Winter has come to a close, and along with warmer temperatures and longer days, that means one important thing: fewer cases of colds and flu! So what can you do if you have one last, lingering winter cold that just won’t go away?

For starters, you can soothe your sore throat. There are lots of things you can do to make your throat feel better, like sucking on lozenges and hard candies, using a humidifier, or having some chicken soup. Here are a couple of other things you can try:

 Peppermint tea: Peppermint contains menthol, which is thought to reduce congestion and thin out mucus. Mint can also soothe your throat by cooling or numbing it – think of all the mint-flavoured cough drops on sale at your local store!

 Honey, ginger, and lemon: These foods are each potent cold-fighters in their own right – imagine the three of them combined! You can make a soothing tea by steeping ginger in hot water and adding lemon juice and honey. The ginger adds spice, the lemon adds vitamin C, and the honey provides cough relief.

When I think of honey, my mind can’t help but conjure up cozy images of Winnie the Pooh, hot tea, and picnics from The Wind in the Willows. It’s all too sweet, I know. I also remember the gooey, sticky, delicious wonderfulness of toasted peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

My PB&H creations were one of the first treats I learned to make for myself as a child. I’d warm my belly with one after school during the autumn and winter. The sandwich would emerge from the toaster oven crispy-crusted with honey and peanut butter overflowing the sides of the bread. I’d gobble it up with a glass of milk and dip my fingers into the puddle of peanut-buttery honey that had dripped off onto my plate.

For old time’s sake, I made myself a toasted PB&H this weekend. The kid in me enjoyed the sweet and melted mess of it, while the adult in me appreciated that even just a little honey goes a long way:

via Medbroadcast: Because it is nearly as sweet as sucrose, honey can be substituted anywhere you’d usually use white table sugar. At 64 calories per tablespoon, honey may not be a dieter’s first option, but since it so sweet, you may not need to use very much. It also contains trace amounts of minerals that the body needs.

One tablespoon is really all it takes to spread across a sandwich, while a small teaspoon is more like it for mixing a bit of sweetness into my hot peppermint tea. A teaspoon of buckwheat honey was all kids needed in a 2007 research study to reduce overnight coughing and to improve sleep (compared to the over-the-counter cough medications - see more details here). And honey stirred into hot water may help to soothe sore throats in kids and grown-ups alike.

Honey is by no means a “health food”. It should be eaten in moderation. People with diabetes must be just as cautious with honey as with other sources of sugar, and children under the age of 1 should never be given honey because of risk of botulism.

You might also like to read:

+ 9 other sweet alternatives to white sugar

+ 7 other cold relievers from the pantry

+ info about kids and cough & cold medications

Ask MedBroadcast’s nutrition expert, Brennan Robertson, your nutrition questions and get all the latest in nutrition news.

Q: Is honey a good substitute for sugar for a person with diabetes?

Keep reading for Brennan’s answer … [Read more →]

Health Canada just released its latest recommendations regarding use of over-the-counter medicines for children’s cough and cold symptoms.

In 2007, Health Canada advised that cough and cold medications should not be given to children under the age of two. The new age recommendation is 6 years of age and under. There are two big reasons behind this new guideline. [Read more →]

I really do love honey. I love the taste, the texture, the golden glow. I adore honey accessories - the cute plastic bear squeeze bottles, the wooden dippers, the squat pots. I prefer to spread honey on my toast instead of jam, and one of my favourite treats is a toasted peanut butter and honey sandwich. It’s best when the peanut butter gets warm and makes the honey ooze out the sides of the bread. Yum. I also drizzle honey into hot tea, which really soothes a sore throat.

I came across this research last year that proves how honey works great to relieve kids’ coughs. This was good news for parents looking for safer alternatives to over-the-counter cough meds. It’s also a natural way to help wounds heal more quickly. Now we find out that honey has even more sweet virtues …

[Read more →]