Remedies For Holiday Overindulgences

Remedies For Holiday Overindulgences
By Linda Tremer, Wellness Coach

Overindulging this holiday season can disrupt the digestive system. It may lower your immunity and make you susceptible to colds and flu. Fortunately, there are some home remedies you can try to take the sting out of the holiday excesses.

For occasional heartburn and indigestion try drinking a large glass of water. If that doesn’t help mix one half a teaspoon of baking soda in 8 ounces of water and drink it. Baking soda is an antacid and will help indigestion and heartburn. Slippery elm lozenges are better than the drug store remedies for heartburn.

Sometimes eating the wrong foods causes constipation. Increase your fiber intake. Take psyllium husks. Be sure to drink lots of water when you use fiber supplements. Eat more raw vegetables and fruit. Prunes and figs are gentle laxatives. And don’t forget the old standby beans.

Without a doubt, the holiday pressures can cause stress. It’s easy to get overextended this time of year. The shopping, the cooking, the cleaning, the crowds, the noise, the bills, and the unrealistic expectations of the holidays are all stressful. The letdown after the holidays can also contribute to stress. Stress can affect different areas of the body. It also lowers your immunity.

Did you know the B complex vitamins will help your body cope with stress? Homeopathic stress relief remedies available at health food stores are very helpful in relieving stress. Sit back, put your feet up and relax for 15 minutes while sipping a cup of chamomile tea.

Make time for exercise. Exercise is a great stress reliever. The holiday party scene and shopping can result in lack of sleep. Lack of sleep causes stress and short tempers. Make a real effort to get enough sleep throughout the holiday season.

If the holiday pressures have gotten to you and you succumb to the common cold there are some things you can do to get back on track. Use Zicam. This is a cotton swab with zinc gel on the tip. You swab the inside of your nose with it. This can lessen the duration of the cold. If used in time you can stop a cold in its tracks.

It is a known fact that increasing your vitamin C intake at the first sign of a cold will lessen the symptoms.

Eat a clove or two of raw garlic. Garlic will kill viruses and bacteria. As an added benefit the garlic on your breath will cause some people to tend to stay away from you thus keeping you from getting their germs. Someone once recommended garlic tea to me. I've never tried it but it might be worth looking into.

Put some dried thyme or eucalyptus oil in a bowl, pour boiling water over it. Put a towel over your head and the bowl, be careful not to tip the boiling water over you and inhale the steam. The steam will kill viruses and help to relieve nasal congestion.

Sometimes we think we have the flu and we really have a case of food poisoning. For a mild case of food poisoning, use charcoal tablets. They will absorb the toxic substances from the body.

For a hangover try the baking soda remedy above. If you are restricting your sodium, you might not want to use baking soda. Alcohol dehydrates the body. It is a diuretic. Drink lots of water before drinking alcoholic beverages and the day after. Peppermint may help the nausea that occurs with a hangover. Ginger is also very useful for nausea.

Researchers have found that your pounding hangover headache is usually from dehydration. So rehydrate, not with more alcohol but with plain old water. While drinking, eat foods that absorb the alcohol like cheese.

Eating anything and everything overtaxes the digestive system. Drinking to excess and the pressures of the season contribute to stress and disease. Stock up on these home remedies before you need them. If you overindulge this holiday season whether it is alcohol, food or stress, there is a home remedy worth trying. These remedies are not for critical, serious or unusual conditions. Please consult you doctor before trying them.

Always check with your doctor before taking supplements.

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