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Home Remedy For A Sore Throat

SoreThroat1

Contrary to what mainstream media tends to teach, experiencing a cold or the flu periodically can actually be helpful to your health.

By and large, the viruses that cause the common cold and flu infect mainly your weakest cells, which you want to get rid of and have replaced by healthy cells. This makes sense, doesn't it? Cells that are already burdened with excessive waste products and toxins are most likely to allow viruses to infect them.

So in the big scheme of things, a cold or flu can allow your body to purge itself of old and damaged cells that, in the absence of a viral infection, would normally take longer to identify, destroy, and eliminate.

With all of that said, you should know of a natural remedy for a sore throat that can often precede a cold or flu. Yes, that feeling of having crushed glass floating around in your throat can often be remedied without conventional over-the-counter analgesics.

I've written before about gargling with salt water. Sometimes, several quality gargling sessions with salt water is enough to resolve a prickly throat.

But where you need more lysing power, you might try using a mixture of hot red chili powder - often called Cayenne pepper - and orange juice. Koreans call Cayenne pepper go choo kah roo, which are the fine hot chili pepper flecks used to make thousands of varieties of kim chi. Just a simple blend of 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of hot red chili powder and pulpy orange juice, taken with a straw, can provide significant relief from a sore throat.

Be sure not to use more than 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon for about every 4 ounces of orange juice, as Cayenne pepper is a highly concentrated spicy food powder, and when taken in higher amounts, can aggravate parts of your gastrointestinal tract. This warning is especially important to heed where there is a history of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), peptic ulcers, or even ulcerations in the duodenum.

Cayenne pepper plus pulpy orange juice is best taken down with a straw, as there is no need to expose the mucous lining of your mouth to the active ingredients of hot red chilis. Just take this mixture straight to your throat with a straw, slow and steady. Repeat every two to three hours until your throat is free of discomfort.

The idea is to deliver the active ingredients of red hot chili powder to the viruses that have lodged themselves within the tonsils and adenoids that line the back of your throat region. Viruses that cause colds and flus typically get caught by your tonsils and adenoids before they spread through your body. In this way, your tonsils and adenoids are important parts of your immune system because they are located near the entrance of your breathing passages, where they serve as a first line of defence against undesirable airborne microorganisms and substances.

This, by the way, is why it is best not to remove tonsils and adenoids from your throat region. Chronic swelling of tonsils and adenoids is best addressed by reducing sugar intake, adopting a minimally processed diet that is rich in fresh plant foods, and supporting immune system health by getting plenty of rest, exercise, and exposure to sunlight and fresh air.

Depending on how quickly you turn to this natural home remedy for a sore throat, you may even ward off a full blown cold or flu. But even if you develop a cold or flu, you can at least go through this natural cleansing process without an agonizingly sore throat. Don't forget to get lots of rest, drink plenty of healthy fluids, ensure optimal vitamin D status, and take comfort in knowing that countless viruses are at work on your behalf to dispose of your weakest cells. And don't forget to blow your nose as often as it runs - help your body get rid of what it naturally wants to eliminate.

I've hesitated in the past to share this tip of using red hot chili powder with orange juice for a sore throat because I was afraid that some might overdo this and end up suffering elsewhere. When taken properly, this remedy often astonishes with its effectiveness, so please be careful and conservative in your use of red hot chili powder.

For young children or those who have a history of gastrointestinal trouble when taking spicy foods, you can use even less red hot chili powder, and even consider ingesting a banana, potato, or even some rice before taking the Cayenne-orange juice blend, as having some healthy mass in the stomach right before taking the drink can help protect the lining of the GI tract against the active ingredients of red hot chilis.

Please consider sharing this information with family and friends. And don't forget to emphasize the warning on being conservative in dose. It's such a highly effective home remedy without the cost or negative effects of conventional pharmaceutical solutions.

Related Posts:

What Most Doctors Won't Tell You About Colds and Flus

How to Make Sure that You Are Getting Enough Vitamin D

How to Make Kim Chi

 
 

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Comments

I have been using this remedy for about a year or so and trying to spread the word to every one I know!. I have just been mixing cayenne pepper, honey and warm water, putting lip balm on my lips and then gargling with the mixture every couple of hours when I feel a cold or sore throat coming on. It is almost an instant relief on a sore and scratchy throat and while it does burn a bit I know that it is doing a world of good. I once got rid of strep doing this method. I am a nurse and am always looking for a natural remedy instead of unhealthy medications with side effects. Cayenne pepper is such a wonderful healer. I have read that home visiting doctors from long ago would give cayenne pepper in a glass of warm water to a patent suffering from a heart attack. The cayenne pepper is supposed to work by dilating the vessels in the heart that have closed off and thus helping to provide oxygen to the heart during this critical time. My parents and my grandmother all have cayenne pepper in their spice racks now. Thanks Dr. Kim for all you do!

Thank you so very much for your tips regarding the above. I have very few colds but when I do they always start with scratchy sore throat, left side and ear ache [left] continuing to a stage of unproductive cough, couch, coughing deep in my chest with tickling just beyond where the cough will reach - very distressing and makes for a lot of sleep loss, usually lasts for two to three weeks. As a matter of fact, I am currently in the residual cold stage of coughing right now, not a conducive way to start 2012. In the hopes that, even at this late date your cayenne pepper/orange juice remedy will alleviate the problem I am going to be leaving my computer when I finish this and taking a drink, and retaining this information for future reference should the need arise. I am a firm believer that our God, in His wisdom, has placed cures/relief for the ills of mankind in His creation IF we only knew them and would access them, rather than relying on man-made pharmaceuticals with its side effects, and it delights me that here is one more example of His providence, supported no less by a doctor. Once again, thank you with gratitude for the timely information and I wish you and yours joy, peace and providence for 2012.

Ginger root tea works also. Reliefs does take usually 2 days though. All you need to do is slice the ginger root into thin pieces and simmer in water for an hour or so.

I think prevention is best, getting enough vitamin D usually prevents colds and flus with a proper diet.

thanks Dr. Ben. Love your newsletter. I have used cayenne through the years for sore throat. I put it in carrot juice or V-8 just to get it down. I enjoy the "burn" in my throat because I know the blood is rushing to that sight to clear away the infection. I have to be careful on an empty stomach because it would make me somewhat queasy. And sometimes it is hot on the way out of my body. :o) which brings me to another use... it resolves hemorrhoids very nicely. The heat wherever you feel it is therapeutic, not harmful and knowing that helps to endure.

Dr. Kim,

Your sore throat remedy reminded me of when I visited my Irish
godparents in Chevy Chase, MD on a Feb weekend pass from my USMC/OCS
at Quantico in 1967.

I really was sick,so my Uncle Nick fixed a "hot toddie" that I am sure contained alcohol and probably tabasco sauce among other things. It was a foul beverage, but he told me to drink it and go to bed where I would sweat a lot, but would be better in the AM.

I did and was. Any idea on what it may have contained.

Respectfully,

K.C. Mosier

Dear Dr. Kim, my daughter was prone to tonsillitis. We have cured many a bout with a home remedy that was a variation of yours: a hot drink made with lemon juice, honey, and as much cayenne as the patient can stand.
Depending on what's in the house, ACV or fake lemon juice can be substituted.

Dear Dr. Kim I am extremely allergic to cayenne pepper, hot sauce and Chilli's If someone has any of these products brings them in the house I get deathly sick and my face swells up and I get a rash all over my body and I don't have to be anywhere near it I can be on the third floor of my house with the door shut and them in the kitchen so for me this isn't any good but if you aren't severely allergic to any of these I know many people who use what you say to use and are helped greatly but I can't be anywhere near them. For a sore throat I eat a strong small onion at the first sign of the sore throat and it takes the soreness away and use honey and lemon for the cold and also bilberry juice made from the concentrated juice and it helps greatly for me.