Did you know? According to a survey by Houzz, roughly one-third of homeowners claim to start living a healthier lifestyle after getting kitchen remodeling. This could be because making improvements in one area of life makes you feel more motivated to make positive changes in other areas, such as by using home remedies for health.
Maybe you want to start living a healthier, more nutritious lifestyle, but you don’t exactly have the budget for a kitchen remodel. Or maybe you just want to find some natural, nutrient-rich home remedies for health to help with wintertime ailments. Either way, this article is for you.
Once you have good healthcare coverage and a decent diet, home remedies for health are a good place to go for dealing with occasional aches and pains. Here we’ll go over some of the best at-home remedies for health that you can try this year.
Use Apples to Treat Heartburn
You know what they say: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. So it’s no surprise that apples are the first on our list of home remedies for health. If you deal with heartburn or acid reflux, it’s a good idea to avoid trigger foods like soda, high-fat beef, and fried foods. But a good thing to have on hand is a generous supply of apples.
Apples contain pectin and two types of acids that work together to absorb stomach acid and beat back any juices that might flow up from your stomach. Sweeter apples, like red or golden delicious, are particularly helpful. They’re recognized as alkaline foods that may work at a cellular level to balance pH levels and prevent GERD.
Use Turmeric to Prevent Infections
Turmeric is traditionally considered a “holy powder” in India, and it’s not hard to see why. Thanks to a compound called curcumin, turmeric is known for helping to treat wounds and prevent infections. Foods that contain curcumin have antioxidants and powerful anti-inflammatory properties, which means they may help with cleansing and healing.
If you don’t have antibiotic ointment on hand for treating a cut or scrape, you can dab a small amount of turmeric on the inflicted area instead. However, this should only be used for very minor wounds. The turmeric can be applied directly if the wound is bleeding slightly, or it can be mixed with water to make a paste. Then cover it with a bandage.
Use Sugar to Treat Hiccups
Your local dentistry practice may not approve of all of these home remedies for health, because while sugar can be bad for your teeth, it may help to calm hiccups.
When you experience a hiccup, your diaphragm goes through a series of reflexive spasms. However, by placing about a teaspoon of sugar beneath your tongue, you can fool your body into stopping that automatic reaction. This is because the sweet sensation by itself is strong enough to stimulate your vagus nerve, which is the longest cranial nerve in your body. Because the vagus nerve extends all the way to your stomach, activating your senses with the sugar sort of causes your entire nervous system to reset itself, removing the need to hiccup. You should keep the sugar under your tongue until the hiccups go away, then swallow it to get that sweet sensation all the way to the back of your throat.
Use Cucumbers to Treat Puffy Eyes
Although it may come as some surprise, this stereotypical spa treatment actually works, and it may be a useful form of home care. If you experience puffiness in the skin around your eyes, laying refrigerated cucumber slices over them may help reduce the puffiness.
Cucumbers are 95% water, so they have an amazing cooling effect. The cool temperature they provide causes the blood vessels around your eyes to constrict, reducing inflammation. And although putting cucumber slices over your eyes may look silly, there’s another reason why they work so well compared to other cold objects, such as ice packs. Quite simply, cucumber slices fit the contours of your eyes perfectly, which makes them even more effective at reducing swelling. Just 10 minutes of leaving them on with your eyes closed can leave you with fresher-looking eyes.
Use Prunes to Treat Constipation
Constipation can feel like an embarrassing problem to have. Worse, the body can become desensitized to over-the-counter laxatives, which means the constipation aids you get from the drugstore could become less effective over time. Fortunately, there are home remedies for health that may help, such as prunes.
Dried plums contain two different substances that act as natural laxatives: dihydro-phenyl isatin and sorbitol. Not only that, but prunes are also rich in insoluble fiber, which is a key nutrient necessary for fighting constipation. To start overcoming constipation naturally, take one prune per day and see if it helps. You can bump your intake up to two if you don’t experience any results.
Use Sea Salt to Treat Dry Skin
Skin care products are often expensive, and it’s often hard to know which ones will actually work for you in the way you intend. Fortunately, sea salt is comparatively cheap, and it may help with conditions like dry skin.
Sea salt is an effective exfoliator because of its thick grains, which do an excellent job of clearing away dead, dry skin. It can be particularly effective for rough patches of skin that commonly appear on your knees, elbows, and heels. Mix one cup of sea salt with a half cup of light massage oil to make a moisturizing salt scrub. The mixture should be moist but not runny, like wet sand. While this exfoliating solution can work wonders for areas where the skin is tougher, you should keep it away from your more sensitive skin, such as your face.
Use Foods Rich in Calcium to Treat PMS
If you notice feelings of irritability and mood swings in the time leading up to your period, you aren’t alone. The majority of menstruating women experience at least one symptom of PMS every month. Fortunately, there’s a possibility that adjusting your diet could help diminish your PMS symptoms. One such way is by increasing the amount of calcium you consume in your diet.
According to the National Institutes of Health, a healthy adult should consume around 1,000 milligrams of calcium every day. However, it’s been found that people who experience PMS also experience lower calcium levels than those who don’t have PMS.
To help boost the calcium in your diet, eat more foods that are rich in this essential nutrient, such as almonds, broccoli, sardines, and leafy greens.
Use Oatmeal to Treat Eczema
You may have seen oatmeal and honeysuckle soap before, and having soap around the house to use can only be beneficial for your health, but did you know that oatmeal may help to treat eczema? That’s right — this popular breakfast food is also one of the many home remedies for health.
Itchy and inflamed skin is no match for this surprising remedy. Oatmeal may help to soothe rashes because of the phytochemicals it contains, which have anti-inflammatory properties.
You have two main options when it comes to using oatmeal for skin care. First of all, you can mix a quarter cup of plain oatmeal with just enough water to make a paste, which you can then apply to your skin for just 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can grind a third cup of oatmeal in a blender to make a fine powder, then add it to a lukewarm bath. The bathwater should be a milky color.
Use Cranberries to Maintain Urinary Tract Health
Urinary tract infections, or UTIs, can be incredibly unpleasant. They can also lead to long-lasting conditions if left untreated. Fortunately, there are home remedies for maintaining urinary tract health as well.
Cranberries are rich in proanthocyanidins. This compound can help fight off the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections, such as E. coli. Cranberries can help you avoid the onset of infection by preventing that bacteria from clinging to the walls of your bladder. Although cranberries probably won’t cure your UTI if you already have an infection, continuing to consume cranberries daily may help to prevent future infections. Drinking one or two glasses of 20% pure cranberry juice per day can prevent such a recurrence.
Use Ginger to Treat Menstrual Cramps
Did you know that ginger is an integral part of Chines medicine? In fact, it’s been used in Chinese medicine for more than 2,000 years. This is because ginger is believed to improve blood flow and reduce muscle inflammation. This includes the muscles in the uterus area, where menstrual cramps originate. Some people even believe that ginger can be as effective for relieving period pain as ibuprofen.
To make being on your period a little more manageable, try brewing a hot cup of ginger tea whenever you notice cramps coming on. It’s best to use fresh ginger for this, which you can buy from most grocery stores.
Besides being good for relieving menstrual cramps, ginger tea may help soothe a mild sore throat. It’s a good thing to have on hand.
Use Tomato Soup to Treat Coughs
Warm tomato soup is good for more than just a comfort food when you’re feeling under the weather. That’s because tomato soup is rich in vitamin C and packed with antioxidants. Not only will it help with congestion immediately, but it will also help boost your body’s recovery.
Use Lavender to Treat Headaches
When it comes to essential oils, people seem to be divided into two camps: those who believe they can cure just about anything, and those who think they’re nothing more than expensive perfume. As with most contested cases, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But at least one essential oil is known for its rejuvenating effects: lavender oil.
While not exactly a miracle drug, a study published in the journal of European Neurology indicated that smelling lavender oil might safely and effectively cure migraine headaches. This is particularly useful if you spend a lot of time looking at a screen, which can cause tension headaches for some people.
Use Honey and Garlic to Treat a Sore Throat
We already mentioned that ginger tea can help soothe a sore throat, but there are other home remedies for health that work for this too.
When you have a sore throat, your goal should be to both soothe your throat and cure the ailment behind it. Surprisingly, honey and garlic may help with both. Raw honey is very soothing, and garlic possesses antimicrobial properties that can help destroy the pain-causing bacteria.
To use this remedy, crush six cloves of garlic into a glass of lukewarm water. Add honey to the mixture and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Mix and gargle this solution twice each day for best results, until your sore throat disappears.
Use Fatty Fish to Treat General Sadness
There are lots of ways to improve your mood when you’re feeling down or stressed. Some people even find things like house and kitchen cleaning to be somewhat therapeutic. Not only can cleaning the kitchen help make you feel better, but it can also benefit your health to have a bacteria free kitchen.
However, when you think of foods that boost your mood and make you happy, fish is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. However, fatty fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are thought to be beneficial for mental health and wellbeing.
Salmon, mackerel, cod, and sardines are all packed with omega-3s, and it doesn’t matter whether they’re fresh, frozen, or canned.
Use Cherries to Treat Insomnia
If you tend to have trouble sleeping, you know how frustrating it can be to lie awake when you have work or school in the morning. Pharmaceutical products to improve sleep can be expensive, although if your health insurance covers them, they can be useful. But first, why not try eating cherries to help yourself sleep better?
Cherries are one of only a few natural sources of melatonin, a hormone responsible for sleep regulation. Eating a handful of cherries before bed, either fresh or dried, might have benefits that last you all night and leave you feeling refreshed in the morning.
While no home remedies for health can replace your physicians services, sometimes they can improve your quality of life in unexpected ways. The next time you experience one of the conditions listed here, just remember these home remedies for health and give them a try.
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