Temperatures are dropping, and with the sudden change in weather, many people are coming down with a cold or the flu. The bad thing about these diseases is that there is no medicine to cure them, what you can do is just take care of the body and wait for it to kill the virus on its own.
A great way to strengthen the body to fight the flu and colds is to drink homemade watercress syrup, which helps to alleviate the symptoms of these illnesses. With that in mind, today we're going to teach you how to prepare a great watercress syrup and show you how it can help your health. If you are curious and want to know more health tips, read this article in its entirety!
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watercress benefits
Watercress is a plant rich in medicinal properties and is fantastic for strengthening the immune system. This little plant, very common in salads, provides vitamins C, B3 and B6, as well as minerals such as calcium and iron.
With these substances, watercress helps to increase the fighting power of leukocytes, cells specialized in defending the body against infections. As for medicinal properties, watercress has three great potentials:
- Anti-inflammatory;
- Antiviral;
- Expectorant.
In addition, watercress has other essential substances to help the body fight viruses such as the flu. Are they:
- Quercetin;
- Terpenes;
- Gallic Acid;
- Isorhamnetin;
- Chlorogenic;
- Dicapheolitaric Acid.
How to prepare the powerful watercress syrup?
Ingredients
For this recipe, you will need:
- 1 tablespoon of filtered water (about 15ml);
- 3 tablespoons of sugar of your choice (about 45g);
- ½ glass of watercress juice (about 100ml).
Method of preparation
Start by making watercress juice. To do this, blend the leaves and stalks with water in a blender until they are covered. Then, in a pan, mix the sugar and water and bring to a boil over medium heat.
When the mixture starts to boil, add the watercress juice over the sugar syrup and stir for 5 minutes, and your syrup will be ready. Once the temperature is warm, consume 4 tablespoons of watercress syrup when you feel uncomfortable with flu symptoms.
You can even add other ingredients to make your syrup tastier and even more potent, such as honey, pineapple, lemon or ginger. They also help fight the flu and mainly reduce the cough caused by the virus.
This syrup can be consumed 2 to 3 times a day, while cold and flu symptoms are present.
