Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sore Throat (only for adults, please):
1 shot whiskey
1 or 2 TBSP honey
1 whole lemon, cut into thin slices
1 sprig fresh mint (optional, but nice for soothing flavor)

Place all in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly until the liquid begins to steam just a little bit. Take about a teaspoon every couple of minutes. This will help clear out mucous, but in a gentler way than it would do without the honey. Also, the whiskey will help you not care quite so much about your sore throat. wink

General Malaise:
1 bouillon cube (I use chicken or beef, but vegetable bouillon is perfectly suitable for vegetarians)
1/4 C water
1 C tomato juice
1 small celery stick (optional garnish)

Place water and bouillon cube in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat and stir until bouillon is dissolved, then add tomato juice. Serve with celery stick for crunching. The salty bouillon cube and hearty juice will give a good, strong flavor, perfect for when you can't taste anything, while the heat stirs the blood and heats you from the inside. Very comforting, this drink. The celery stick is mostly for garnish, but eating it will help you, since it's a vegetable.

Cold Remedy:
1 pot strong chamomile tea
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 TBSP honey (optional, but nice)
1/2 C Heinz apple cider vinegar

Make the tea, and while it is still steaming hot, add cayenne and honey, and stir to combine. When it cools to drinkable temperature, add the vinegar, then drink about 1/4 C every 15 minutes to 1 hour. Reheat if needed, but not to the boiling point, because too much heat will destroy the vitamin C in the vinegar. The vinegar must be Heinz, since that's the brand with the most vitamin C. The cayenne pepper will stimulate blood flow and get your body into healing mode a little bit faster. The honey will make the taste of cayenne and vinegar a little more palatable. Finally, the chamomile will sooth your stomach, because cayenne and vinegar are a bit harsh for most people's systems.

Of course, the best cold remedy is rest. The cold is the body's way of forcing you to take a day off and sleep, so honor its needs and do that. Just remember to drink something every time you get up for any reason. You need at least 8 glasses of water or juice per day while you're ill, and 8 glasses of water, juice, or milk while you're well (milk products stimulate mucous production, which you don't need any help with while you've got a cold).

To bring down a fever and alleviate head aches get a bottle of White willow bark , they make it in a pill form now, but its good for general fevers and anything that makes you ache. Its in pill form but its not a pharmaceutical.

A swallow of warm salt water should help a sore throat. It'll kill the germs too.

I tried the "Sore Throat" recipe, but with rum-it totally helped. I also drank some chai tea; now I just drink it for the flavor. Although I'm better, perhaps we should keep the thread going (for reference's sake).