As promised, here are a few things that have become some of our go-tos for treating symptoms associated with flu and junk this time of year. If you haven't already, be sure and read the post I did yesterday on essential oils; that is definitely a big part of our frontline defense!
Some other things I wanted to mention that help are ginger tea, peppermint tea, astragalus root and honey and cinnamon.
Honey and Cinnamon: I first saw this home remedy on one of the herbal/natural healing pages I follow on Facebook. I put this to the test one day quite awhile back when I felt myself starting to get a fever that came on without warning. I had no symptoms prior and felt crappy really fast. It was one of those things that brought body aches with it really quickly. I remembered saving this remedy, found it and tried it out. Mix together equal parts pure, raw honey (buy local if you can from someone you have questioned and KNOW doesn't feed their bees corn syrup, candy cane residue or anything stupid like that) and ground cinnamon. I started out with mixing 1/4 c. each in a bowl and took a teaspoon about every 15 minutes until I felt better and then took it about every hour or so. I was very surprised at how quickly this brought my fever down, and the body aches subsided within about 20 minutes. I definitely took it easy and rested and felt a LOT better the next day. 36 hours later I was functioning well and didn't have any residual symptoms. I gave myself a few days to ease back into exercising, was careful to not overdo it on being out and about with errands or whatever, etc. just as you normally need to do after being sick, but it was nothing compared to what it normally would have been for me with those kinds of initial symptoms. I know my body pretty well, and when I have had that kind of fever and those kinds of body aches I've usually been down for about a week before starting to ease back into things.
Peppermint Tea: We make this from dried peppermint leaves, rather than buying prepackaged tea bags, which are corny. I bought a metal tea ball and that is what we use. The general rule of thumb with herbal tease is to use 2 teaspoons per 2 cups of water. Bring the water to boil, then turn the heat off and put the tea ball in to the pot. Let it steep for about 20 minutes; remove tea ball and pour tea into mug; add honey to taste. Peppermint tea is great for easing pain and helping your body to relax; it's very soothing. Very helpful for headaches, etc. Honey is beneficial for strengthening the immune system so is a great thing to add to the tea.
Ginger Tea: Same rule of thumb as far as the amount of ginger to water; follow the same procedures listed for peppermint tea. You can use either fresh ginger (that funny looking root thingy in the produce section) that you peel and chop up, or dried ginger. Our preference is the fresh; I love the way it smells. Something to keep in mind is that the longer you let it steep, the stronger the tea is going to be. Ginger already has a kick to it, so you are in for an eye-popping experience if you leave it in there for too long. LOL This tea is also great for headaches and helping your body to relax. It's also very helpful for upset stomach and problems with digestion. If you make homemade chicken soup with vegetables, etc. in it, add some chopped fresh ginger to that, as well. The flavor it adds is amazing!
Astragalus Root: I stumbled upon this when I was looking for something to help rebuild Brittany's immune system in general. I get email updates from Mountain Rose Herbs and got a notification when they started carrying astragalus root. When I looked it up and saw the benefits I had a really strong feeling that this would be beneficial for her to have each day. I ordered some dried root, which we used for making tea, and she loved the flavor. I noticed an increase in her feeling better in general when she was drinking about 3 cups per day. I also ordered it in powdered form and later filled gelatin capsules with it for her to take in place of the tea. When she took this, she took two capsules in the morning. Astragalus would be another good one to take when sick to boost immunity.
Again, this is all just scratching the surface compared to all that is out there, but if you are new to these kinds of remedies it's a great place to start. I hope you find this helpful!
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