No matter how healthy your diet and how much exercise you get, everyone gets sick from time to time.
It can be disappointing when your doctor tells you to try the same medicines that have been sitting in your bathroom cabinet for years, knowing that you'll still feel awful for days. Luckily, there's always a natural remedy you can try.
These foods - which you probably already have in your fridge and pantry - have been proven to help cure medical conditions as well or better than regular medicine. Learn what you've been missing all these years before you get sick again!
1. Use garlic on a sore throat
It's good for more than keeping vampires away. Garlic can actually fix another pain in your neck: a sore throat. If you press garlic and mix it with warm water then drink it, the garlic will kill the bacteria in your throat that's causing the discomfort.
2. Prunes for constipation
You may already know this about prunes, but if you're only drinking prune juice you're not getting the full effect. Prunes are natural laxatives and so is their juice, but the fruit itself is full of tough fibers that don't break down in your stomach acid. Eat one a day and it will push everything through and keep you feeling regular.
3. Foods with calcium for PMS
Along with changes in their brain's chemistry, women suffering from PMS experience lowered levels of calcium in their blood. So if you're feeling upset you can reach for the ice cream or broccoli, both of which are full of calcium.
4. Take dark chocolate for a cough
One of chocolate's ingredients is theobromine, which has actually been shown to cure a cough more effectively than some real medicines. So next time you reach for the cough syrup break yourself a Kit Kat instead.
Click the next page for more cures, including how to deal with cramps and heartburn!
5. Eat apples to calm your heartburn
The pain you feel during heartburn is caused by stomach acid backing up, which is why apples are a genius cure. These fruits are full of pectin, which soaks up the acid and gives you relief.
If your heartburn is still giving you trouble, there's a list of foods doctors say you should avoid at all costs.
These soothing drinks will also give you relief from whatever tummy trouble you're suffering from.
6. Use oatmeal on all sorts of rashes
This breakfast classic may be bland, but it has other uses. It's anti-inflammatory, which makes it helpful to soothe both eczema and regular rashes. Grind some up, mix it with warm water and rub it on.
7. Take ginger for menstrual cramps
For hundreds of years natural healers have used this plant to fight all kinds of inflammation, including arthritis and joint pain. It also improves your blood flow, so it's doubly effective when you're feeling the pain of menstrual cramps. You can make a tasty, soothing tea from the roots and drink it for relief.
