Getting plenty of rest and drinking lots of fluids are the basics of combating colds and flues. You also want to get a lot of Vitamin C. Even though you might know how to stay healthy, when you get sick your major concern is getting better quickly. This need for quick relief is what sends so many people flocking to the pharmacy. Over the counter meds can offer fast relief from most of the symptoms you might be feeling.

The relief from these medications is usually temporary and can actually increase the length of your illness. This is the reason natural health is a better idea-the natural methods you use to ease your symptoms actually attack the cause of the cold, which helps you get better!

Chicken Soup

It turns out that your grandmother was right: chicken soup really can cure a cold-scientists have proven that it is possible! Chicken soup is full of ingredients that are natural and contain vitamins and nutrients that the body needs to stay healthy-the vegetables and chicken really do contain healing properties-which is why opening the can of chicken soup is better for you than running for the Nyquil when you feel sick.

Garlic

If you’d like to keep the toxins from setting in at all, eat Garlic. The best way to make sure it has a chance to do its job; you want to take about 500 mgs of garlic three times a day while you’re sick. One clove of garlic has about 500mgs in it. If you don’t want to take a tablet to get your 500mgs, just include a clove of garlic into each meal you cook. Garlic is readily available; you can by clove flowers of garlic at the store for low prices or a bottle of the spice pretty inexpensively. A note about garlic: the 500mgs a day 3 times a day remedy should not go beyond five days. If your symptoms haven’t cleared up by then you should call your doctor.

Steam

Use steam! Save money and take a hot shower or bath instead of buying a bunch of sinus meds. The steam will help clear up your sinuses which will help you breathe. The water’s heat will relax your muscles and allow you to rest easier. Putting a towel over your head and aiming your face at some steaming water is a good alternative to taking a long shower or bath. The towel helps contain the steam and move it toward your face as well as helping the water stay warm for longer periods of time. Blowing your nose after breathing in some steam is far more productive than it would be if you hadn’t relaxed your sinuses first.

There is no rule that says you have to go the drug route when you get a cold or the flu. To help yourself fight off illness and to get better when you do get sick, forego the chemicals and choose the natural health cures that are already in your kitchen. You don’t have to waste so much time and energy and money at the pharmacy so why do you continue to do so? Natural health options are better than chemical options.