For thousands of years people have been using natural ingredients to soothe and treat health ailments. Many of these things can be found in the average person’s kitchen, including lemons, salt, and pepper.
There are benefits to using the lemon juice and the peel for the antioxidants it contains and the way it cuts through congestion. Salt is great at drawing water out of the body’s tissues, which can reduce both inflammation and the pain caused by inflammation. There are two main kinds of pepper used in home remedies, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Both contain antioxidants and flavinoids good for your immune system. They can also ease pain, encourage the digestive tract, and break up mucus.
Sore Throat
A mixture of warm lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper can help soothe a sore throat and may even help you to get over it faster. Lemon juice is a weak acid, which helps break up mucus in the throat. It’s also a natural antiseptic and contains the antioxidant Vitamin C. Salt draw water from swollen tissues in the throat, which can provide some relief from inflammation. Cayenne pepper contains capsaicin, which can act as a mild pain reliever, if you can stand to gargle or sip it.
Nosebleed
Apply some lemon juice on a piece of cotton ball, dilute with a little iced water and place it in the affected nostril. Tilt your head slightly backwards to stop the flow of blood. Ideally you should lie on a high pillow. The nose bleed will stop immediately.
Nausea
The strong, pungent scent of lemon is able to help ease nausea, and it encourages constriction of the gastric tissues to move whatever is causing you trouble into the digestive tract. Cayenne pepper also helps stimulate gastric secretions and the movement of the esophagus. A small amount of salt in a cup of water may also help by drawing toxins from the stomach tissues that may be causing nausea. However, don’t drink a lot of salt water, because that can cause problems too.
Nasal Problems
Salt water is useful for helping open up the sinuses. Distilled warm water with salt dissolved in it can open up the sinus tissues and flush out mucus when applied with a neti pot. The smell of lemon can open up blocked sinuses, but don’t snort it. Drinking something with cayenne or black pepper in it can encourage the nose to run, and loosen dried mucus.
Asthma
Habitually using lemon and lemon juice may help with asthma by adding Vitamin C to your diet. This vitamin boosts the immune system and might make it less susceptible to the factors that cause an asthma flare-up. Black pepper and cayenne pepper also contain antioxidants that strengthen the immune system. Don’t forget to incorporate them into your meals.
Toothache
To treat toothache, mix 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper with 1/2 teaspoon of clove oil. Apply the remedy to the sore tooth and gum. This remedy will help relieve pain and protect you from infections.
Cold and Flu
When you mix in a little black pepper with your lemon and salt, you’ll get the benefits of the virus and bacteria fighting antioxidants and flavinoids it contains. Lemon backs it up with punch of Vitamin C. Both the black pepper and salt help break up some of the mucus in the throat. Of course, these three ingredients can ease the other symptoms of a cold or flu, such as nausea, sore throat, sinus issues, or just feeling blue because of it.
Canker sores
Mix one tablespoon of salt into a cup of warm water and swish the mixture in your mouth after every meal. This will kill the harmful bacteria and encourage speedy healing.
References: recipes.timesofindia.com, positivemed.com/
