How to Cure a Cold or Flu Naturally

You don't need to use over-the-counter drugs to cure your cold or flu. As a matter of fact, OTC medications will prolong your illness and make it more difficult for you to get better. Instead, try these natural remedies to help yourself feel better and get back on your feet in record time.

At the first tingling sign of a sore throat, make sure you start gargling with salt water at least three times a day. This will soothe your throat, kill germs, and prevent it from getting worse. Often, I find that this prevents my throat from getting sore at all in the first place.

Also, make sure that you cut all dairy (butter is still okay) out of your diet when ill. Most people have a very mild allergy to dairy which is not bad enough to notice or to keep you from eating it on a normal basis. When you are sick, however, milk can cause you to overproduce mucus which will make a runny nose and sore throat worse, so be sure to stay far away from anything with milk or cheese in it.

An excellent additional cure for sore throat is hot tea with lemon juice added. It must be real lemon juice, not artificial flavoring. If you do not have tea, plain hot water with lemon in it will do. Drink this tea in addition to the treatments above.

Supplements are also important when you are sick. You should be taking a daily multivitamin in addition to vitamin C or foods that are high in vitamin C such as orange juice and other fruits. Zinc is another excellent supplement you can take that will help heal your body faster.

If you have herbs on hand, there are several that can help with cold and flu. Echinacea works best when used to help prevent hillness, but is still somewhat useful once you are already sick. It will help boost your immune system. Mullein is the best herb to take for anything wrong with your lungs such as pneumonia or bronchitis.

Slippery elm bark is excellent for sore throat. Drink it as a tea. Olive leaf extract is good for any kind of bacterial infection. Grapefruit seed extract is also an excellent herb to take for bacterial infections.

If you get a fever, don't immediately rush out to take some Tylenol. A fever is not an illness. It is your body's way of fighting the infection. By raising your body temperature high enough, your body can effectively kill off a disease by overheating it. This is your body's last line of defense, so unless your fever becomes dangerously high (over 106 degrees Fahrenheit for more than ½ hour or higher than 108 for ANY length of time) you should never take anything to reduce your fever. You could make yourself sicker. Fever usually indicates that an illness is as bad as it will get, so once the fever breaks, you should feel much better. If you do not, see a doctor immediately.

For reasons still unknown, chicken soup is still one of the best natural cures for cold and flu. Substitutes such as vegetable soup simply do not work as well. Strangely enough, soup made from older chickens works better than soup made from younger chickens. You can eat it as chicken noodle soup or just plain chicken broth.

If you have a cough, a couple of things that may help are elderberry syrup and peppermint. Elderberry syrup can be found with other cough syrups at your local natural food store. Peppermint is a natural expectorant. You can take it in any form, but it works best when taken as a nice warm tea. For congestion, try rubbing some White Flower Analgesic Balm on your chest. It works wonders!

Last, but certainly not least, is my favorite cure-all. Spicy food will kick almost anything in the teeth. My favorite way to prepare it is to make tomato soup and add as much pepper, cayenne, and Tabasco as I can stand. This simple recipe is a magnificent cure for almost anything. Eat it at least once a day when you are sick.

Remember, over-the-counter medicines are not truly beneficial when you have a cold or flu and may actually be harmful. In addition to these remedies, keep yourself in bed (sitting up does not count as resting, you must actually be lying down) and drink plenty of fluids such as water or fruit juice.