Garlic, Honey and Coconut Oil Cold Prevention/Remedy

The last two years within a week of my husband starting his Christmas job, all three of us seem to have come down with really bad colds. This has resulted in disturbed sleep and has made it much harder to deal with the change of routine and extended working hours.

This year we decided to be proactive in trying to prevent this so he and Little Girl both took a mixture of garlic, honey and coconut oil at least once a day. (I didn't take it because it causes me to spend the next twenty minutes in the bathroom because I feel like I'm about to throw up and anyway it's always them who gets the colds first and then pass them on to me.)

About two weeks in, I had the mildest sore throat I've ever had for a couple of days and my husband had a very mild cold about the same time. Right at the end of the month, Little Girl had a cold and slight cough for five days which did make us think that it hadn't been that effective but then two weeks after she caught it, the children she had caught it from were still obviously quite ill and all had terrible coughs so we concluded that it had had an effect after all.

How we make it:

1. Put 1-2 tbsp coconut oil in a jar and melt it either by leaving it on a radiator or putting it in a bowl of hot water.
2. Add 2-3 tbsp honey and stir in.
3. Add 3-4 pressed cloves of garlic.
4. Put jar in cold water and stir vigorously until mixture is emulsified.
5. Store in fridge.

Between them, coconut oil, garlic and honey have anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. From experience we have found that if we wait until we have a full blown cold it has little effect but if we catch it earlier it makes a big difference to the intensity and duration of our colds.

At the moment, Little Girl usually has one or two teaspoons a day and my husband has anything from one to four depending on how he feels and whether he remembers at the right time. It has to be taken on a full stomach because otherwise it makes you feel sick.

Since it makes me feel sick regardless of when I have it, what I usually do is wait until I think I may have a cold coming on and then I press half a clove of garlic onto my dinner plate before dishing the dinner out. Even though this is more garlic than I would have in a teaspoon of the garlic/honey/coconut oil mixture, it seems to be fine so I presume the difference is that it is more dilute when I mix it into a meal but obviously it is less convenient which is partly why I haven't been doing it all the time as a preventative measure.

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