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Nature has so many great remedies for all sorts or aches and illnesses, also the best natural flu remedies. If you ask your grandparents for home remedies and tips for any kind of health issue, they usually come up with multiple natural remedies and all kinds of hot drinks and food. It is because they still have the knowledge on how to use natural products to improve our health.
We highly value the nature and try to learn more about natural remedies. This is also the knowledge we want to pass on to our children. We want them to always look for the cure first in the nature.
1. Turmeric
Turmeric (that has curcumin, terms that may got confused with) is a great ingredient that can be used raw or as powder. We always use organic turmeric.
Turmeric is a powerful antioxidant with immune system boosting properties. Turmeric contains curcumin, which has proven antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
How to use it: cut it and add it to the tea (also see Flu tea – drink this when you have the flu), add raw slices or powder to a smoothie or add powder in a chicken sauce.
2. Garlic – one of the best natural flu remedies out there
Garlic is said to have antimicrobial and antiviral properties that relieve flu symptoms. It is one of our favourite natural flu remedies. Garlic can boost the number of virus-fighting T-cells in your bloodstream. These cells are important because flu is typically caused by viruses.
How to use it: Garlic can be used as a flu remedy as raw or as powder. Cooking garlic may reduce it’s healing power so if you need to heat it, make sure to add it in a little bit later than usual (preferably no frying it on high heat as you probably would normally do…). Some can eat garlic raw which can be really efficient when fighting against flu. We use it in food (raw and cooked), in the bedroom (to help with stuffy nose) or wrap pieces of it in a cloth and around feet (slices against foot soles).
3. Ginger
Ginger, like the above ingredients too, has anti-inflammatory properties alongside immunity boosting properties. The anti-inflammatory properties of ginger may help in relieving the pain during sore throats. By increasing immunity, it can also keep further infections away.
How to use it: We only use raw organic ginger as it’s taste is more subtle than powder’s in our opinion. Raw ginger also gives a more fresh taste to a sauce, smoothie or tea.
4. Herbs such as Rosemary, Thyme and Mountain Tea
Herbs are just so great. Most of them have anti-inflammatory properties and can therefore help with many problems such as gut issues, headaches and flu. Thyme is actually said to be one of the “nature’s own ibuprofen” as it can relief all sorts of aches in the body. Rosemary is great for many things, but especially to calm down inflammation. It may help with mastitis (breast infection) as well (boil, let it soak, then dip a cloth in the rosemary water and put on the infected breast).
How to use them: We always prefer to use fresh organic herbs instead of dried herbs. Fresh herbs are moist and soft whereas dry herbs can be really hard and hard to chew. The flavour is always stronger in fresh herbs and they also give the food or drink a deep scent. When using dried herbs, we prefer to use herbs that have been organically (or wild) grown in Ikaria, Greece or Sardinia, Italy. There are some specialities within their soils so these herbs are believed to be healthier than others.
5. Cayenne pepper – effective natural remedy
Cayenne pepper would actually need its’ own article as it is just such a great ingredient. Please note cayenne pepper and chilli pepper is not the same thing. Cayenne pepper can help with gut issues whereas chilli pepper might cause irritation in the gut. Often people consider these being the same thing and avoid cayenne pepper due to the fear of spicy flavours and possible stomach issues when they could indeed benefit from consuming cayenne pepper.
Cayenne pepper is known to help clear your nasal passages if you are suffering from a stuffy nose. It is such a great natural flu remedy. There is also a lot of vitamin A and C in them! Cayenne pepper can aid digestion by increasing gastric juices. It also contains capsaicin which relieves pain in the body (whether it is a headache or stomach ache).
How we use it: We are using organic cayenne pepper in warm food. We add it to the food when cooking it and/or sprinkle it on the food before serving it. Our children are used to spices and herbs too as they always eat the same food than us parents, they always have done from a very early age.
6. Raw honey
Honey can be used as a natural cough medicine as it can relief throat ache very fast. We always choose a raw organic honey that has not been pasteurized or filtered but is just pure honey without anything added. In our opinion raw honey is the real honey.
Honey has natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties which makes it a true gem or the nature!
How to use it: You can eat honey just as it is, add it to a smoothie or to a hot drink (when the drink is drinkable, don’t add it to boiling water!). It can also be added to different food hot or cold (again, don’t heat it but add it in the very end or at the top of the dish).
Sadhguru who we love to follow on social, actually recommends drinking a hot drink daily with turmeric and honey to avoid catching a flu. I believe he once told on social that he has never really been sick even though he is travelling a lot around the world in all sorts of conferences and events.
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