Natural Remedies for a Cold, Cough or, in my case, tonsillitis

So I got ill at the end of last week and it turned out to be tonsillitis.  It's taken me a few days to get better, but I thought that this would be a good time to write about the natural remedies I use to help me get over a virus, whether it's a cold, flu or even the dreaded (for me) tonsillitis.  I know this is usually something that would get written about at the beginning of winter, but, if you're anything like me, these viruses have a habit of developing throughout the year and these can be used at anytime.  The main focus here is to work on the parts that make you sore and uncomfortable, such as a blocked nose and sore throat.  

Let yourself sleep.

The best thing you can do is just let yourself sleep. I know it's difficult, especially when you have work to do and bills to pay, but it is one of the most effective ways of getting better quickly and reduces the chances of you passing on the virus to others.  Your body knows what it's doing and, in this case, if it's telling you to sleep just sleep (at any other point you might want to see your doctor though as it could be highlighting some underlying issues).  The other upside is if you're asleep you're not feeling absolutely awful.  I find I get most of my sleep when I'm ill.

Drink lots of water

It's important to remain hydrated at all times, but even more so when you have a cold.  Runny noses, increased saliva, and sweating with a temperature means that we are still losing a lot of fluid despite not doing much activity.  It will also help sooth your throat as dry tends to equal painful, and keep you feeling a little more human.

Non-alcoholic, gingery, Hot Toddy

I hate to say this, but there is no evidence that whisky has any beneficial effect on a cold other than making you 'feel' like there's nothing wrong.  The rest of the drink is effective though and one that I use regularly.  I'm going to warn you now, this is not the most delicious tasting rand I have found myself making weird, sour faced movements, but it works. This is also not vegan as it contains honey.  So this is the recipe I use:

• half a squeezed lemon
• half teaspoon of ginger puree (you can just chop up fresh ginger as well)
• 1 teaspoon of raw, cold-pressed, organic honey
• warm/ hot water
• Mix together in a mug and sip slowly

The lemon contains citrus acid which helps to break up the mucus that causes sore throats and also help with the inflammation.  It also contains antioxidants that help support the immune system and as it is a natural antiseptic is may also help towards killing the viruses.  Ginger helps to open up your sinuses, helping to clear your nose and throat, and also helps with reducing the inflammation around your throat.  Honey is very helpful ingredients when it comes to dealing with a sore throat.  If you like the taste of it you can actually just take a teaspoon of it on it's own.  It works by coating your throat and the antimicrobial properties it contains (designed to help look after the colony) work as an anti-inflammatory and there is some evidence that it may also work on the virus directly.  This will only be the case if you get the raw variety though, as any processing can denature the honey.  It is also known to act as a cough suppressant (more on that later).  Warm water will help all the ingredients dissolve easily and will also act as another level on of soothing your throat and breaking up that mucus.

Salt gargle

This is one of the oldest remedies there is, but I find it works really well.  It works by drawing water from the mucous membranes, reducing the swelling and making it feel more comfortable.  For this you need:

• half teaspoon of salt
• a mug of warm water
• Mixed together and gargle the solution for 30 seconds.  You can do this around 3 times a day, though not more as this could dry your throat out too much.

Lemon and Honey cough medicine

I seem to have this slightly odd way of doing being ill.  When I'm actually ill, and very contagious, it's not very obvious apart from the darkening of my undereye circles.  However, when I'm getting better and feeling relatively normal again, I have to blow my nose regularly, wheeze a little when I breathe, and develop of cough that sounds like I've been smoking 40 a day since I was 5 (really don't do that) despite never having smoked in my life.  I've tried every cough medicine available and none of them have had any real effect.  I usually end up having to chug the drink and that really isn't good for you.  I've found that cough pastilles are a little more effective, but I think that has more to do with the fact that you are constantly moving fluid past your throat.  Then I watched a programme on TV led by doctors which showed that cough medicines aren't actually that effective but that honey and lemon are.  So I tried it and it really does work, not only in stopping me from coughing but in reducing the length of time I cough for.  This is the recipe I use:

• two lemons
• 1 teaspoon of raw, cold pressed, organic honey
• Mix together in a pan over a low heat.  Once fully mixed pour into a mug and sip.

I'm not going to lie, this remedy doesn't taste nice either.  However, it really does work and instead of spending a week not really sleeping due to coughing I only had one restless night this time.

Taking a hot shower

I tend to prefer my showers to be slightly on the cool side, but when I'm will I happily make them hot.  The heat on your chest and back is very soothing and I find helps me breath a little easier, but the main benefit is the steam which helps relieve congestion and also works towards soothing a sore throat.  I tend to stand there taking deep breathes through my nose (if possible) and mouth, and definitely notice a reduction in the pressure along my sinuses. This could also be done in a hot bath, but I'm really not a bath person.  

If the idea of taking your toasty clothes off and getting wet really doesn't seem appealing then you can also do a facial steam.  Fill a bowl with boiling water, drape a towel over your head and put your face over the pot.  Then just breath as normally as possible for as long as you can handle.  You can also add a few drops of peppermint or eucalyptus essential oil to the bowl which will help sooth your throat and chest in the same way a vapour rub does.  I've also heard of this being recommended to people who aren't actually ill but are looking after those who are as a way of reducing the chance of falling foul of the virus yourself.

The only non-natural product I add to this is paracetamol, which I use mainly to help control my temperature and deal with the headaches I also get when I'm ill.  Any old paracetamol will do though and I really don't spend money on the fancy, pricey ones with the added ingredient of caffeine.  However, I mainly rely on these recipes and my bodies own natural abilities to deal with germs to help me get through being unwell and to speed up the process of getting better.  The best part is that I tend to already have these items in my kitchen cupboards and don't need to venture out to find them.  

I feel that I should put a little side note here as I often have people complain to me that their doctor didn't give them antibiotics when they had a cold.  Antibiotics only work on bacteria, not viruses, and are therefore completely ineffective when it comes to having a cold, flu, or tonsillitis.  You would, however, still get the unpleasant side effects.  The only time doctors usually give out antibiotics in these cases is if they feel you have something called strep throat or if you've developed a chest infection.

I hope that these recipes might also help you feel a little better and let me know if you have any natural remedies of your own. 

UK Budget 2016 - what does it mean for the environment

[Apologies, this blog should have been up on Sunday, but had some difficulties.  All is now well and will be posting again on Sunday as usual]

You would be forgiven for thinking that this year would be the year of the 'green' budget.  After all, the Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom did say that the UK would put in law a long term goal to reduce carbon emissions to zero, in keeping with the Paris climate deal, and George Osborne himself states that this would be the Budget that 'puts the next generation first'.  So it was a bit of a disappointment when the full budget was released.  There was some good points, but these were unfortunately few and far between.

Let's start with the good:

• the National infrastructure Commission's report into the UK's future low-carbon energy system has lead the the Budget allocating at least £50m to innovations in energy storage, demand-side response and other smart technologies for the next 5 years.
• £730m will be dedicated the the new Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction for offshore wind and 'other less-established technologies', which is double that put aside in the first CfD auction.
• additional spending of over £700m will be made on flood defences and resilience by 2010-2021.  This will hopefully increase the chances of us coping with one of the greatest risks to the UK from Climate Change.
• there is a small mention of measures to support the transition to a cleaner, zero and ultra-low emission vehicles.

And now for the bad:

• there is a reduction in the plastic packaging recycling targets, which have gone from 57% by 2017 to 49% by 2017 and only a 2% increase each year until 2020 only reaching 57%.
• the landfill tax has also been changed so that the cost will increase in accordance to the retail price index.  This means that landfill costs will not be expensive enough to discourage the use of them.
• the Government will launch the first stage of a competition to identify a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) to be built in the UK, with a SMR delivery roadmap to be published later this year.  The Budget also allocated at least £30m for the R&D in advanced nuclear manufacturing.
• the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) will be abolished from the end of 2018-2019, mainly, it would seem, because the retailers don't like it.  This will be replaced with a 'revenue-neutral' increase in the Climate Change Levy (CCL) from 2019.  This will lead to the renewable energy sector now having to pay a higher tax, as Osborne removed the CCL exemption for clean energy generation last year, which will make them more expensive.
• the Budget announced tax breaks for the oil and gas industry for the second year in a row.  The reason given is that the industry is struggling with the low oil prices, but it seems to have completely ignored the also hard-hit renewable sector and shows no support for the thousands of people who have lost their jobs in the onshore wind and solar sector.

This year's Budget has shown a Government that has failed to rise to the challenges set by the ambitious Paris Agreement.  But perhaps the strangest thing about this Budget is the lack of reference to Climate Change, arguably the greatest threat facing the next generation.  Afterall, didn't George Osborne say 'I am not prepared to look back at my time here in this parliament, doing this job and say to my children’s generation: I’m sorry. We knew there was a problem.....but we ducked the difficult decisions and we did nothing.'