Sore throat home remedies


Apple Cider Vinegar

Kills bacteria on contact. Mix it as strong as you can stand it. Gargle one mouthful every hour, swallowing afterward. Repeat twice each time. This treatment can cure a streptococcic sore throat in 24 hours. The acid is very helpful in soothing and minimizing the sore throat and if you swallow it, the extra potassium is also beneficial. Rinse your mouth thoroughly after using this to prevent enamel erosion.

Ginger
Ginger contains natural anti-inflammatory agents that can speed the healing of a sore throat.

Honey
Honey has been used to treat sore throats a long time ago due to it’s antiseptic properties.

Lemon / Lime
Both works fine on sore throats. The raw juice destroys the bacteria but the high acidic content may add irritation to the affected throat tissues.

Cinnamon
One teaspoon of coarsely powdered cinnamon, boiled in a glass of water with a pinch of pepper powder, and two teaspoons of honey can be taken as a medicine in the treatment of this condition.

Cayenne Pepper
Gargle with cayenne pepper and water mixture of 2 tsp. of cayenne to a glass of water. Numbs and relieves really bad sore throats. This remedy works when antibiotics do not and is excellent for those weird sore throats that don’t seem to go away after 4 weeks.

Echinacea
This herb is antiviral and antibacterial, speeds healing, and boosts the immune system. Early documentations in the mid 1800s to early 1900s showed echinacea’s use as one of the antimicrobial herbs for snakebite and anthrax.

Horseradish
A common herb found in the kitchen which has vitamin C and volatile oils in it, such as mustard oil, which is antibiotic in nature. It’s properties are useful not only against sore throats but also upper respiratory tract infections, reducing fever and significantly eliminating mucus.

Benefits of massage

For The Body
  • Relieve stress and aid relaxation
  • Relieve muscle tension and stiffness
  • Alleviates discomfort during pregnancy
  • Fosters faster healing of strained muscles and sprained ligaments; reduces pain and swelling; reduces formation of excessive scar tissue
  • Reduces muscle spasms
  • Provides greater joint flexibility and range of motion
  • Enhances athletic performance; Treats injuries caused during sport or work
  • Promotes deeper and easier breathing
  • Improves circulation of blood and movement of lymph fluids
  • Reduces blood pressure
  • Helps relieve tension-related headaches and effects of eye-strain
  • Enhances the health and nourishment of skin
  • Improves posture
  • Strengthens the immune system
  • Treats musculoskeletal problems
  • Rehabilitation post operative
  • Rehabilitation after injury

For The Mind

  • Peace of mind
  • A more relaxed state of mental alertness
  • Helps relieve mental stress
  • Increases alertness towards stress signals and the ability to respond accordingly
  • Promotes calm thinking and creativity

For The Soul

  • Satisfies needs for caring nurturing touch
  • Fosters a feeling of well-being
  • Reduces anxiety levels
  • Increases the state of awareness between the mind and the body

Medicinal Uses Of Spices/Herbs/Veggies/Fruits


Asparagus

Use: kidney problems, dissolves uric acid deposits, promotes urination.
Preparation: boil in water and drink.

Basil Tea
Use: colds, flu, cramps, bladder.
Preparation: add fresh herb or seeds to boiled water to make tea for migraines and bed time restlessness. Douche for yeast infections. Gargle and mouthwash to eliminates candida. Pregnant women should avoid medicinal use of basil. 

Black Pepper
Use: take at first sign of any disease, pain relief from toothache, brings down a fever.

Celery
Use: sedative, seed and stalk reduces hypertension, celery seed tea for the kidneys as a cleanser.

Chamomile flowers
Use: fever and restlessness in children

Cinnamon
Use: diarrhea, dysentery, general Indigestion, yeast infection, athlete’s foot, reduces cancer causing tendencies of many food additives, cold
Preparation: cinnamon ground or taken with milk is a good balance after a heavy meal or dessert. Simmer sticks with cloves for 3 min, add 2 tsp. lemon juice, 2 tsp. honey, 2 tbs. whiskey as cold medication. Boil 8-10 sticks in 4 cups water, simmer 5 min, steep 45 min, then douche or apply to athlete’s foot.

Cloves
Use: toothache, nasuea, vomiting, sore gums, topical pain relief of arthritis, antiseptic mouthwash, alcohol craving suppressor.
Preparation: chew for toothache, nausea or vomiting. Use oil for pain relief for sore gums and toothache. Add clove oil to neutral oils for topical pain relief of arthritis. Small amounts of clove in a tea for nausea. 3 cloves in two cups of boiled water, steeped for 20 minutes, as an antiseptic and mouthwash. Former alcoholics can suck on one or two cloves when the craving strikes to curb the desire.

Freshly Brewed Coffee
Use: alleviate headaches, clean bowels, break mucus congestion.
Preparation: Caffeine in coffee is used to alleviate headaches (particularly those caused by caffeine withdrawal). Coffee enemas with olive oil are used to cleanse the bowels and are one of the safest and most thoroughly cleansing enemas available. Hot black coffee sipped through a straw helps break up mucus congestion in the lungs. Caution and common sense must be used to avoid dependency.

Garlic
Use: chronic and acute bacterial colds and flus, Bronchitis, asthma, whooping cough, high and low blood pressure, removing parasites and infections, sexually transmitted diseases, hypoglycemia, diabetes, destroys intestinal parasites, reduces cholesterol, repels insects, reduces sting effects of insects and red ants.

Ginger
Use: cold / Flu, suppressing cough, cramps, nausea, stiffness, detoxify meat, blood Thinner, ease bruises & sprains, stimulate delayed period, break up congestion and fever.
Preparations: Ginger prepared in tea form is useful for cramps, nausea, thinning blood, as a substitute for coumadin, break up congestion and fever.
Use externally for stiffness. Add in cooking to detoxify meat, especially chicken. 
Boil 2/3 cup of freshly chopped root in 1 gallon water, wrapped in cheesecloth (or old nylon stocking) until the water is yellow. Then soak towel and lay on bruises and sprains while still hot, to ease them.
Ginger is one of the few herbs that easily passes the blood/brain membrane and is used in conjunction with other herbs that are meant to have an effect on the mind.
Pregnant women should avoid medicinal concentrations of ginger.

Lemon
Use: colds, cough, heartburn, bloating, belching, sorethroat.

Mint (Peppermint)
Use: migraines, nervousness, stomach disorders, heartburn, abdominal cramps, stomachache, herpes
Preparation: Herpes sufferers can take 2 cups of tea a day to ease the symptoms when the virus is active.
Mints are used to buffer the action of other herbs that have uncomfortable effects on the stomach and intestines.
Can be used in any combination for flavor.

Mustard
Use: sprained backs, deep rattling coughs, lack of appetite, headache, cold, cough, 
Preparation: 1 ½cups of dry yellow mustard in a bathtub of water for sprained backs. Make a paste with water and apply to knee and elbow sprains till blisters appear!
1 tsp. each mustard and ginger powder mixed with 2 ½tbs. of olive oil for deep rattling coughs. Rub over chest and back and put on an old T-shirt (or cover with cloth diaper).

Nutmeg and mace
Use: gas, indigestion, nausea, vomiting, kidney problems.
Preparation: Make a paste of powder with cold water and then add to boiled water. 1 tbs. 1/4 tbs of powdered nutmeg is enough to produce a floating euphoria for hours. Can cause erections for men during that time. Side effects are bone and muscle aches, burning eyes, sinus drainage, and limited diarrhea.

Onion bulb
Use: cold, cough, life prolonger, dressing for burns, bee and wasp stings, asthma
Preparation: Interviews with hundreds of people who lived to 100 plus all indicated a heavy intake of onions in the diet. Onion is an excellent dressing for burns. Crush sliced onions with a little bit of salt and apply to burns. Apply sliced onion to bee and wasp stings.
For asthma, puree an onion, cover it with brandy and let sit overnight, strain it, filter it through a coffee filter, and refrigerate. Take 2 tbs. 20 minutes before expected onset or before going to bed.

Parsley
Use: purifier, halitosis, tumor inhibitor, kidney stones and other kidney related problems, painful urination, sexual stimulant
Preparation: Chew for halitosis. A few sprigs provide 2/3 the vitamin C of an orange, lots of vitamin A, and the important amino acid histidine, which is a tumor inhibitor. Parsley tea is good for kidney problems, painful urination, and kidney stones. One cup of parsley to 1 quart of water makes a strong tea. Two cups of parsley to 1 quart of water, steep an hour and drink warm, as an aphrodisiac. 

Rosemary Tea
Use: headaches, body aches, breath purifier, aid in digestion of fat, free radicals reducer, stress, headaches, muscular stiffness and pain
Preparation: Flower tea for the breath. Boil water with rosemary in it to make it safe to drink. Diuretic and liver aid, increases bile flow. Two handfuls of flowering tips into 2 cups of good brandy, soak 10 days, strain and seal. Mouthful twice daily. Oil of rosemary is a natural anti-oxidant, and stress reliever Sniff for headaches. Chop a double handful of twigs and put in a pint of olive oil for one week, and use as a muscle liniment.

Spearmint
Use: colds, flus, mild fever, antispasmodic, prevents vomiting, relieves stomach, intestinal gas, diaphoretic, reduces pain.

Tea
Use: relieve migraines, dental plaque remover.
Preparation: caffeine relieves migraines. Tea drinkers suffer less hardening of the arteries than coffee drinkers. Black tea kills dental plaque.

Vinegar
Use: blood cleanser, arthritis cure, reduce inflammation.
Preparation: Naturally brewed apple cider vinegar is one of the finest blood cleansers and arthritis cures known. Take 1 tbs. per day of equal parts vinegar and honey in water to taste to cleanse the blood and reduce inflammation from arthritis. Be sure to use naturally brewed vinegar, as the white cheap stuff in the grocery store is actually acetic acid, a petroleum by-product, and pretty well useless except as a window cleaner!

Walnut Hulls, Black
Use: athletes foot, fungal infections, parasites, abscesses, boils.

Watercress herb
Use: cold / Flu, purifying blood, soft teeth / Weak bones

Health benefits of bananas

  1. Vitamin B6 is the vitamin needed by people who feel weak, irritated easily and have difficulty in sleeping.
  2. Potassium regulates blood pressure and reduces chances of high blood pressure and stroke.
  3. Potassium enables muscles to contract and expand smoothly during exercises. It reduces cramps.
  4. Potassium helps to rid fluid retention.
  5. Carbohydrate found in bananas contribute to the daily energy usage.
  6. Fiber in bananas help maintain healthy, regular bowel movements.
  7. Bananas are easy to digest.
  8. Bananas can be used to substitute sweets and candies because they taste great. It helps people with sugar cravings.
  9. Not only chocolates, but bananas too have serotonin and norepinephrine that helps elevate depression. It naturally improves your mood.
  10. Banana is the best fruit to eat after a 4km jog. As the body loses vitamins and minerals, 2 bananas is enough to replace the nutrients lost as well as replenishing energy.
  11. Bananas are the best solid food to introduce to infants. The fact is bananas contain 0% fat, is easy to digest and is not allergenic.
  12. Bananas are a natural hit with kids because of it’s taste. Moreover, children are growing all the time and they need the energy provided by bananas.
  13. Green tipped bananas are good to cook.
  14. Yellow bananas are best eaten raw.
  15. Brown specked bananas taste best when baked with bread, muffins or cookies.
  16. The riper the banana, the sweeter it is. Reason is the starch turns to sugar.
  17. Sliced bananas added into cereals, salads, yogurt, smoothies or shakes makes it taste even better.
  18. To preserve bananas, put them in the fridge. The peel will darken but the inside remains firm and delicious.
  19. To ripen bananas faster, put them a paper bag with an apple and a tomato.

Body cleanse


Depending on your pre-cleanse diet and lifestyle, and how stringent a cleanse you choose, you may experience a spectrum of physical symptoms as the body purges toxins. They’re an uncomfortable but normal part of detoxification, and they usually subside within the first two days.

The seven activities included below are serious cleanse boosters that magnify the positive effects of a cleansing program. They’ll ease the physical symptoms you might experience and help you work through the emotions that come up during a cleanse. They’ll also help you harness the new levels of energy you’ll feel and enhance your clarity, sense of purpose, serenity and balance.


1. HydrateIdeally, water makes up 60% to 70% of our body weight. Staying
within that range is key to maintaining endurance and energy levels, ensuring that your organs, cells and other internal systems function properly, keeping proper muscle and skin tone and preventing and relieving constipation. So always drink plenty of water!
This becomes even more important during the detoxification phase of a cleanse. Drinking fluids helps move food through the intestines and flushes the toxins from our blood, organs and cells that get released during the cleansing process.

While you’re cleansing, the following signs could be indications that you’re dehydrated and need to increase your intake of water:
✴ Dark yellow or orange urine
✴ Dry mouth
✴ Constipation
✴ Muscle soreness or cramps
✴ Joint pain
✴ Dry skin, poor skin tone or wrinkles
✴ Swollen legs, feet, hands or face
✴ Dizziness
✴ Lethargy or depression

2. Sweat It OutOne of the most relaxing and effective ways to help flush toxins from the body during a cleanse is doing a steam or a sauna. If you’d prefer to sweat it out at home, take a hot bath before going to bed. Remember: the goal is to sweat, so make the water as warm as you can comfortably bear it. If you get overheated, take a quick cool shower or pour some cool water over your head. 

3. Move Your BodyMoving your body also helps clear your mind and the endorphins you get from regular exercise are great natural mood enhancers.The deeper breathing that comes with exercise improves circulation, increases oxygenation in the bloodstream and helps flush toxins and cellular waste from the body. 
Try exercising for at least 30 minutes each day. Your preferred workout is usually best. If you don’t have one, go for a brisk walk, run, take a yoga class, head to the gym, dance your feet off, go for a swim, jump on a trampoline or ride a bike—it’s up to you. If you can, get outside and exercise in nature. 

4. BreatheWhen you start breathing deeply, you can feel your body relaxing, your blood pressure drop and your heart rate slow. You almost instantly feel more calm. Over the longer term, the increased oxygen and decreased carbon dioxide levels that come with deeper breathing have a profound effect on dropping acid levels in the body and soothing acidic states of mind.

5. Flush Your SystemProper elimination is an important component of the journey toward optimal health, so clearing out the old sludge in your intestines is crucial. When you change your diet, it’s not uncommon for your digestion or elimination to change. The effect differs by person and by cleanse, but you may find that things aren’t moving properly though the body. 

6. Nurture Your Mind and SpiritDoing meditations is a great way to care for your mind and spirit during a cleanse — even taking just 10 minutes out of your day can have a positive impact. Meditation can help you start your day in a centered, calm state of mind; unplug from stress during the day; and relax as you prepare to sleep. You can meditate in silence or with soothing or uplifting music. The goal is to consciously relax your entire body, from head
to toe.

7. Catch Your SleepA solid night of sleep is incredibly rejuvenating for the body and spirit. Recommendations for putting your body and mind into a restful state:
✴Avoid exercising, watching intense TV or movies, or reading something heavy right before bed.
✴Listen to one of your favorite mellow CDs to help you chill out.
✴Try consciousness relaxation, breathing exercises or meditation to put yourself into a relaxed state and help you sleep more soundly.
✴Take a warm bath before bed to help you unplug from the day and prepare for sleep.

Apricot mango smoothie



6 oz. light (reduced sugar) fat-free Apricot-Mango yogurt
1 cup. Crystal Light lemonade
1/2 banana
5-6 canned apricot halves

Put all ingredients into blender. Blend well until smoothie consistency is reached.

Cleanse- Boosting Activities


Pamper Your Face
Boost the rejuvenating effects of face-friendly foods by scheduling a facial or a Shiatsu face massage, spritzing your face with rose-infused oil throughout the day and doing the exfoliating or rehydrating mask listed in the recipe section. After trying these easy, nourishing recipes with natural ingredients, you may decide to leave commercial creams behind.


Facial spritz
1⁄2 cup purified water
2 drops rose essential oil
Directions: Put water into travel- size spritzer bottle and add rose essential oil. Put the cap back on and start spritzing! Makes 4 ounces.

Facial scrub
The exfoliating properties of the gritty cornmeal leave your face invigorated and glowing.
2 tablespoons whole-fat organic plain yogurt
2 tablespoons ground cornmeal
Directions: Mix the yogurt and cornmeal into a paste. Gently rub the mixture into your skin in small circles, starting at the chin and working up to the cheeks and forehead, and then the hairline. Rinse with warm water and dab skin dry. Makes 1 application.

Avocado mask
The fats in the avocado are amazing natural moisturizers for your skin. This mask is especially cool and soothing after a day in the wind or sun or when dry winter weather has left your face feeling parched.
1 avocado, peeled and pitted
Directions: After you peel and pit the avocado, mash it into a soft paste. Massage into your face, using circular motions. Leave on for 2 minutes, and then wash off with warm water. Makes 1 application.


Baby Your Body
Steep your entire body in an herbal tea soak. The essential oils of the herbs in the tea bags have a relaxing effect. When you’re brewing in the tub, breathe through your nose and imagine exhaling any stress or negative feelings carried over from the day and inhaling feelings of harmony and peace. Don’t have a
bathtub? No problem. Pour boiling water into a pot, add the herbs, lean over the pot, steam your face with a towel draped over your head and the pot, and breathe deeply. To give the rest of your body a lovely glow, massage in coconut oil from your shoulders to your toes to seal in moisture after bathing 
or showering.

Tea bag for the bath
The lavender and chamomile here make for a calming, soothing way to end your day. You can find the dried flowers and leaves at many health-food markets. I pop a tea bag into a hot bath, light a few candles and feel the stress of the day melt away.

1⁄4 cup dried chamomile flowers
1⁄4 cup dried lavender flowers
2 sheets of cheesecloth, cut into 6 equal pieces
3 pieces of cotton string or twine
Directions: Mix the dried flowers together in a small bowl. Layer 2 of the cut cheesecloth squares on top of each other. Put 1 ⁄3 of the flower mixture into the center of the cheesecloth square. Lift the 4 ends of the cloth together and twist, sealing the flower buds in the center of the bundle. The buds will expand when submerged in the bath, so leave room for that expansion. Tie up the bundle with a piece of string. Repeat the process for the next 2 bags. Makes 3 tea bags, enough for 3 baths.

Pinpoint the Fountain of Youth
Feel as if you’ve had a little nip and tuck without going under the knife... with Shiatsu facial massage. Done over time, in combination  with a healing diet, it can erase years off your face. During the therapy, pressure is placed on different energy meridians on your face and body. The pressure clears energy blockages and helps release toxins that lead to premature aging from the body.