One a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
We all know the feeling. Maybe your throat gets hot and swollen, or you start sneezing excessivly within a given day. Maybe you wake up super tired or your eyes are red and burning. And then you think to yourself...CRAP it's coming. I am getting sick.
This happened to me about a year ago. I was at work...my throat was hot and uncomfortable, and I started to get that defeated feeling when you know a cold is coming full force. My usual protocol is to take Zicam (which does work wonders btw) and maybe NyQuil at night if needed. But on this particular occasion I happened to be on the phone with my Mom. "Ugh I'm getting sick," I told her.
"Well try this," she said. "I just saw this on Facebook."
So my wonderful Mother sends me over a text message with a picture of a cup of tea with four simple ingredients on it:
Lemon 2Tbsp, Honey 2Tbsp, Apple Cider Vinegar 2Tbsp, and a dash of Cinnamon. Add to hot water.
The caption read "Drink if you have a sore throat. You will feel better within an hour."
So I thought to myself "Why not?" I went to the store, and bought the ingredients I didn't already have and made the tea. I have to say...it was delicious! Apple Cider Vinegar can be a bit daunting to some, but mixed with the other three ingredients you can't even taste it.
I woke up the next morning, and noticed that my throat was still a little swollen but no worse than the day before. Normally my symptoms would be progressing, but so far....so good! So I made myself another cup of this magical tea. I did notice that later on my nose started to run a little. But not from being sick...it was almost like the tea was making my sinuses drain.
The next day I woke up, and I felt 100% better. My throat was back to normal and the cold was averted. I couldn't believe it! Take that germs...HA! I couldn't wait to tell my husband what had happened...that I had taken this tea with these simple ingredients and it cured me!
Since that day, I make this tea for my husband and myself every single morning. It is the first thing that I do when I roll out of bed (well after I check my emails and Facebook) and I drink it on an empty stomach to start my day. We even bring these ingredients with us when we travel! I cannot express to you how much this has changed my life. My husband and I have thwarted more colds and flus than our peers, and I have others who have followed suit with the same success!
I started to wonder....what is it about these ingredients that makes them so potent? So I started to do some research:
Lemon: ~turns body alkaline ~flu fighter ~ antioxidant ~ high vitamin C ~ anti-bacterial
Honey: ~anti-bacterial ~anti-fungal ~ reduce cough and throat irritation ~Probiotic
Apple Cider Vinegar: ~kills bacteria ~helps with diabetes ~helps with weight loss
Cinnamon: ~medicinal properties ~antioxidant ~anti-inflammatory
**There are many more benefits to these ingredients but too many to list here**
WOW. No wonder this tea was kicking my colds ass! It is full of anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties! I have also read that apple cider vinegar wards off all kinds of flus including the stomach flu. #winning
So it has been a year since we started this tea...and it has been working like a charm. But I have to say that one other thing has happened. In my life I have been super prone to Urinary Tract Infections. So much so that my doctor had given me an anti-biotic to take as a prophylactic (not something I was too excited about). But since I have started to drink this tea, I have not had one UTI, and I was able to toss those antibiotics right into the garbage!
I researched some more and found articles that show that Apple Cider Vinegar actual prevents and cures urinary tract infections! But this is a topic for another day...
So ladies and gentlemen, get your tea on. With these all natural ingredients you will not only be warding off those germs, but maybe you'll lose a few pounds as well...and...well.... that never hurts.
<3 P.S. A lot of these ingredients help to turn the body alkaline which is a MAJOR plus. Look for a future blog on Alkalinity and how it benefits us.