Spring time; I love it. I love the little buds on the trees, flowers starting to come up and no more big blankets! The desire to feel sun on my skin, absorb some real vitamin D and not having to get all bundled up has me yeeted. But… all those signs of life coming to, can lead to those annoying allergies. So yay I guess? No more thick coats and big blankets, but not box of tissues, runny nose and watery eyes. But instead of popping cold pills like candy, how about a good old fashioned healthy remedy that you can make in about 5 minutes?
It’s astonishing to me since pharmaceuticals have taken over the world, we just unanimously trust that all drugs are good. I’m not throwing shade on all drugs. I’m not anti-vax and believe some drugs are justified. But I worry how there’s an OTC drug for anything you can think of. The drug commercials even say as much; Can’t sleep? Sleeping too much? Not enough energy? Too much energy? What actually counts as a symptom? I’m no doctor and not sure if me unable to sleep this week is due to an illness, or perhaps it was just my anxiousness about an important work project coming up.
I don’t get allergies often, but when they hit, they hit hard. Last time, I was blowing my nose non-stop, my eyes got really itchy and watery I didn’t want to go outside because I couldn’t see well. My throat was itchy, I was having trouble eating, it just had me shook.
A friend offered to get me something at the store to help. He texted and was like what kind do you want. Then, what flavor do you want. Do you want 12 hours, or 24. Drowsy or non-drowsy. I think we were texting for a solid 20 mins before a choice was made. He finally stopped by and dropped off some meds. Honey lemon flavored lozenge for my throat and a popular allergy medication that has loratadine and pseudoephredrine. If you know why pseudoephredrine is difficult to buy, congrats, you’ve seen Breaking Bad. If not, simply put, it’s because it’s used to make methamphetamine, aka crystal meth.
You can go to drugs.com and look up decongestants and analgesics, which is what our over the counter cold and flu remedies fall under. The lists of warnings and side affects are overwhelming. For example, one of the many side effects of ibuprofen was, “If you are vomiting blood or anything that resembles coffee grounds, please consult your physician.” Ummm.. say whaaat?
The common warnings, such as “Do not take if you have the following health issues” or “Take only as directed,” “Dose not likely to cause problems or birth defects in fetuses,” kind of has me tripping. I mean, when we’re sick, most of us don’t fully go through the labels, warnings and such. We’re like, my nose is runny, what works best for that. Then you have a hundo choices to make as far as time they last, how you take then, other symptoms they fight against, etc. When we’re sick, we’re sometimes not in our best state to make choices.
However, my focus wasn’t on the decongestant but rather on the lozenges. They were honey lemon flavored which made me wonder if they actually used real honey and lemon. If they did, was it any better than making something real real honey and lemon in it and would it be as effective?
The next day I was feeling a bit better. I guess the meds helped. But having some energy, I thought to try to make something for my throat from scratch. Some raw honey, fresh ginger, fresh lemon, raw crushed garlic and some cinnamon is what I used.
Raw Honey
It must be raw honey. Raw honey has all the good stuff. Heating it kills all the live enzymes and nutritional elements. Raw honey is an alkaline forming food which means it doesn’t ferment in your stomach, this is great for digestion. It contains B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, amino acids, calcium, zinc, copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese and a healthy glycemic index. This means it’s naturally occurring sugars can be gradually absorbed into the bloodstream, resulting in better digestion. It also contains amylase, an enzyme which helps predigest starchy foods. Raw honey has 5000 live enzymes.
It is an antioxidant and proven immune booster. It helps metabolize cholesterol and fatty acids and is a wonderful sugar replacement. Refined sugar is void of any vitamins and minerals. The body has to use it’s own valuable nutrients to digest it. Raw honey supplies energy. It has been shown to boost performance, endurance and reduce muscle fatigue in athletes.
When mixed with lemon and ginger, it relieves nausea, soothes sore throats and helps to relax you. So take that cough syrup! Raw honey kicks butt! Raw honey is available at all health food stores and in some grocery stores. Be sure to look for unpasteurized, raw honey you are buying, anything else will be vitamin, enzyme and nutrient free (Manuka raw honey is the best!)
Ginger
This little gem of a root has 12 antioxidants. It has been used for healing for as long as we’ve recorded history. It is a rubefacient which means it can be applied topically to skin. It causes the skin to warm up, the blood rushes to the area and brings relief. This applies to sore throats. Ginger has antiviral compounds which are effective against reducing the common cold and flu symptoms. It is also an anti inflammatory and has been used in relief for joint diseases, arthritis, rheumatism and osteoarthritis. Ginger lowers cholesterol. It releases an enzyme that aids in digestion and gives relief from nausea, bloating and gas.
Some other good things are protein, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and fiber, all which live in the ginger crib. But even more impressive is that studies done at the University of Maryland recently showed that ginger effectively killed human ovarian and colorectal cancer cells in laboratory tests. Obviously not a cure, but I don’t think your OTC cold or flu meds can do that.
Lemons
A lemon is a natural antiseptic. That means it is an agent preventing sepsis(the presence of pathogen bacteria). It is anti scorbic, it prevents disease by cleansing the system of impurities. It is loaded with Vitamin C. Vitamin C neutralizes free radicals in the body. Free radicals can interact with the healthy cells in the body, damaging them and causing inflammation and swelling.
Lemons have unique flavonoid compounds that have antioxidant and anti cancer properties. Laboratory tests with human cells using citrus fruits tested positively in fighting cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon. Lemons are heartburn, bloating and digestive aids. Lemon juice alleviates constipation and cleanses the liver and kidneys. Hmmm, what else? Oh ya, lemon juice flushes out bad bacteria in the urinary tract, kills intestinal worms, dislodges phlegm and cleans the mouth (So I guess suck on a lemon if you’re going to kiss someone?!?!).
Most importantly, natural vitamin C is considerably more effective than synthetic vitamin C and when mixed with ginger and raw honey, is absorbed properly into the body.
Fresh Garlic
I love love love garlic, love it! I know some people have sensitivities or don’t like it, so you may omit this from the drink. But it’s really good for you. If you do omit it from your drink, try to have some crushed up in a salad dressing, or in some pasta so you benefit from all the good stuff (would have to be raw).
Garlic is a natural antibiotic. Numerous studies have proven it to be a bacterial, fungal and virus killing machine. Go Garlic Go! The added bonus is that the body doesn’t build up a natural resistance to garlic like it does prescribed antibiotics. Garlic has been proven to lower cholesterol as well. For real, if you take ginger, lemon, honey and garlic all together and your arteries will function like how it’s suppose to!
By the way, Garlic contains the amino acid alliin. When crushed and chopped, garlic releases the enzyme allinase which acts as a catalyst to transform alliin to allicin. Allicin is a powerful antibiotic. Unfortunately, cooking garlic kills allicin and not chopping garlic keeps allicin from forming, so…you have to eat garlic raw and chopped to reap it’s rewards.
Refrigeration may slow the degradation but the longer it sits the more it loses it’s health benefits. Do not buy prechopped garlic, garlic paste or pickled garlic if you want to use it for your health. I know it’s convenient, but even if you can’t stand chopping it, just use a food processor or even a grater. It literally takes less than a minute.
Cinnamon
The U.S Department of Agriculture recently released a study that showed reduced proliferation of Leukemia and Lymphoma cancer cells using cinnamon. Copenhagen University conducted a study over 5 years with over 700 arthritis sufferers. They were given 1/2 tsp of cinnamon with 1/2 tsp of raw honey daily. Patients saw a significant relief in pain after only one week and were able to walk without pain after only one month. Cinnamon has been proven to have a regulatory effect on the blood and blood sugar levels and is now being suggested as a daily supplement to Type 2 diabetes patients. Only 1/2 tsp of cinnamon a day has been shown by numerous studies to lower cholesterol. Cinnamon is high in manganese, fiber, iron and calcium. So bring it baby!
I know this is a lot of information. You don’t have to take it all in right now, bookmark the page, come back, take a look again. Take a minute to think about all the great things nature has given us? Did you know that 25% of all the drugs manufactured come from only 1% of natural sources? The rest are completely synthetic, trying to copy what is already there, right in front of us. There are some things we’ll need eventually, as we get older or develop health conditions we’ll need help with, but until then, we can help our bodies by using natural remedies when possible and eating whole, organic foods and staying away from processed, fast, unhealthy fast foods.
The Food Bully Health Tea
Ingredients
- 1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 lemon
- 2 tsp raw honey
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- organic white, green or herbal tea of your choice
- 1 clove of garlic, minced (optional)
Instructions
- Fill the kettle, boil water.
- Meanwhile divide ginger into two tea cups.
- Place 1 tsp of raw honey, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, juice of half a lemon and a tea bag into each cup.
- Pour boiled water over and let steam 2-3 minutes.
- You may filter or strain tea but the chunks of ginger are good for you. If using the garlic, stir in at the last minute to preserve nutrients.
You can have this everyday, but drink three times a day if sick to help you feel better.