As I type this tonight, my youngest has been coughing while trying to sleep. It is a pretty persistent cough but you can tell it is not chest rattling. Not quite. The nasal drainage is persistent and apparently his nose is currently moonlighting as a faucet.
As a parent, it is tough to see your kid have to battle off germs and viruses they picked up from who knows where. You doctor them up with what is over the counter or perhaps leftovers from a previous visit for the same complaints. Maybe you actually have to go to the doctor this time because you need either a diagnosis or something more effective in the battle back to being healthy.
When you are dealing with illnesses, what is your go-to action? Is it for something prescribed or do you try a more natural approach at first? Growing up, my mom liked to give us “Honey and Vinegar” and yes, it is just what it sounds like. Honey + vinegar. Actually, there’s a bit more to it than that. It’s a glass of water with 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (with the Mother in it) and 2 tablespoons of raw honey. Stir and drink. I sometimes add more honey because I like a sweeter blending. (Yes, mom, I know I am sharing the family recipe!) When your throat is dry from coughing and you get a nice cold glass of this, it’s not that bad. Unless you’re like me and screw up the vinegar ratio and then it does kind of burn going down. But that was my mother’s go-to beverage when we started getting run down. We didn’t have a whole lot of money to go to the doctor so we went natural remedies first. She would recount how she drank a glass of that every day living on the farm and wasn’t ever sick. I am not a big enough fan to do THAT but there is something to the science of honey when it comes to our health.
Honey has been proven to kill bacteria against several strains (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16099322/) and help quiet coughs for better sleeping (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20618098). This article on cnn.com is an interesting read about some of the science (https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/15/health/honey-health-benefits/index.html). An article I discovered in Time also discusses the nutritional value and different varieties of honey in a little more depth (https://time.com/5566237/is-honey-healthy/). If you’re like me, you find the topic of honey and its potential uses fascinating. Or if you’re not like me, well, maybe you’ll want to grab the honey jar for the next time you have a sore throat to soothe or cough to quiet and you’re out of the pharmaceutical option.
While aloe is known to aid a sunburn and honey is helpful with coughs and sore throats, there are a wide range of natural remedies that might be helpful to consider when you’re feeling under the weather. I am not a doctor and you, dear reader, should do plenty of your own homework on the topic. After all, we don’t rely on Dr. Google to diagnose us nor should we rely on my blog as the end-all source of knowledge for medical advice. I only share my experiences and conclusions. I also really love eating honey so I might be a bit biased towards this sweet natural remedy.
Stay green, my fellow Texans, and may we always look for ways to be more eco-concious in our daily living.
Going Green In Texas 