By Michael Edwards, Organic Lifestyle Magazine
Recipe for Natural Cough Remedy
Juice one small carrot, one small apple, and one piece of ginger about the size of a thumb. Add four table spoons of apple cider vinegar, and two drops of liquid cayenne pepper extract. Heat to no more than 110 degrees, remove from heat, and add 2 tablespoons of raw unrefined, unpasteurized, unfiltered honey and stir.
Do not cook the honey. Unpasteurized honey is anti bacterial. Once it reaches 108 degrees, it becomes no better than regular refined sugar.
If no juicer is available, grate ginger and make into a tea. Do not use store bought apple juice or carrot juice;, they must be fresh.
Sipping this will relieve most coughs and help soothe a sore throat.
If the throat is raw and irritated, gargle with apple cider vinegar as often as possible. Do not, under any circumstances, eat ice cream, soda, yogurt, candy, or any other sugar or diary when sick, especially with a sore throat. Sugar (including agave nectar and high fructose corn syrup) and refined starches feed bacteria, virus, parasites, and Candida (yeast). No matter how good ice cream feels on a sore throat, the price far outweighs the benefits, as one pint of it can add a day or two to the duration of the illness.
There are a lot of natural cough remedies out there that suggest using sugar or honey without specifying that the honey be raw and unrefined. Any such advice is garbage. Advice likes that soothes the throat while feeding infection. The goal is to sooth the throat while fighting infection.
Herbal Cough Suppressants
Oils from eucalyptus, peppermint, anise, and fennel help suppress a cough. They also increase the production of saliva which helps to clear the throat of irritating mucus. Most cough drops contain one or more of these herbs; unfortunately, most cough drops also contain sugar. Any of these herbs can be made into a tea and sipped for better results than conventional cough drops.
Slippery elm makes a natural cough remedy by forming a soothing layer around the irritated mucus membranes of the throat. Slippery elm teas and cough drops are available at most health food stores.
The two best herbal throat sprays that we know of are Micro-west Homeopathic Combination Throat Spray and Mediherb Herbal Throat Spray.
Other Natural Cough Suppressants and Sore Throat Remedies
Take a lemon and cut it in half. Add unrefined sea salt and black pepper powder to the pulp. Suck.
Make lemonade with fresh lemons, stevia (to taste) and cayenne pepper (to taste). Drink warm or cold. Great detoxifying aid, too.
If coughing is due to lung congestion, hot showers should be taken throughout the day allowing hot water to spray the chest.
The Best Natural Cough and Sore Throat Remedy
We saved the two best for last. But they are also the most difficult. Organic raw garlic, and/or oil of oregano. With the garlic, take a big clove, and chew, swish the juice, get into the back of the throat. If you can stomach it, swallow it when you’ve chewwed it as much as you can (it can be hard on an empty stomach). Or just spit it out. It stings the mouth, so you'll want to rinse, but after the stinging sensation is gone, your throat will feel so much better! And you can do the same with oil of oregano. Or you can combine the two if you’re feeling brave.
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