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How to Fight Colds and the Flu with Baking Soda
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Known for centuries as a multipurpose substance that has a multitude of uses, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a staple in every household in America. Although it is thought of mainly for cooking, cleaning, and removing odors from your fridge, baking soda also has medicinal purposes that go way beyond stopping indigestion.
Baking soda can be used for brushing your teeth, or even removing splinters. It’s on the same level as hydrogen peroxide as one of the safest, yet most inexpensive, home health tools you can use. Most people find they can buy a box of baking soda for a about a dollar, so it’s only common sense that you should learn all you can about all the different ways you can use baking soda.
Baking soda, in its natural form is called nahcolite. It’s part of a natural mineral natron, which contains mostly sodium bicarbonate. Even the Egyptians used natural natron as a type of soap for cleansing. Throughout history many civilizations used baking soda in various forms to make breads and other foods that rise.
However, in 1846, John Dwight and Dr. Austin Church decided to try to manufacture and sell the baking soda you have in your kitchen today. A huge success, by the 1860’s, baking soda was being featured in well published cookbooks and in the 1930’s, was advertised everywhere as a “powerful and proven medical agent.” A stroke of marketing genius in 1972 came up with the idea of keeping a box of baking soda in your fridge to keep it smelling fresh. This idea is still popular today and chances are excellent you have one in your fridge, and maybe your freezer, right now!
Even though Arm and Hammer has been selling baking soda for more than 150 years, many people are still unaware that it can fight cold and flu symptoms like nothing else on earth.
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Photo credit: bigstock
It’s believed that, when consumed internally, baking soda maintains the proper pH balance in the bloodstream. This is the basic idea anyway, and why it is recommended to fight cold and flu symptoms. Published in 1924, a booklet entitled “Arm and Hammer Baking Soda Medical Uses”; Dr. Volney S. Cheney talks about his clinical success with baking soda in treating cold and influenza symptoms.
He states “In 1918 and 1919, while fighting the flu with the U.S. Public Health Service, it was brought to my attention that rarely anyone who had been thoroughly alkalinized with bicarbonate of soda contracted this disease, and those who did contract it, if alkalinized early, would invariably have mild attacks.”
Dr. Cheney goes on to say that he began treating people infected with cold and flu viruses using baking soda and that, for most cases, all symptoms were gone within the first 36 hours. He stated that he also believed that by taking just a bit of baking soda daily, that would be the perfect preventative against contracting cold and flus.
SEE ALSO: Not All Bacteria Are Bad: This One Will See You Through the Flu Season!
Taking baking soda is easy, inexpensive, and completely harmless. Simply dissolve the following recommended amounts in a glass of cold water and drink it. The recommendations given back in 1925 were:
- The First Day – Take ½ teaspoon of baking soda every two hours for a total of 6 doses
- The Second Day – Take ½ teaspoon every two hours for a total of 4 doses
- The Third Day – Take ½ teaspoon in the morning and again before bed
- After this, take ½ teaspoon every morning until all symptoms subside, or continue to consume this same amount for protection from further infection.
As always, rather than get a toxic flu shot every year, your best protection from the flu or cold germs is to keep your immune system strong by eating a healthy, plant based diet. When you take good care of your mind and body, through sleep, nutrition, exercise, and relaxation, you will keep most illnesses out of your life.
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