SORE THROAT NATURAL REMEDY

Where I live, in Genova, it seems like Autumn doesn’t want to arrive. The sun is still so hot that you could lie on the sun only with your bikini on. I’m not joking. That’s incredible. I hate feeling cold so I’m enjoying every single day of this very late Summer.
When the sun goes down it, the air suddenly cools down, though. So, as you can imagine, getting a cold with this kind of weather is unfortunately pretty easy.

When I was a little girl I used to get a sore throat every now and then and I remember my mum giving me drugs at the first symptom: a pill, a spray, a vitamin C candy –which I bet didn’t contain any vitamin C unless in the name!- and probably something else. Oh dear!
However, now that I’m studying holistic nutrition, I prefer using natural remedies.

Today I want to share with you the sore throat natural remedy we have been using at home for months. My boyfriend Jack named it the “DIABLO”. The name should already tell you how strong it is! In the beginning it was only made with lemon and ginger, but we now improved it, adding a few more ingredients to make it stronger, more effective and finally “drinkable” without any grimace. It is a real bomb!

Let’s go through the ingredients to understand why they makes the “DIABLO” so flawless. 

Lemon. The juice contains vitamin C, which has been shown to help the immune system. The pulp contains flavonoids, which not only make the vitamin C more easily absorbed in the intestine, but have antibacterial and anti inflammatory function too.
Ginger. It is a natural antibiotic, which means that it kills the bacteria, in this case those who cause the sore throat, without destroying, unlike the common antibiotic, all the good bacteria who live in our intestine. Furthermore, ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory and it is thought that its effect is linked to its ability to lower the levels of the molecules that trigger inflammation.
Turmeric. It belongs to the ginger family, and it is a strong natural antibiotic and anti-inflammatory. It also helps the immune system.
Cayenne pepper. It warms up our body, and when the body temperature increases the immune system works faster –this is why it is good not to contrast the fever with drugs, by doing so we slow down the immune response-. It is also rich in vitamin C.
Raw honey. It is rich in vitamins, minerals and has antiviral properties.
If you are vegan you can omit the honey or you can substitute it with maple or coconut syrup.

I usually drink two of them per day, one first thing in the morning and the secondo ne before going to bed. If you have a very strong sore throat you might want to have one more, but be careful because if you are not familiar with ginger it can irritate the intestinal lining.

If you want to prevent the cold you can use echinacea to support your immune system. It works by increasing the number of white blood cells, helping the body to kill viruses and bacteria more easily. Purchase only pure Echinacea in health food stores, and do not take it for more than two weeks (unless your physician recommend a different dosage), because otherwise your immune system can become “addicted”. Furthermore, in excessive dosages it can irritate the liver and modify the intestinal flora.

DIABLO (sore throat natural remedy)

Make one glass

Ingredients:

1 lemon

½ inch (1 cm) of fresh ginger

½ inch (1 cm) of fresh turmeric (or ½ tsp of powdered turmeric)

a pinch of cayenne pepper

½ tbs raw honey

½ glass of unchlorinated water

Directions:

- Squeeze the lemon in a citrus juicer. Keep both the juice and the pulp discarding the seeds. Place it in a high speed blender.

- Peel the ginger and the turmeric and add them to the blender.

- Add the remaining ingredients and blend on high speed for 10 seconds.

- Pour it into a glass and drink immediately.

Notes:

- Do not substitute fresh ginger with powdered ginger.

- For a vegan version, omit the raw honey, or substitute it with maple or coconut syrup.