Home remedies: my Italian grandma’s remedies

You might know that Italians pay a lot of attention to their health, so much so that sometimes they can even seem to be exaggerating to foreigners – Have a look at Italians and health problems – Il colpo d’aria.

The fact is that if you grow up in Italy you are generally surrounded by plenty of Italian relatives who want to teach you a large list of natural remedies that, according to them, are really effective for common diseases.

So, in this article I’ll talk about my Italian grandma’s remedies for some common diseases.

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MY GRANDMA’S REMEDIES FOR FLU SYMPTOMS

In addition to resting, my Italian granny used to say that one thing is essential when you have the flu: chicken broth. Chicken broth keeps you hydrated, and it can also ease congestion and reduce the inflammation.

MY GRANDMA’S REMEDIES FOR SORE THROAT

According to my Italian grandma, apples’ vinegar has a natural antibacterial activity and can help you reduce throat inflammation.

My granny used to say that if you gargled with a glass of water containing a spoon of apples’ vinegar, then your throat would feel much better.

Other two remedies she strongly believed in were honey and garlic.

Honey has both an antibacterial and an anti-inflammatory activity, so it can help you fight sorethroat.

Also garlic has an antibacterial activity and my Italian granny really thought that it could help fight sore throat. So, whenever I had sore throat, she usually ran after me, ordering me to chew a garlic clove. Luckily for me, she never managed to catch me.

MY GRANDMA’S REMEDIES FOR GINGIVITIS

To fight gingivitis my Italian granny usually used either salt and water or mallow.

She believed that both were useful to reduce or even stop the inflammation and/or the infection. So, she garlged with a glass of warm water containing a spoon of salt two times a day. Then, either she gargled also with some mallow tea two times a day or she placed some mallow leaves near her gum for hours.

She swore these two remedies worked wonders for her.

MY GRANDMA’S REMEDIES FOR TOOTACHE

For toothache, my Italian granny used to chop either some mallow or some cabbage leaves. She placed the chopped vegetable into a gauze and then placed it near the tooth she wanted to cure.

MY GRANDMA’S REMEDIES FOR ITCHY SKIN

If your arm or you leg doesn’t stop itching, don’t worry because my Italian granny had a remedy also for this.

According to her, you just need to put two spoons of oat flour in a half-full glass of warm water, mix and place the mixture on the itching area for 10 minutes.

In alternative, if the itching is the result of an insect’s bite, cut an onion into half and rub it on the bite for two minutes.

What about you? Did your grandma teach you some natural remedy too?

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Credits

Original image by condesign