Natural Anti Allergy Cure and Relief from Colds and the Flu
During the rainy season in tropical South East Asia, it may be smart health practice to include eating raw onions as part of one's diet. Onions are delicious as freshly cut slices in one's pizza, spaghetti, hamburger or beef steak dish or even as batter-fried onion rings, but eating raw onions on their own may be an acquired taste for most.
Image Credit: Jonathunder for WikiCommons CC BY-SA 3.0 Onions as comfort food: Fried onion rings in batter
Nevertheless, a whole onion in one's diet a day will do more than strengthen your body resistance and help cleanse your liver. Onions can be used to help cure colds, fevers and the flu. They can also be used to remove smells from damp rooms and moldy smells from socks or garments.
In Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, an onion poultice for the chest or feet to cure coughs, fevers and flus has been effective therapy for centuries. The onion poultice can also be used like ginger as an anti-inflammatory healing agent to reduce pain and swelling in the joints. Ancient Greeks also rubbed onions on sore muscles to relieve lactic acid build-up while Native American Indians used the same therapies the Chinese use to ward off the common cold and flu.
Naturopathic doctors are recommending raw onions as part of one's diet and as remedies for ailments and the practice is no longer looked at as a quack cure or a hoax since it has been effective for centuries as a remedy, with scientific research only recently validating why rural communities around the world have been using onions as part of their cold and flu cure remedies. Unfortunately, some people are allergic to onions, so it may not be a cure-all for those who are specifically allergic to them.
The simple onion soup (boiled onion broth and potatoes) like the ubiquitous ginger chicken (tinola) soup is now considered a good practice for aiding recovery from colds and flu or for preventing stress during rainy season when the air is damp and germs may proliferate in humid conditions. Prevention of the flu is better than spending a huge sum for flu shots which may actually be more harmful to your body.
Onions are powerful antihistamine agents and relieve allergic congestion and asthma. In fact, the World Health Organization has officially recognized the onion for its ability to not just relieve but help cure flu symptoms such as cough, congestion, respiratory infections and bronchitis.
The detoxifying power of onions is also potent when treating viruses and other ailments and illnesses by absorbing aerial germs when placing sliced portions in an open bowl in sickrooms of hospitals.
From an early 1900’s L.A. Times newspaper article, advice for countering flu epidemics or flu season was offered using onions as a detox remedy:
“In a sickroom you cannot have a better disinfectant than the onion. It has a wonderful capacity for absorbing germs. A dish of sliced onions placed in a sickroom will draw away the disease; they must be removed as soon as they lose their odor and become discolored, and be replaced by fresh ones.”
Among the Amish, whose traditions date back to the 16th century, winter season flus were countered by placing onions in their homes to soak up germs. They use cut onions in the room of an ill person so the vapors relieve the symptoms and ailments and help the patient recuperate faster than treat colds using prescription medicines. Health Benefits of Onions
Onions are rich in sulfur-containing compounds (thiosulfinates, sulfoxides, and other odorous cysteine sulfoxides.) that give the cut bulbs the strong biting odor which makes your eyes sting with tears.
Sulfur is a powerful detox flavonoid that helps the body pass off and excrete toxins better, especially for the liver organ. Foods naturally high in sulfur help you detox from heavy metals like lead, arsenic and cadmium.
Thiosulfinates in health research has been shown to kill off salmonella and E. coli. Sulfuric compounds also help prevent or slow down cancer and heart disease. The sulfur compounds in onions are a great immune-boosting dietary supplement to keep one's body resistance up and prevent stress related diseases and ailments.
Onion has been revealed by health researchers to be the richest dietary source of Quercitin. Quercitin is a powerful antioxidant flavonoid that has been shown to thin the blood, lower cholesterol, ward off blood clots, and fight asthma, chronic bronchitis, hay fever, diabetes, atherosclerosis and infections and is even linked to inhibiting certain types of cancer. Eating raw onions every now and then will help you keep stronger against stress and keeps you from catching fatigue ailments like the flu.
Cut Onions in a Bowl Absorb Germs in the Air
If you catch the flu, cold or fever, immediately place a peeled white onion cut in half in a bowl by your bed in your room.
For removing molds and allergens in your rooms, place
raw onion slices in a bowl and allow them to soak up the smells and
germs in the air. Your room will lose any dank and moldy smell in no
time. It is important to throw away the onion once it has lost its
pungent odor and replace it with freshly cut pieces or slices especially
during rainy days when the damp smell of enclosed areas may induce
asthma or other respiratory ailments.
Because onions absorb aerial germs, do not to leave a cut onion open in the fridge (to eat later) because as soon as an onion is cut, it will start to absorb bacteria which is why foods with onions spoil faster too. When you cut an onion for a salad, either use the whole thing and consume your salad immediately. Once the onion is in a salad in a sealed container, it is safe and can be eaten at a later time. But if you place foods cooked with onions in an open container they will absorb ambient germs and your food will spoil over time.
The Sock Onion as Overnight Cure for Colds
A ‘modern-day’ version of the Ayurvedic poultice is the "Sock Onion" which involves cutting a white onion in half and placing one half on the bottom of each foot so that the cut onion slices are rubbing against the skin of your feet. Placing or wearing a sock as a sleeve over the onion so it stays secure in place lets your feet soak in the vapors of the onion into your skin to help heal and detoxify your body overnight. The DIY treatment is noted to be especially good for flus and fevers as well as for people on a cleansing diet.
In the later part of the year, when rains and storms hit the Philippines, it is smart health practice to eat a whole raw onion (after peeling the skin of course) every two days or so to keep your body resistance up against stress and to help purify your blood and organs of toxins and pathogens.
Buy plenty when they're cheap. You can snack on them by frying with a batter or just eat them raw when you feel you need an extra boost to your health.
