserts, but what about when you are sick? Honey has a wide range of applications for curing what ails you.

Honey has properties to fight infections in the body. When you cut yourself, apply a little honey to the wound to kill any bacteria in the vicinity. It is sticky and dries quickly to form a seal over whatever it is resting on. If it happens to be your scrape or cut, honey can be just as good if not better than a bandage for keeping dirt and bugs out of a healing wound.

Honey has been added to tea to soothe tired vocal cords and reduce the irritation of a sore throat. Forget the tea and eat a spoonful of honey every day to induce a restful night of sleep and keep your immune system operating at optimal levels. That same spoonful of honey can turn that irritating cough into a productive one by loosening mucous secretions. Mix it with vinegar and apple juice for a stomach soother.

What about garlic? It is not a desirable smell on your breath, but it does wonders for your body. garlic and onions are from the same family of plants that contain a substance called allicin. This substance has been found to lower blood cholesterol, blood pressure and cut the symptoms of a cold. Those who ingest garlic regularly are doing a good thing for their heart and vascular systems.

The best way to get garlic is to include it in your diet. Pills are a second choice, but the garlic tastes so much better sprinkled on a baked potato or baked into a steak. garlic is activated when it is cut; that is when the smell of the allicin is given off.

garlic is known to be an anti-microbial agent, fighting bacteria, fungus and viral infections. It strengthens the immune system to fight colds and their symptoms. Eating hot soup infused with garlic keeps the body strong against colds, flu and sinus issues. You can use garlic in a paste or poultice directly on the body to aid in healing of cuts.

garlic has a strong odor but it also does a mighty job. Add a little garlic to your daily menu to keep the body healthy proactively. As for honey, just ask a bee how helpful it is.

Related posts:

1. Health Benefits Of Garlic Garlic has been known to man since time immemorial....
2. The Top 6 Healing properties of Honey As an alternative to sugar, honey is used to sweeten...
3. Black Garlic versus Raw Garlic Garlic has long been used in food dishes and...