Cold viruses are around us all the time but a well-nourished, unstressed body can easily fight off a virus before our immune system produces all those unpleasant symptoms like running noses, coughing, sneezing, fevers and more.
Cold remedies
Stress from over-scheduling and over-stimulation and lack of proper rest wear down our defenses and give viruses their strong holds. Combine those two ingredients with things like not eating healthily, breathing re-circulated air, and exposing all those germs to contact with mucus membranes, and you have a recipe for viral success. The best ways to avoid a cold is to practice good health and be rested.
Cold Preventatives
Besides the obvious things like reducing stress, getting plenty of sleep or down time, and washing hands with soap and water throughout the day, there are other ways to help protect your family. Preventatives include fresh air, exercise, and eating foods rich in vitamins and minerals. Alterative herbs and roots such as dandelion, burdock root, ginger, and licorice can be made into teas to help cleanse the liver of toxins and balance the body (the later two being much more palatable for children.) Other great immune system boosters include elderberry syrup, holy basil (try growing some in a pot on the kitchen sill), eating plenty of onions and garlic, and taking Astragalus propinquus, known in Chinese Herbal medicine as Huang qi.
At the First Sign of a Cold
Sometimes you actually can nip a cold in the bud – or at least lessen its strength and duration – if you take action right away. Try these at-home natural remedies:
- ½ teaspoon of echinacea tincture or 1 echinacea capsule approximately every 30 minutes until symptoms subside. Children over the age of four can be given 1/8 teaspoon of echinacea every hour.
- Vitamin/mineral and zinc lozenges, or fizz drinks like AirBorne, taken right away and used according to directions.
- Boost your immune system with lemon juice drinks, vitamin C, elderberry, and a brisk walk.
- Drink 1 cup of real chicken broth (organic preferred) steeped with a garlic clove or two, grab a warm blanket and off to bed early!
If the above preventatives don't help, or you didn't have time to take action before the virus took hold, some of the following home remedies can help ease uncomfortable symptoms for you and your family. Remember that any child with a fever over 101 degrees F or having a low grade fever for more than a few days requires professional medical attention.
Sore Throats
• Make a strong sage tea infusion and sip it throughout the day.
• Gargle with 2 cups of warm water in which 2-3 tsp of salt has been dissolved.
• A warm woolen scarf around the neck might be an old wives tale, but it is comforting!
• Try slippery elm bark tea, it's available at many grocery stores.
Make a Throat Syrup:
- 2 parts fennel seeds or licorice root
- 1 part slippery elm bark
- ¼ orange peel
- 1 cup honey or maple syrup
- Simmer all ingredients in 2 cups of water down to 1 pint. Take by the tablespoon as needed. This syrup will keep in an airtight jar in the fridge for several weeks.
Chest Congestion
• Wrap a hot water bottle in soft flannel and place on the back between shoulder blades.
• Use Vicks or eucalyptus vapor rub on the chest. (Do not let children rub it on themselves as they may accidently get the salve in their eyes, nose, or mouth.)
• Room vaporizer or steam from a shower is helpful.
Sinus Congestion
• Create a steam "tent" with essential oil of eucalyptus – pour boiling water into a large bowl, put a towel over your head and the bowl and breathe in the vapors. Young children need supervision so as not to get burned from the steam.
• Try the Kitchen Cabinet Cold Kicker recipe on previous page.
• For little ones, try holding them in the bathroom (not under the shower directly) while a hot steam from the shower is on. You can also gently use a ball syringe to help un-stuff a baby or toddler nose that isn't running on its own.
Fever and Body Aches
• Try boneset herb tinctures and teas.
• To comfort a hot and feverish child (again, anything over 101 degrees F warrants a call to their doctor), wrap child in a blanket, soak three washcloths in cold water, ring out, and place on child's forehead and soles of the feet. A drop of essential oils of lavender or peppermint can be placed on the feet as well.
• Drink teas of ginger, peppermint, yarrow, and lemon, warm or hot as needed.
Cough Soothers
• Mix equal amounts of lemon juice and honey, heat on the stove and take by the spoonful.
• Try an elecampane tincture or tea.
• Suck on horehound herb or coltsfoot candies.
• Cough Syrup:
- Roots of valerian and licorice
- Equal parts cinnamon stick and wild cherry bark
- 2 cups of water simmered down to 1 pint
- Then add 1 cup of honey or maple syrup
- Take by the spoonful as needed. Keep in an airtight jar in the refrigerator.
Other healthful and nutritious cold fighting drinks include the traditional chicken soup (make it yourself from a fresh organic chicken and freeze the broth in ice cube trays for simple cups of broth), Miso broth or vegetable broth bases. Hot broth soothes sore throats, helps with chest and sinus congestion, and provides nutrition to help fight off the virus. Any liquids free of dairy or orange juice (orange juice actually increases mucus production unlike elderberry and lemon) and high in vitamins and minerals will do wonders for getting you, or members of your family, back to themselves again!
RECIPES
Kitchen Cabinet Cold Kicker
- 3 cloves garlic
- Several slices of ginger root (or powdered if that's all you have)
- 2 cinnamon sticks (again, a tsp or two of powdered is what you have on hand)
- Several dashes of cayenne pepper (or more if you can stand it)
- Several dashes of black pepper
- 2 T lemon juice
- 2 cups water
Add ingredients together in a saucepan with water. Heat and simmer for 10-20 minutes. Drink a cupful at a time during the day. For children, reduce the pepper and add honey and peppermint.
Cocoa & Spice Cold Comfort
- 2 cups of non-dairy milk like soy, rice, or almond milk (dairy increases mucus production)
- 2 T cocoa powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ginger and cardamom
- A dash of black pepper
- Sweetener only if milk substitute doesn't have any already!
Heat together cocoa and rice (or non-dairy) milk. Add spices. Serve warm – yum!
Hot Lemon Drink
- Heat together the juice from one lemon or 2 T lemon juice in water.
- Add a pinch of ginger and 1 T of honey or maple syrup.
Angela Cannon-Crothers is a contributing writer to Rochester Area & Genesee Valley Parent Magazine. She is an an educator at Herb Haven in Crystal Beach as well as a writer and author. You can visit her website at angelacannoncrothers.webs.com
