Do you have fresh garlic somewhere in your kitchen? How about carrots, onions and fresh ginger? Mustard? Maybe you’ve got a little Italian seasoning on hand?
Great.
You’re nearly ready to battle the upcoming cold and flu season with a mix of surprising home remedies that are easier to throw together than you might imagine.
Forget over-the-counter punch packs of gels and tablets.
If you’re a gardener, you may also already have medicinal herbs in your yard, including lavender, sage, rosemary and thyme, not to mention mint, yarrow, echinacea and chamomile.
Such simple ingredients are at the heart of “Kitchen Medicine for Colds and Flu,” a continuing education class now in its third year at Bastyr University with naturopathic physician Nancy Welliver.
“Up until about two generations ago, people took care of their family with the stuff they had in their kitchen and the stuff they had in their house,” said Welliver, who has been practicing natural medicine since 1993. “Over the last couple generations, we’ve lost that.”
Home remedies work just as well as, if not better than, expensive drugstore products that contain a variety of laboratory chemicals, Welliver said.
“We really need to empower people with their health,” Welliver said. “They can take care of those things themselves without pharmaceutical drugs or going to the doctor.”
One of the easiest sinus remedies is a simple steam tent, easily created at home with a pot of boiling water, a towel and some herbs.
Rosemary, thyme and oregano are best, but even Italian seasoning will do in a pinch, Welliver said, adding that the essential oils released from the herbs work against cold viruses.
“Essential oils tend to be anti-bacterial, anti-viral constituents of plants,” Welliver said. “We didn’t have laboratory chemicals 60 years ago.”
Inhaling herbal steam feels good and speeds the path to healing.
“It helps release the sinuses and helps kill bacteria,” Welliver said. “It also helps moisten even dry sinuses, which is also a problem.”
Welliver will teach the class how to make salves, poultices and syrups.
“We can make blackberry syrup for diarrhea,” she said. “I also do a sort of introduction to herbs that are really easy to grow in the garden. It’s a lot of fun.”
What’s surprising for many students is how easy it is to create the remedies, said Aimee Ortiz, who took the class a few years ago.
“That’s what’s so beautiful about it,” Ortiz said. “It’s just so simple.”
Ortiz said even her 19-year-old daughter has developed a habit of inhaling herb-infused steam when she feels a cold start or has a friend with a cold.
“It’s very nice for the lungs when you’re coughing and coughing and you’re hurting,” Ortiz said. “It feels so nice and soothing.”
Ortiz, who will graduate from Bastyr in June, said the hands-on workshop with Welliver is well worth the $59 fee because each student makes at least one thing they can take home, along with a long list of recipes and tips.
“It’s a very rich class,” she said. “It’s very full of information.”
Ortiz said most of the home remedies are soothing and easy to ingest.
“I like a lot of them,” she said. “Most of them, like all the syrups, are yummy.”
There are some exceptions, of course, including a terrible-tasting gargle for sore throats that uses sage, honey, salt, vinegar and cayenne pepper.
“I can’t get my husband to do it. It’s that bad,” Ortiz said of the gargle that works miracles in return. “Almost immediately, the pain is lessened. I may do it a few times, but it doesn’t progress with the throat getting worse.”
Home remedies, like over-the-counter cold medicines, don’t offer cures for cold viruses, but they always seem to work to some degree, Ortiz said.
“They definitely will help ease the intensity,” she said. “It’s very accessible and is easy to do.”
Welliver’s favorite remedy is onion syrup, which involves layering slices of onion with sugar or honey. Over the course of a few hours, the sugar will draw the moisture and sulfur compounds from the onion. Those compounds are anti-microbial and can affect viruses and funguses, Welliver said.
“It also helps break up or send out mucus,” she said. “Believe it or not, it tastes really good, so you can get kids to take it.”
Though people should work closely with their doctors when it comes to medical care, most home remedies aren’t that different from a well-made, nutritious bowl of chicken noodle soup, a remedy clinically proven in some studies to ease certain cold symptoms.
“All the ingredients in chicken soup really do help,” Welliver said. “It’s not just psychosomatic.”
Foods including carrots, winter squash, chicken, miso, garlic, onions, shiitake mushrooms, fresh ginger, greens and celery stimulate the immune system and provide beta-carotene, protein, minerals and other plant-derived nutrients needed to fight common viruses.
Home remedies are also effective year after year, no matter what strain of virus comes along, Welliver said, adding that humans have survived for millennia on similar treatments.
“These are things you can make in your home that you know are safe and you know where all the ingredients came from,” she said, adding that a big part of healing from a cold is getting the immune system back in shape.
“If it’s something more serious, you want to get professional medical care,” Welliver said, urging parents to trust their intuition. “For every cold and flu, you don’t need to go to your doc.”
Reporter Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@heraldnet.com
Rosemary: This hardy plant will flourish almost anywhere except in water-logged soil. It’s stimulating, antimicrobial, increases circulation to the head, helps the memory and is wonderful in steams and teas.
Lavender: This sister plant to rosemary grows in the same conditions. It’s relaxing, antispasmodic, antimicrobial and is wonderful for sinus and bronchial steams, though too bitter for tea.
Sage: Once established, this common herb will tolerate low water conditions. It is excellent for a throat gargle or mouth rinse and has antimicrobial properties.
Thyme: Once established, it will tolerate low water conditions, some varieties better than others. It’s antimicrobial and best for use in respiratory, sinus and urinary infections, bacterial, fungal or viral illnesses. It works great as a steam, in a tea or as a tincture.
Garlic: It’s easy to grow. Stick a clove in the ground in early fall or spring and harvest when the greens die back. It’s antimicrobial, can help thin mucus, is an antioxidant and is helpful for the cardiovascular system.
Horehound: This pretty garden plant is easy to grow. It has a bitter taste, but can help soothe and quiet a cough. It makes a nice syrup when combined with lemon and provides that distinctive flavor in Ricola cough drops.
Echinacea: Its pretty purple flowers attract butterflies. After 2 to 3 years, you can harvest the root. Leaves can be used from the first year. Echinacea strengthens the immune system.
Yarrow: Achillea millefolium is the medicinal form and has white flowers. Once established, it will grow well in a hot, dry spot. It is an anti-inflammatory herb and can help almost any acute illness. It can also help break a fever when taken as a hot tea.
Lemon balm: This mintlike plant grows very easily. It makes a lemony tasting tea, has antiviral activity and is especially useful for a stomach virus, chicken pox, shingles or cold sores.
Stevia: This plant, best known as a natural sweetener called sweet leaf, needs some protection in the coldest part of our winter. Mulch it well, plant it close to the house and it will return each year to sweeten your life and your herb teas. Dry it and mix with your herbal tea to add a non-sugar sweeetner.
Fennel: Its seeds can be used to combat gas and bloating or to help increase milk flow for lactating women. Fennel seed tea can be used as an eyewash for red, irritated eyes. It also quiets a spasmodic cough.
Peppermint and spearmint: These herbs add pleasing flavors to most teas and help ease stomachaches, abdominal cramping, gas and bloating. It works well for an irritable bowel, too. Avoid in gastric reflux.
Chamomile: This is Peter Rabbit’s remedy for a tummy ache. It’s also an anti-inflammatory and a relaxant for the anxious or overtired child or adult.
Source: Naturopathic physician Nancy Welliver, Bastyr University
These age-old home remedies were compiled by naturopathic physician Nancy Welliver of Bastyr University, who used a variety of sources, including “An Encyclopedia of Natural Healing for Children and Infants” by Dr. Mary Bove.
Pregnant women shouldn’t take anything without the advice of their health care provider. Avoid giving the following home remedies to children younger than 3, or 5 if you want to be very conservative, especially anything that contains honey.
Keep in mind that air, light and moisture will cause herbs to deteriorate. If they are kept in a cool, dry, dark closet in a glass jar, they can last a year or more. If stored on the a kitchen windowsill, maybe a week. They should retain a color and smell close to their fresh state in order to ensure some effectiveness.
Steams are simple to do. All you need is a pot of water, some herbs or essential oils, water and a towel. After people do this for the first time, they often say, ‘Wow. That really works!” And it does.
Steams for sinus
or chest congestion
2quarts of water
2-3 tablespoons of thyme, rosemary, oregano or Italian seasoning or 3-10 drops of the essential oils of eucalyptus, thyme and rosemary
Bring a pot of water to a boil; a medium saucepan, 2 or 3 quarts, is fine. Put herbs into water, cover and remove from heat immediately. If using essential oils, remove from heat and put 3-10 drops of the oils (depending on quality) into the water and cover immediately. Carefully carry the pot to a table or counter where you can set the pot down safely and sit comfortably.
Sitting in front of the pot, remove the cover and immediately place the towel over your head and the pot, creating a steam tent. Breathe deeply. If the chest is congested, breathe primarily through the mouth. If sinuses are congested, breathe mostly through the nose, if possible. Remain in the tent until steam dissipates, usually 10 to 20 minutes.
Onion syrup is easily made in just a few hours in any kitchen.
It is a great base for cough syrups or an additive to cold and flu teas. Some people like to take it right off the spoon.
You can substitute fresh ginger or garlic for the onions.
Both onions and garlic will thin out mucus, making an unproductive dry cough more productive and easier to expel.
Onions, garlic and ginger are also antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and stimulate the immune system.
Ginger syrup is also great for an upset stomach. Kids and adults love to watch this syrup magically appear as the sugar draws the moisture out of the onion, garlic or ginger.
You will find the kids will take the product more easily if you involve them in the process of making it.
Onion syrup
1large onion
1cup organic sugar, raw sugar, Sucanat or honey
Slice an onion. Place it in a wide-mouth jar, bowl or large glass measuring cup, covering each slice of onion with a layer of sugar. Let it sit on the counter for one to two days and watch the syrup appear. Pour the syrup off the onions and refrigerate. You may make a garlic or ginger syrup in a similar way, but use 10-12 cloves garlic or the equivalent in ginger.
Children can take ½ to 1 teaspoon three times a day. Adults can take 1 to 2 teaspoons three times a day.
This gargle is not for the timid, but it works wonderfully for resolving a sore throat. It feels like an intense treatment, but will not cause harm. It is not recommended for young children.
Sage gargle
for sore throats
1tablespoon of sage
2tablespoons of honey
2tablespoons salt
2tablespoons vinegar
1teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Make a strong sage tea with all the sage in only 8 ounces of water. Add honey, salt, vinegar and cayenne pepper. Steep for 20 minutes. Strain. Gargle as needed for sore throat. Spit out after gargling. You can dilute this with water if it is too intense.
Ear oils are placed in the external ear canals to help ease the pain and inflammation of either a middle ear infection or an infection of the external canal.
Do not put oil into an ear that has a burst or perforated eardrum.
Ear oils are available for purchase at most natural food stores, but you can make this one easily at home.
Garlic ear oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2-3 ounces olive oil
Place chopped garlic in a pan with olive oil. Gently heat until the garlic starts to soften. Continue to heat for a few more minutes, softening, but not frying the garlic. Ideally, you will remove the garlic from the heat before it begins to brown. Cool oil with the garlic soaking in it. Strain when cool to remove garlic, which can be set aside for another use or thrown away. It’s best if you can put the oil into a bottle with a dropper so it’s easier to administer. Keep the oil at body temperature when using. Otherwise, store in a cool, dark place. Put five to 10 drops in the affected ear.
This recipe is great for sore throats. It can be applied cold, at room temperature or warm, depending on what feels best.
Carrot poultice
2large carrots, grated
Spread grated carrots onto a thin cloth that is long enough to go around the throat or large enough to be placed over the ear. Fold it so the grated carrot is enclosed within the cloth.
Wrap the poultice around the throat and secure with a safety pin or place it directly over the ear. If desiring a warm poultice, dip it in some hot water and squeeze it out before applying. For a cold poultice, dip it into ice water and squeeze it out.
Cover with another scarf or towel and leave in place for at least 20 minutes. Leave it on longer or repeat treatments throughout the day.
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