Being that it is cold and flu season, I will be focusing a lot of the Herbal Branches this winter on building your immune system.
I've a got a HOT natural flu remedy for ya!
So many people are concerned about the flu this time of year. Rightly so.
Did you know that this years flu vaccines are made from last years flu virus? Flu viruses adapt very quickly, and one can never be sure that a flu shot is really going to help.
So what can we do?
The best thing you can do for the flu is focus on building a healthy immune system.
Concentrate on your diet.
To keep it simple, eat live foods like miso. Click here for the page on soup and miso. In fact, review the Eight Simple Secret to Treating a Cold Naturally. There is a wealth of information there.
Recipes like this immune building soup are invaluable. We make soups like this all the time. Kimberly and I drink chicken broth with miso most mornings.
Herbally, get to know herbs like astragalus. Add it to your soups. Cook it into your rice. It is a root that usually comes dried in pieces that look like tongue depressors. Just take them out after the rice is cooked or soup is made.
Click here to order astragalus.
Adding to the Eight Simple secrets, I would like to share this vinegar I am in the process of making for my family.
Would you like to join in my experiment? :)
I have seen variations of this recipe in a few different places recently, so I thought it would be good to share.
It’s a great natural flu remedy.
We’ll call it Flu Buster Vinegar!
This is REALLY simple. It totally fits in with what you have learned in Supermarket Herbalism. You can get all these ingredients at the corner market.
All I did was grab a couple onions, a bulb of garlic (yes, the entire bulb), a few jalapeño peppers and an entire piece of ginger.
These are all immune building or stimulating herbs. (To find out more about them, you can check out the Cold and Flu Section on this site, take Supermarket Herbalism, or refer to the Herbs A-Z section at FamilyHerbalRemedies.com.)
I also bought some organic apple cider vinegar (Raw from the "mother." Available at all natural foods grocers and health food stores).
I chopped up the herbs, stuffed them into a quart mason jar, then filled the jar with the vinegar.
If you do not have a plastic lid, put a piece of plastic (like from a plastic bag) over the mouth, then screw your metal lid on.
Shake it every day for 6 weeks (for 10 seconds). You might need to top it off the first few days with some more vinegar.
After 6 weeks, open it up and strain it out.
Compost the plant material and bottle the vinegar.
It’s great for colds, flu, sore throats, and achy bones.
If it is too strong for ye, then dilute in some water and drink.
Take as much as you feel you need. This natural flu remedy is all food, so you can’t take too much. Well, I guess if you feel irritated in any way, that’s too much.
For those who need a guideline, take a tablespoon every hour while you have the flu. You could even take it once a day when you don't have the flu for prevention.
Try putting it in salad dressings or other recipes as well. Doing this is an awesome reminder to us all that our food is our medicine.
See! I told you making herbal remedies was easy.
