Articles ¬ Eating In ¬ Home Remedies

Ahh, the good old days. Remember when you would rub a raw potato on a wart and plant it under the light of a full moon in hopes that you would lose your wart? Or put a warm, used tea bag on your eye for pink eye? Did your Mom ever give you chicken soup for your cold? Do you still take cod liver oil in the winter to help to prevent colds? These are just some examples of old home remedies.

Looking at them now with a scientific eye I have to ask was there anything to them or did a person just get better either a) because they didn't want to take the remedy as they tasted bad or b) because they got to stay at home, watch t.v and be pampered. Believe it or not most of the above old home remedies and others can now be explained by science and are enjoying a reemergence into the typical North American home. With us coming into colder weather I wanted to spend a little time recommending some medicinally useful foods that you may want to keep in your kitchen for the months ahead.

Garlic and other members of the allium family, which includes onions, are the first that come to mind when I think of medicinally useful foods. Garlic is the strongest member of this culinary family. Members of the allium family have antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties and also aid in loosening excess mucus. Garlic if used as a food works just as well as in supplement form, but must be added near the end of cooking to retain its usefulness. If you avoid garlic due to its smell, you may want to note that people only tend to smell like it when they only eat it infrequently. If you have a clove daily your body will be able to break down the chemicals that cause the odor and prevent you from being smelly. You can also use a thin slice of garlic on a wart at bedtime (held on by a bandage) to help kill off the virus that causes warts.

Ginger root is another very important food to have at home for the winter season. A medicinal property of ginger is that it is a diaphoretic; it makes you sweat. Sweating is the ideal way to fight a fever, rather than suppressing it with drugs. A fever, unless it too high, is a healthy thing as it makes your body an inhospitable place for a virus or bacteria to live and actually matures your immune cells faster. Ginger is also great to help with nausea, regardless of why you have it. Use half a teaspoon of fresh ginger root that has been chopped finely or grated either as a tea or just ingested, as needed. To increase the diaphoretic qualities of ginger you can add a pinch of cayenne pepper to your tea. Cayenne pepper is great for improving circulation whether used internally or by adding a little to your shoes in the winter to help keep your feet warm (don't use on broken skin...ouch!).

Brown rice is an excellent source of fiber which is typically needed more in the winter as fresh, inexpensive produce is not as available. Rice water is an excellent cure for uncomplicated diarrhea from the flu. To make this take one cup of brown rice and four cups of water, boil for one half hour and use one half a cup per half hour with a pinch of cinnamon until the diarrhea is better. It typically takes an hour for this to work and it is best to not eat until the diarrhea has improved as this will encourage the loose stool.

Oats are an excellent breakfast for cold winters and are full of many nutrients and fiber. Oats can also be used in bath water to help with dry skin. To use them in this way put one to two cups of oats into a sock (so they don't stick to you) and let it sit under the tap while the water is coming into the bath tub, soak for ten to twenty minutes.

Now, my column comes full circle. Cod liver oil in the winter was sound advice as this oil is high in vitamin A which helps to keep the immune system strong and is also high in Vitamin D, which we get less of in the winter due to decreased sun light. I usually don't suggest this supplement anymore though, due to the oceans not being as clean as they used to be, cod being a bottom feeder and the liver (the part that the oil is derived from) being the main part of the body in charge of cleaning out toxins. Instead, in the winter time you may want to take 10 - 20,000 IU of Vitamin A and 400 IU of Vitamin D daily, either together in one supplement or separately.

The tea bag for pink eye was a good idea as the tannin in tea is able to kill bacteria and viruses that can cause different types of eye infections. Chicken soup as well as being delicious, also helps to stimulate the immune system with its garlic and onions and the protein from the chicken is needed for strengthening the immune system. But as I said in the beginning not all remedies can now be proven scientifically, so as for the potato and warts, I'm not even going to go there.

So, you're already sick

Although these suggestions aren't exactly food related I wanted to pass them along as most people find them very helpful for preventing and fighting acute illnesses.

1. Feed a fever, starve a cold? Don't fret! Follow this advice. Do not eat when you have a fever. Your body will not be prepared to digest and it can make you sicker. Keep your fluid intake up by having broth, water and herbal teas and you will feel better in a few days.

2. If you drink juice when you are sick, water it down as the sugar in juice is enough to decrease your immune system function.

3. If you are taking a supplement with iron in it and are fighting acute illness, stop the supplement until you feel better as iron can make viruses stronger.

4. Almost anyone can benefit from using echinacea (except for those with active auto-immune diseases and AIDS). It is best to use echinacea in tincture form and make sure that the supplement contains both echinacea angustifolia and e.purpurea. For an adult 20 drops is a dose. Use it the following way; if you are trying to not get sick when something is going around take it twice daily. If you feel sick take it every two hours. If you get sick (after a day of fighting it) take it four times daily. Don't use echinacea for over two weeks at a time, without a three day break, as it will not work effectively over a longer period.

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