When you’re susceptible to viruses such as the cold or flu, consider these natural antiviral remedies that will stop any infection in its tracks.
As Autumn comes sweeping in, it’s bringing in sicknesses like colds and the flu. Not only is it time to stock up on pumpkin-spice treats, but it’s also time to pick up medicine while you’re at it. Make sure to get your flu shot before you get sick and that you take proper precautions to prevent getting sick during the season.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you try to avoid getting sick. It can happen to anyone, and if you fall ill with an infection, you should look into natural antiviral remedies. Once you’re infected with something, you can’t always get rid of it. All you can do is power through the sickness, and wait for your body to get rid of the infection on its own. You can use natural remedies to control the symptoms instead of feeling awful in bed. Natural remedies can help you feel better than you would without them while you wait for the virus to pass through you.
And to learn about which natural remedies you should try to keep your symptoms under control, continue reading below!
Garlic is one of the Oldest Natural Antiviral Remedies
Cultures throughout history believed that garlic had medicinal properties, and they were right. It’s traditionally a delicious ingredient in a variety of dishes, but it can also be so much more than that. The pungent odor and oily insides of each clove can do more than keep vampires at bay!
It can help clear up your nostrils and throat, getting rid of congestion. Garlic cloves can also help your health in the long term by contributing to cardiovascular fitness. It helps keep your heart healthy by reducing the amount of cholesterol in your veins and bringing down your blood pressure.
If you plan to use garlic to get through a cold, make sure to chop it up and heat it! Chopping and heating garlic causes it to release enzymes which help increase its health benefits. So, don’t feel weird about eating a lot of garlicky foods if you’re sick.
The garlic-breath is worth it to feel healthy again!
Garlic is Sulfuric, and That’s a Good Thing
Garlic’s unique flavor and smell come from its sulfuric compounds, made from allicin. These compounds are a natural defense mechanism it developed to prevent insects and animals from eating it. The oils it releases after you chop it discourage taking a second bite.
People outsmarted mother nature and found a new purpose in garlic’s defense mechanisms. The compounds that thwart animals from eating sulfuric vegetables helps their health. And as long as you cook with a little butter and chicken, it can be delicious!
It’s Been Used as Medicine Since Ancient Times
Ancient civilizations used garlic as a kind of medicine. The Bible references garlic as a medicinal plant, Asian cultures wrote prescriptions for garlic, and the Egyptians ate it too! In fact, they were the earliest civilization to use it as medicine.
Although it was eaten as a kind of medicine, garlic never made its way into the upper classes’ diets. Throughout history, lower-classes almost exclusively ate garlic. Upper classes were so offended by its smell and taste that it was frequently banned from temples in ancient Greece and Rome.
And since the lower-classes faced more health issues throughout history, it makes sense that they would enjoy garlic the most!
Essential Oils are Essential for Recovery
Not all natural medicines need to taste as pungent as garlic, and some don’t need to be eaten at all. Yet, some natural medicines are just smelled or rubbed onto your skin to treat affected areas. Usually, these are natural oils from plants or roots.
For example, the tea tree essential oil can be rubbed onto your skin to treat inflamed areas. It can also be ingested to treat sore throats or to quell coughing. It won’t kill the virus infecting your system, but it can control the symptoms it causes.
That way, you’ll have an easier time waiting for the virus to pass. You’ll need to wait just as long to get healthy again, but the wait will be less agonizing. And with most natural remedies, that’s all you can hope for.
Placebos are Better than Nothing
Many people write off essential oils as placebos. They claim that since oils don’t provide the same health benefits as traditional medicine, they’re worthless. These people are wrong, and fundamentally misunderstand the way essential oils are meant to be used.
They’re used when traditional medicine doesn’t have any benefit. Just like with oils, conventional medicine can do nothing to get rid of a virus. All traditional medicine does is make it easier to tolerate the symptoms of a sickness, similar to what essential oils do.
In the case of a virus, traditional medicine and essential oils are placebos. That doesn’t mean they don’t have any use. The people who use them usually report feeling better, even if they’re not healthy.
Green Tea Will Take the Green Out of Your Face
There’s one age-old natural remedy that people will always be able to fall back on to cure whatever ails them: tea. Specifically, green tea provides some crucial antioxidants and anti-inflammatories that people need to get through an illness. The scorching heat and steam also act as a decongestant as it goes through your throat.
Sipping on tea is a perfect way to control a sickness’s symptoms since it doesn’t introduce new chemicals into your body. In essence, tea is just flavored water. The herbs in green tea come packed with more than just flavor, though.
It contains EGCG, an antioxidant which protects healthy cells from getting contaminated by viruses. It helps prevent the infection from spreading, which means you’ll get better, quicker!
Never Pass Up on Traditional Medicine
Natural antiviral remedies are perfect for controlling the symptom of any illness, but that doesn’t mean you should depend on them. If a doctor prescribes traditional medicine to treat something, you should take it. That medicine may be meant to prevent the sickness from spiraling out of control, or it may contain the virus so the body can deal with it.
Depending on natural remedies over traditional medicine can have severe consequences. If you want something to help you get through a cold or flu, natural remedies are right for you! And to read more about how natural remedies can improve your health, keep reading here.
