Our recovery recipes offer you traditional home remedies for alleviating and shortening the duration of cold, flu, and virus symptoms.
You can also download a hard copy of our recipes here by clicking on the link.
SOOTHING YOUR SYMPTOMS
There’s nothing quite as soothing as a warm cup of herbal tea to help alleviate the symptoms that make you feel miserable when you’re sick.
Herbs and spices and superfoods can help heal a sore throat • calm coughing and sneezing • clear nasal and lung congestion • and ease body aches and a sore head.
And they give your immune system a good boost too.
SORE THROAT RECIPE
Cardamom is a wonderful spice if you have a sore throat or dry cough.
Ingredients
1 cup of Boiling Water
2 green cardamom pods
1-2 heaped teaspoons of unprocessed Manuka or raw honey
Instructions
Release the seeds from 2 green cardamom pods and place them in your favourite mug.
You can crush the seeds slightly to release more of their goodness.
Pour 1 cup of boiling water over the seeds and steep for 5 minutes.
Add raw Manuka honey once the tea is below 43 degrees celsius so you don’t destroy the enzymes in the honey.
Drink several cups a day until your throat is healed.
Traditional use
Green cardamom is traditionally used to relieve colds, a dry cough, and to help clear mucus.
Cardamom is also used to soothe asthma and bronchitis. However, if you experience asthma, check for allergies before consuming spices.
You can also chew cardamom seeds to relieve sore throat and cold symptoms.
Manuka raw honey is antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory. The main active ingredient is methylglyoxal, a powerful natural antibiotic.
You can also mix half a teaspoon of antibacterial Ceylon cinnamon powder into a tablespoon of raw Manuka honey.
Combine the ingredients thoroughly.
Take half a teaspoon at a time. Dissolve in your mouth and gently swallow to coat and soothe a sore throat.
COLD & FLU TEA RECIPE
At the first signs of a cold or flu, put the kettle on, grab the herbs and spice in our cold and flu tea recipe, and help boost your immune system.
Ingredients
2 cups of boiling water.
1 teaspoon of licorice root loose herbal tea.
1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger root grated.
1/4 a teaspoon of Ceylon (True) cinnamon powder.
1 whole clove crushed.
1 teaspoon of pure, raw (unprocessed) honey.
Instructions
Place the spice and herb ingredients into a teapot or French press cafetière and steep for 5 minutes.
Pour into your favourite mug and add honey. Sip slowly.
Drink 1-3 cups daily to soothe symptoms and shorten your recovery time.
You should only use licorice root for one month and then take a break from it when you are well.
You can also add fresh lemon juice and lemon zest for a boost of vitamin C.
Traditional Use
Licorice root is traditionally used to soothe a sore throat and coughing and to relieve bacterial and viral infections.
Ginger root is anti-inflammatory and used for its ability to relieve nausea and ward off infections, coughs, colds, and sore throats.
If you can’t source fresh ginger, use half a teaspoon of organic ginger powder or 5ml of organic ginger juice.
Ceylon (true) cinnamon’s antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties relieve cold symptoms and soothe a sore throat.
Cloves anti-inflammatory compounds soothe a sore throat, cough, cold, and sinusitis symptoms. You can also chew cloves to freshen bad breath.
NATURAL COUGH SYRUP RECIPE
Try cacao and pomegranate juice if you have a lingering cough that won’t go away.
Fresh pomegranate juice is always best because of its active enzyme content. But if you can’t obtain fresh juice, use Lakewood Organic pomegranate juice.
Ingredients
946ml Lakewood organic pomegranate juice.
4 metric tablespoons of raw Cacao Gold.
3 metric tablespoons of Saffronice saffron infused honey. Use raw honey if you cannot source saffron.
2 metric tablespoons of freshly grated ginger root.
1 metric teaspoon of organic Ceylon cinnamon.
Instructions
Put all the ingredients in your blender and blitz.
Slowly sip 100ml morning, midday, and night until your cough clears.
Shake the bottle well before pouring.
Store the syrup in a glass bottle in your fridge and use it within 2 weeks.
Traditional Use
Pomegranate is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, and lung protective.
We recommend Lakewood Organic juice because it is 100% pure and not reconstituted from a concentrate. It’s also sugar-free, preservative-free, and stored in glass.
Raw cacao contains theobromine, which calms chronic coughing by suppressing vagal nerve activity.
Saffron-infused honey loosens phlegm, eases breathing, calms coughing, and promotes a good night’s sleep.
We use Saffronice honey because it is raw, organic, and simply a beautiful, healing honey.
Alternatively, add a pinch of saffron to your cough syrup.
Ginger is anti-inflammatory and relieves coughs, colds, sore throats, and nausea.
Ceylon cinnamon’s antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties relieve cold symptoms and soothe a sore throat.
Caution: If you are pregnant or on blood thinning medication, this recipe is not for you. Talk to your naturopath because there are other Chinese herbal medicine formulas that can also assist you.
LEMON BALM TEA
Lemon balm tea is another herb that is handy to have when you are recovering from a cold or flu.
Lemon balm is more commonly known to aid sleep and reduce anxiety.
But for naturopaths, lemon balm is also used as an antiviral herb to ease lung inflammation • a stuffy nose • sinus infections • allergies • asthma • coughs • and lung congestion.
Lemon balm tea is gentle and soothing at night to help you heal and get a good night’s sleep.
Add a teaspoon or two of raw honey to sweeten your tea, or use a few drops of monk fruit extract if you are on a sugar-free diet.
THE BEST WAY TO USE RAW HONEY
In an Oxford University study, honey was found to be superior for upper respiratory tract infections.
We always recommend the natural antibiotic properties of raw honey in herbal teas if you get a cough, cold or sore throat.
BUT – never use boiling water with honey. Adding honey to boiling water can change the enzymes and reduce its benefits.
If you are making a hot drink, wait until it cools and is warm rather than boiling before adding honey.
A warm drink is considered to be below 42 degrees celsius. If you have a kettle that sets the temperature, that’s ideal. You could also use a cooking thermometer to measure the heat. Otherwise, wait until you can comfortably hold your warm drink in your mouth without burning your tongue – then add honey.
EXTRA TIPS TO HELP YOU HEAL
These extra health tips will help you heal faster if you have a cough, cold, flu, virus, or sore throat.
• If you follow a sugar-free diet, use pure monk fruit to help alleviate a sore throat, coughing, and symptoms of cold and flu.
You can find directions for using monk fruit in our Pure Monk Fruit Sweetener Benefits blog.
• Avoid all dairy products, especially if you are clogged up with mucus. Drink plant-based milk – organic almond, coconut, or Bonsoy soy milk.
• Ditch refined sugar, junk food, or sugary, processed foods. We have a saying at the clinic that sugar feeds infection like petrol feeds a fire. Avoid it!
• Avoid wheat and wheat products. Eat gluten-free grains until you regain your health to reduce gut sensitivity or inflammation.
• Eat whole (unprocessed) foods, lots of greens, vegetables, and fruit. Explore the Mediterranean diet and recipes for inspiration.
• If you eat meat – choose white fish and wild salmon, and avoid red meat.
• If you have a lot of thick mucus, eat enzyme-rich fresh fruits such as ripe pineapple, papaya, mango, apples, and citrus fruits. Enzymes help break down and loosen mucus.
• Try our aloe vera and lemon juice recipe for soothing inflammation if you have sore muscles and aching joints.
• Drink plenty of pure water and herbal teas and stay well hydrated.
• A healthy gut is essential for a strong immune system. We offer gut health nutrition guidelines in our Healthy Gut Reboot blog.
• All our blogs are designed to help you heal. Have a look at The Healing Power of Spice to help boost your recovery from colds, flu, and virus infections.
• Wear a scarf around your neck if cold night air triggers coughing.
• You can also try facial steaming with a few drops of peppermint, rosemary, or eucalyptus essential oil to help clear your sinuses.
• To help loosen phlegm and mucus congestion, have a hot shower. Put a teaspoon of eucalyptus oil in the bottom of the shower, place your foot over the drain, and breathe in the steam.
• Increase your environmental hygiene while you have sickness in your home by making a germ-busting surface cleaner.
Grab a spray bottle and fill it with half Bositos Eucalyptus Solution and half distilled water (or eucalyptus hydrosol).
You can use Eucalyptus Solution for sanitising your kitchen benches, fridge, bathroom counters, toilet, door knobs, and light switches, and for disinfecting your dishes.
• You can also add a cap of eucalyptus oil to your clothes washing – especially sheets and towels.
RECIPE FOR RECOVERY
Don’t ignore your symptoms, or ‘soldier on’ like nothing’s wrong.
If you get sick with a cold, flu, or virus, take the time to rest • nourish your body with healthy nutrition • and heal.
And consult your practitioner if you need support.
Because taking immediate action to get well is always better than a long, drawn-out recovery.
Prevention is always the best cure!
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