Natural Cold Remedies

This week has been exceptionally different for me.  I’ve spent the last few days bundled up on the couch, out of my running shoes, only leaving my house a few times to teach barre classes.

After spending two days doped up on DayQuil, I experienced severe medicine head around 11am yesterday.  As of noon, my medicine wore off and I am trying my best to use more of a natural approach to kick this nasty cold out of my body.

There I am.  In a snuggie.  Don’t tell me that being sick isn’t a great excuse to break that baby out.

😉

I got home from the studio around 7:30am yesterday and went straight to bed.  Class actually went really well and my clients were very accepting of my “man voice.”

Hey, I’ll take sounding like a man over Darth Vader any day… which is what I’ve sounded like sleeping at night.

Somehow, Scott hasn’t been affected by the annoying sounds coming from my nose.  Both of us rarely ever snore, but I’m not sure I could tolerate it if it was the other way around.

In an attempt to say no to DayQuil, I reached out to friends on Facebook and Twitter for natural remedies to cure the common cold.

Here’s what I tried:

Emergen-C

I started the afternoon off by taking an Emergen-C Acai Berry packet.  You can find these at any pharmacy or grocery store, or even cheaper at Amazon.com.

Mix one packet with 4-6 oz. water, stir, and drink.

I used to take one packet a day when I worked two jobs, making sure to keep my Vitamic C up.  I love the acai flavor and it really does give me a quick burst of energy.

Boiling Water

A friend of mine named Kristin shared this with me.  I used to steam my face over boiling water as a beauty trick, but have never used it to help a cold.

Boil a pot of water (at least half way full).  I added three mint leaves in case the smell of mint might happen to help clear my nose, but I’m not sure if it really did anything.

Once boiled, set pot on a table, and sit in front of it with a towel over your head for ten minutes.

I set the kitchen timer to know when to come up and immediately blew my nose a few times when I finished.  Repeat again after 10-15 minutes.

Berry Wellness Smoothie

After one session of boiling water, I rewarded myself a smoothie to cool down.

Without having to go to the store, I pulled out anything I thought would be beneficial for my body, meaning high in Vitamin C or supply some kind of nutritional value.

There isn’t anything “special” added to it to make it fight off colds, but I sure could have used an immunity booster here.

Ingredients

2 cups ice

1 cup orange juice

1 cup blueberry Chiobani Greek yogurt

2 bananas

1 cup strawberries

2 tbsp chia seeds

servings: 1 and a half of the glass pictured.  If you’re making for 2, add another 1/4 cup of orange juice and 1/4 cup yogurt.

Directions

Blend.

It was pretty good if I do say so myself.

After I finished off the smoothie, I went for one more round of boiling water.

I felt a difference in nasal congestion the first time, but not as much the second and I was up for trying one more remedy.

Apple Cider Vinegar

This one came from a friend of mine named Ariel.  She says it’s the only thing that helps her kick a cold out that’s been lingering, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

Combine 1-2 oz. apple cider vinegar with 8 oz. water and stir.  I used the glass from 10K Race to make me feel tough. 😉

If you can’t stand the taste (which I didn’t even try to do without the next step) add stevia or honey.

*Organic raw unfiltered vinegar is best, but to avoid leaving the house I just used what we had on hand.

The mixture was surprisingly tolerable.  It didn’t taste awful, but it’s not something I would get excited to drink again either.

Hot Tea

I finished the night off with a tall cup of hot tea.  I’ve had a hot tea mug connected to me during the majority of the last three days because it’s the only thing that successfully soothes my throat.

I try to drink mostly decaffeinated tea, unless I’m drinking it in the place of coffee.

Last night’s pick was supposed to help me fall asleep.

It did… for a little while.  After going to bed at 9:30pm and waking up at 11, I had taken all I could and reverted back to my trustworthy friend, NyQuil.

From here on out I’ve decided to limit the use of medicine to when I have to either leave the house for something important (like work, not a trip to the grocery store), or if I need to get a full night of sleep.

I just hate that medicine head feeling… don’t you?

That’s all of the remedies I got to try yesterday, but I might be testing out a few more today if it keeps up.

Here are the rest of suggestions to kick the common cold, from YOU guys!

Suggestions

Boiron Homeopathic Cold Treatment

(also found at Whole Foods)

Neti Pot

Vicks Vapor Rub

Humidifiers

Elder Berry Extract

Juice Plus

Bolthouse Farms C Boost Smoothie – or any Vitamin C boosting drink

Vodka/Whiskey 😉

Questions:

What gives you relief from a severe head cold?

Do you take cold medicine or try to knock it out with natural remedies?