My All Natural Cold Remedy - Tastes Great Too!!

Its that time of year again and cold season is in full swing especially after all the Christmas parties and visits from relatives en mass.

When i was a kid my mom made sure to feed my brother and I vitamin C and echinacea every chance she could get in the hopes of bolstering our immune systems in the hopes that we wouldn't get sick. This worked just fine with my brother but it was almost impossible to ward the colds off in my case as I was lucky enough to inherit the asthma gene from my dads side of the family and the crummy immune system and weedy lungs that go along with it. In an average year it would not be unusual for me to get anywhere upwards of 5-6 colds sometimes one after another and increasingly nasty as my poor battered immune system tried to keep up.

At the time there were not so many cold & flu products on the market that were safe for me to take and all but one or two that were available (one being straight forward paracetamol) were aspirin based (Aspirin based products thin the blood and increase an asthmatics risk of suffering an attack)

Finally after many years of unpleasant colds that would land me in bed for days or even weeks in some cases unable to breath properly (and one case of acute tonsillitis that had me hospitalized for 3 days and at deaths door for weeks after...yep i was that kid!!) along came my first salvation in the form of day and night nurse capsules. My colds went from 2-3 weeks worth of extreme suffering and enforced bed rest down to 1-2 weeks of moderate suffering and almost no days at all stuck in bed bored out of my skull!

Needless to say it has been a life long battle by the whole family to discover the best remedy to aid my weedy lungs and ensure at least some Christmas holidays not spent listening to me hack up my lungs and ladling soup down my throat.

Around three years ago I found the closest thing to an answer to my cold and flu nightmares in the forms of a magic recipe...initially said recipe was simply me in desperation combining everything i could think of that might help me recover in a large pan with little to no thought or interest in to how it would taste but all this time later I've managed to refine it somewhat and (as long as you enjoy spicy food) it tastes pretty darn good if i do say so myself!! In the last 3 years I have had only two colds!! I now make sure to have this soup once or twice a month as a preventative...sometimes more because i am slightly addicted to it at this point :}

If you don't like spicy food don't despair though as neither do my mom or brother and after seeing for themselves how good this stuff is on the cold & flu front i have managed to convert them too (at least as far as its use as a remedy goes)

OK so here it is....

1 medium sized pan full of either the stock of your choice or boiling water and a few spoons of your favorite soup base powder (I like the hot and sour soup base by McCormick best but a nice veggie stock comes in a close second and if you want to cheat and use Oxo cubes or the like i won't hold it against you as they are nice too!)

1 or 2 hot red chili peppers diced complete with seeds (the local ones here are lovely and hot and for this recipe the hotter the better) you can also use chili flakes or chili sauce but the fresher and least interfered with options are always the best as far as nutrients go.

1-2 cloves of garlic diced (apologies to your significant others for that one!!)

1 cup of peas (fresh is best but frozen isn't too far behind)

1 cup of fresh sprouted lentils

2 cups of julienne carrots (the width you cut them is down to your own taste i prefer mine about the size of 4 match sticks put together)

1 tablespoon of olive oil (i add a dash of sesame oil too for flavour)

1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder)

1cm piece of fresh root ginger diced (or 1/2 tsp ginger powder)

*Optional extra - good for those who suffer with spicy things - a couple or three loaded dessert spoons of natural unsweetened yogurt or creme fraiche to creamy it up and cool it off a little*

Bring all of this to the boil and serve with or without croutons and in no time at all your airways will be open and the gunge beaten back for a time at least.

If you are wondering why this combination is so good here are a few reasons why...

1. A single average sized chili pepper contains around 110mg of vitamin c while a whole orange only contains around 70mg.

2. Chilies contain a substance called capsaicin (this is the source of the heat) and capsaicin is a natural anti inflammatory which is not only fab at reducing your cold symptoms but will take a good crack at any recent injuries or arthritic pain at the same time.

3. Capsaicin also acts as a pain blocker so gets straight to work on your sore throat and aching head.

4. Chili, as i mentioned above, is great at clearing up all that nasty congestion so it clears out your nasal passages and helps you to breath more easily.

5. Capsaicin is what they call a thermogenic compound so in simple terms it increases your metabolism helping your body to fight back at the cold (and as a post Christmas bingeing bonus it also helps you to burn off that extra fat at the same time)

6. When it comes to garlic raw would be best as raw garlic contains more of the allicins which help fight cold symptoms and lower the viral load in your body. I don't think i am alone though in preferring my garlic at least slightly cooked and studies indicate that there is still a lot of the good stuff left in cooked garlic.

7. Allicins are thought to help certain types of white blood cells improving their response when they encounter viruses so garlic boosts your immune system.

8. As well as being antiviral garlic is also anti fungal and antibacterial making it a super soldier against common colds or flu.

9. Carrots are important in repairing and maintaining your mucus membrane in your respiratory tract amongst other things so definitely a good one to have on your side.

10. Peas, as well as being jammed full of useful micro nutrients peas contain a very high level of antioxidants such as flavinoids and phenolic acid which help towards a strong immune system.

11. Lentil sprouts are a fantastic source of protein as well as many other micro-nutrients so they help to give your body the energy it needs to fight off the virus.

12. Olive oil contains the compound oleocanthal which is a natural pain killer and acts in a similar fashion to the aspirin and ibuprofen that are included in most over the counter cold and flu remedies. Needless to say olive oil is far better for your body as well as tasting much nicer and working fast to coat and sooth a sore throat.

13. Cinnamon is highly antioxidant as well as being anti bacterial and anti fungal. It also acts as an anti inflammatory, anti microbial and immune system booster.

14. Ginger contains the compound gingerol which, like cinnamon, makes it a fantastic anti inflammatory and antioxidant add to this it is also good at preventing nausea and vomiting so definitely a useful addition to the brew especially for anyone with full on flu.

15. And last but not least water. When you have a cold or flu it is vital to stay properly hydrated to give your body the best chance of fighting it off. plenty of water will help you stay hydrated and even help to clear congestion so plenty of water and plenty of this soup and you will be on your feet again in no time at all!!

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