3 Vinegar Sore-Throat Soothers

Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is one of Mother Nature’s most potent sore-throat relievers (whether the pain is caused by strep or a virus). You can put this valiant vanquisher to work in three ways:

Drink it. Mix 1 tablespoon each of ACV and raw honey in 1 cup of warm water, and sip the potion slowly. Repeat as desired once or twice a day.

Gargle it. Mix 2 teaspoons of ACV in 8 ounces of warm water, and proceed as follows: Gargle a mouthful of the solution, and spit it out. Then swallow a mouthful. Keep alternating until the glass is empty. Wait 60 minutes, and go at it again. Continue as needed until you’ve put your pain out to pasture.

Wear it. Just before bedtime, saturate a soft cotton cloth in a solution made from 2 tablespoons of ACV mixed with ⅔ cup of warm water. Ring out the cloth, put it on your throat, and secure it with a strip of dry gauze or an elastic bandage, and leave it in place overnight. By morning, your throat should feel much better. Repeat as necessary.

NOTE: For this and any other medicinal purpose, always use raw, organic, unfiltered apple cider vinegar (available in health-food stores and in the health-food sections of most supermarkets). The clear, filtered kind that’s generally found with the salad dressings in the main grocery store aisles has been stripped of the enzymes and friendly bacteria that give ACV its miraculous healing power.

Sip This Super Juice to Stop a Spring Cold

It’s an annual thing for me — the spring cold. It’s never bad enough to send me to bed or make me cancel my plans, but boy is it annoying. I was complaining about it to my neighbor the other day between sniffles, and she told me that she rarely catches a cold. Her secret? Apple cider vinegar!

There are so many varieties of vinegar out there — why is apple cider vinegar suddenly the healthy DIY darling? It turns out that apple cider vinegar, mixed into water, can help solve a myriad of nagging health problems.

My neighbor mixes the stuff with equal amounts of honey and warm water, then stirs in ¼ teaspoon of mashed fresh ginger and takes 1 teaspoon three times a day whenever she feels a cold coming on—and she starts feeling better right away.

Since I already had a full-blown cold, she recommended something a little more powerful. Here’s her recipe for Super Juice—but don’t be fooled by the delicious, sweet-tart taste. It’s a cold killer (and it’ll do a number on a hangover, too, I’m told)!

Ingredients:

½ cup of unfiltered apple cider vinegar

¼ cup of 100 percent organic grape or apple juice

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of raw honey (or more to taste)

½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon

2 cups of water

Mix all of the ingredients thoroughly in a pitcher or large jar. Store it tightly covered in the refrigerator, and serve it in ice-filled glasses anytime you want a super-refreshing and super-healthy pick-me-up.

I’m feeling better already!