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When you visit the supermarket, you probably notice a whole rack or a number of racks dedicated to various types of honey. When we’re discussing honey as a healing cure, though, it’s important that raw honey is used. Raw honey has not been “sterilized” with high heat, and it has not had anything put into it.

Raw honey varies a lot, too. There’s wildflower honey, tupelo honey, organic honey, and clover honey. A good middle road is raw wildflower honey. It has a tendency to contain the healing attributes of a number of wildflowers, and whenever you’re attempting to kill germs, the more germ-fighting constituents, the better.

How Is Honey Used?
One of the great things about honey is just how good is tastes. Children (over 1 year of age) respond well to honey as a treatment solution. Here are some of honey’s healing purposes.

* Burns – Honey has been shown in various scientific studies to be an incredibly useful burn treatment. It has a variety of anti-bacterial ingredients that have yet to result in bacterial resistance, and its moist nature assists in keeping burned skin supple and minimizes moisture loss. If you use honey to treat minor burns, just spread honey over the burn and cover lightly with gauze. Honey doesn’t need to be chilled, but it feels good on a burn when it is cooled.

* Coughs and colds – Studies have shown that frequently eating raw honey aids in preventing colds. It also helps soothe coughs and sore throats. Its sticky consistency coats the throat, and has a cough-suppressing benefit. Its anti-bacterial properties help fight throat infections and upper respiratory infections. By gently heating raw honey and mixing in therapeutic herbs such as sliced ginger, steeping for a couple of hours, and straining out the herbs, you can create a healing cough syrup.

* Makeup – Honey is wonderful for dry skin due to its high moisture content, and its anti-bacterial qualities can help with skin infections like acne breakouts. Plain yogurt combined with honey makes a soothing cleanser or facial mask. Sugar mixed with raw honey and sweet almond oil makes a moisturizing exfoliator.

* Allergies – Interestingly enough, routinely consuming raw honey can prevent allergic symptoms, specifically those of hay fever. Because raw honey contains residual plant pollen and various other plant elements, the concept is that the lower levels of exposure – just like occurs with allergy injections – might minimize sensitivity to standard allergens.

* Wound treatment – Some fascinating studies have shown that honey is a wonderful wound healer, especially for diabetics who may have problems with minor injuries developing into ulcers. It could even minimize scarring damage and tends to be much less painful than conventional antiseptics.

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Have you ever heard the ancient saying, “Let your medicine be your food, and food be your medicine”? It’s a wise saying by Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician, from whom originates the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors. Oddly, while modern day physicians recognize Hippocrates’ contribution to medicine by way of the Oath, the idea that our meals might be our medicine is generally not included in the practice of modern medicine.

Fortunately, foods are still “medicines,” and you can now affect your health favorably with the foods you eat. If you’d like to incorporate more healing herbs and foods to your diet, here are some tips that will help.

Herbs

The therapeutic capability of different herbs has become more and more recognized and approved. Here are some of the more readily available herbs you can include in your foods to boost their healing power.

* Ginger is an effective anti-nausea remedy and has significant antibacterial properties. The fresh root, sliced or diced, can be added to stir-fries, and can be candied and eaten out of hand.

* Oregano, a delicious herb when included with pizza, spaghetti, and so on, is considered an antioxidant. Antioxidants help clean up “free radicals” within the body, which are by-products of the body’s metabolic processes. Free radicals are suggested as a factor in the progression of arthritis and other inflammatory ailments. So sprinkle this herb on regular meals that are Italian or Greek in flavor.

* Rosemary is another antioxidant herb, and may help enhance memory and prevent cataracts. It could even help stop the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Rosemary is very good when included in meat marinades and sprinkled on dishes like pizza, focaccia, or pasta.

* Turmeric is commonly found in Indian curries. It has a yellowish color and earthy flavor, and is said to help reduce the pain and inflammation of arthritis. Turmeric can be put into soups and stews, curries, stir-fries, and other meals.

Foods

The meals you eat – not only the herbs and spices you use – might help heal, too. Here are some recommendations.

* Garlic is a powerful preventer of the common cold and flu, and possesses anti-fungal and antimicrobial properties. You could make garlic sauce for pasta, add it to a pot of soup, and base many meals around this basic food.

* Onions are similar to garlic in their healthful properties. They are maybe even more adaptable; they are often made into a meal on their own or combined with other ingredients.

* Berries are renowned for their antioxidant potential. Add berries to salads or munch on them out of hand. You can even freeze them and blend them into smoothies.

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Acne breakouts are the kind of dilemma that can strike at almost any age, it seems. While we tend to connect it with teenagers, it can flare at several other times in your life. Hormones play a key role in the development of acne, as does nutrition and other variables.

You may be trying to find natural options for acne. After all, the “chemical” acne remedies sold over-the-counter might seem severe and/or inadequate. Here are some tips for natural remedies for acne, regardless of what age you are.

Take a Good quality Multi-vitamin

Lots of people are lacking in crucial vitamins and minerals. Among those nutrients most important for the treatment and protection against acne are Vitamin A, zinc, Vitamin E, selenium, and chromium. If you can’t locate a supplement with all of these nutrients, you can take a few of these individually, or increase your dietary intake of these important vitamins and minerals.

Diet

The role of the diet is somewhat questionable with regard to managing acne breakouts. For example, the great chocolate dilemma – does eating it trigger acne? – has never really been resolved. Nevertheless, given the role that vitamins and minerals play in preventing and curing acne, it seems sensible that a nutritious diet is important in managing this problem. To illustrate:

* Specialists advise reducing dairy products, particularly milk, as the hormones and trans-fatty acids it contains could worsen acne.

* Processed sugar has been said to exacerbate acne. Sources point to sugar’s effect on the body’s insulin manufacturing, and the link between effective sugar metabolism and skin health. Studies have shown an improvement in acne when individuals were given insulin injections. Because most people can’t inject ourselves with insulin – nor is this advisable for non-diabetics – it makes better sense to eliminate refined sugar and the increased need for insulin that it leads to.

* Fresh, healthy foods are implicated in the management of acne. Processed foods often contain artificial dyes and preservatives, which have been revealed to affect hormone levels in the human body. Given the role of hormones in acne, it makes sense to avoid such artificial substances.

Natural and/or Homemade Skin cleansers

Helping your acne get better includes applying treatments to your face. Sulfur-containing soap and cleansers may help a great deal, and are available at several natural health stores for less than $10. Here are some homemade options too:

* Combine 2 tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt with 1 teaspoon of raw honey. Put this on your face as a cleanser or to clean skin and rub softly. Leave it on your face for as long as possible, as much as 15 minutes. Then rinse off with warm water. Yogurt and honey both assist in balancing bacterial activity on the skin.

* Mash rolled oats in your blender until they are a fine powder. Blend the oatmeal with sufficient water to make a paste and put it on the problem areas. Leave on for a bit, then rinse. Alternatively, you can blend the oatmeal flour with plain yogurt.

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Headaches can be incapacitating at the worst and a nagging annoyance at best. They can impact work and school productivity, and a bad headache can just put you out of commission, regardless of your profession. Taking medications will help alleviate discomfort, but some of these pain-killers have side effects (such as stomach pain) and, if taken for a long time, pain relievers can cause a rebound effect (in the form of another headache) once you quit taking them.

Some of the common causes of headaches are muscle tension, dilation and constriction of the blood vessels within the brain, food sensitivities, and hormonal fluctuations. Once you’ve seen your doctor and have ruled out anything serious, there are a few all-natural strategies to headache alleviation that you can try.

1. Cramp Bark (Vibernum opulus)

As the name of the herb suggests, Cramp bark will help relieve muscle tension and cramps. Vibernum prunifolium can also be sold as “Cramp bark,” however it is normally made use of to relieve uterine cramping. Cramp bark (Vibernum opulus) is touted as a prevention and remedy for muscle stress headaches. It is frequently used tablet form, but a tea made from the bark can also be consumed.

2. Massage

The calming effect of massage will help ease muscle stress and increase blood circulation, both of which might help headaches. There are massages you can do on your own in your own home or ask another person to do them, or you can go to a professional for headache pain relief and prevention.

3. Chiropractic

Muscle tension can cause bone and joint misalignment, say chiropractic professionals, and then the misalignment exasperates the muscle tension as muscles attempt to draw the bones back into alignment. Having an adjustment at a chiropractor brings almost instant headache pain relief, and seeing the chiropractor regularly (say once a month) can help stave off future headaches.

4. Feverfew

This daisy-like little flower is regarded by many herbalists to be a very effective remedy for headaches, especially migraines. While there are numerous ways to use it, capsules are the easiest and have the fewest negative effects. You may take feverfew on a regular basis to prevent migraine episodes.

5. Willow

You might have heard about white willow for relief of pain; but in fact, various willow (Salix) species can help reduce discomfort. The forerunner to aspirin, the inner bark of the white willow can provide pain relief for headaches. It also has an anti-inflammatory effect. White willow (and other willow bark) is generally consumed supplements.

6. Stress Management

It’s generally understood that tension and headaches are interconnected. Participating in regular stress relief may help stop the onset of headaches. Stretching, meditation, Yoga, Pilates, and other strategies may help align the body and reduce stress.

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A virus is entirely different than bacteria. Many people are much more fearful of viruses since antibiotics haven’t any impact on them. The interesting and helpful factor is that certain herbs do have antiviral action, and several of them are widely available. Below are a few of them.

Lemon Balm

Throughout Germany, the antiviral effects of lemon balm are well-documented, and products made from the herb are given for herpes virus outbreaks and cold sores. Lemon balm is very simple to cultivate in a garden – a little too simple, actually, as it tends to take over when not contained.

Lemon balm will make a very good tea, and can be consumed to combat all sorts of viral infections, such as colds and flu. The tea or even a cream can be applied on cold sores or other viral lesions, for example shingles or chicken pox.

Astragalus

An immune boosting herb referred to as huang qi in Chinese medicine is not as popular in other countries. The root is sweet, similar to licorice, to which it is related. It’s been shown to be an effective antiviral herb, especially in the prevention of the common cold and flu virus, and may even perform well against the Coxsackie B virus (this virus can lead to an inflammation of the heart).

You can simmer slices of the root in water to make a therapeutic drink, or use the commercially available tincture. It is generally agreed that astragalus should be taken as a deterrent instead of once the illness is under way, so if you feel you’ve been subjected, or perhaps you experience the initial twinges of sickness, you can start using astragalus.

Garlic

No discussion of antiviral herbs could be complete without talking about garlic, an organic herb that is antiviral, antibacterial, as well as antifungal. It isn’t costly, and you may use the entire herb or use capsules. However, a great number of experts agree that “deodorized” garlic is probably not as effective as the unaltered natural herb.

You could simmer chopped garlic in chicken broth and drink it to stave off the common cold and flu virus. Raw, minced garlic can be sprinkled over salads and eaten with pastas. Be cautious with consuming too much of it raw, however, since it could trigger serious nausea or vomiting when used in this manner.

Ginger

In the past, ginger was regarded as a “warming” herb that could hinder queasiness from a “chilled stomach,” which was said to take place any time large amounts of cold water were consumed in warm weather. Now that we know that ginger has highly effective anti-nausea action, and it is also anti-viral.

Teas created from fresh ginger are tasty and spicy. You could sweeten them with raw honey for added germ-fighting benefits and taste. Whenever you notice the very first stages of a cold or flu virus, try sipping some of this tea several times daily. You can even drink it as a deterrent if you feel you may have been in contact with any viruses. Ginger is considered very safe; however, it is not appropriate for women who are pregnant.

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