10 Ways To Fight Sickness With Natural Medicine

When you come down with all types of sicknesses in the winter months, it’s easy to run to your doctor and get an antibiotic Z-pac, or to the drugstore and grab Dayquil. But antibiotics (when not necessary) lower your body’s immunity, and medicine like Dayquil only covers up symptoms rather than fighting the bacteria. So why not go the all-natural, holistic route instead?

 

 

1. Oregano
This will actually treat a hacking couch (the worst cough, in our opinion). You might be confused by consuming a pizza herb for a cough, but it has flu-fighting, antibacterial properties and can be used as an expectorant – just throw it in tea.

 

 

2. Echinacea
This can help shorten the length of a cold and also help protect your immune system, so if you feel a tickle in your throat or nose, make sure to drink this on Day 1.

3. Ginseng
This tuber plant can reduce length and severity of cold and start working within 72 hours of symptoms starting.

 

 

4. Raw Garlic
This isn’t as tasty as the ol’ honey and lemon tea trick, but it gets the job done and way faster. Welcome to your new natural antibiotic – just bite the garlic slightly (releasing active medicinal properties) and wedge it in your back teeth, sucking out the juice.

5. Apple Cider Vinegar
Gargle with this or take a shot (diluted in water) for a miracle-worker that doesn’t taste so pleasant. When you have a cold, acidity is increased, so apple cider vinegar fights the virus with its acetic acid which helps prevent viral growth.

 

 

6. Fermented Foods

Kimchi and other pickled foods are your BFF when you’re sick. It gets to your intestines, which is where your immune system health is. Fermented foods feed your intestines with good bacteria to replenish your immune system.

7. Cinnamon
Yes, your favorite hot chocolate and coffee topping is a powerhouse in many ways, and having antiviral, antibiotic properties is a huge part of that. Mix in a tablespoon with honey until there’s a strong spicy taste – it’ll zap your cough, stuffy nose, and fever.


8. Nettle Leaf
Nettle Leaf is chock full of vitamins, minerals, and toxins, and doctors have even praised it as a sole cure for illness. It can be found in many herbal teas and are probably mixed with other nutritious herbs that will also kick your illness’s butt.

 

 

9. Ginger
Cut this up and put it in tea with some lemon and honey for a tasty and effective treatment against nausea, fever, congestion and headache. If you don’t have ginger root, capsules work just as well!

10. Eucalyptus Oil
Use this instead of Vick’s Vapo Rub – it’s so dreamy in a custom steam room. Either drop a few drops in your tub and relax, or put some in a pot as you inhale it.