The Humble Onion - More than Just a Flavor BoosterOnions might be best known for their smell and how they make you cry when cutting them, but did you know that onions have healing powers as well?

Onions contain sulfur compounds and a flavonoid called Quercetin, both of which help the body remove, repair or reverse certain ailments. They also have antibiotic, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.

More ways onions can help improve your health include:

  • Lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol
  • Lowering blood pressure
  • Thought to be a cancer treatment, specifically stomach cancer
  • Protecting against cardiovascular disease
  • Natural blood thinner
  • Relieving sinus congestion, cold and flu symptoms
  • Lessening the risk of stroke
  • Lowering blood sugar in diabetics
  • Detoxifying the body by removing heavy metals, including cadmium, lead and mercury, from the body.
  • Relieving nausea and indigestion
  • Increasing bone density

Onion Recipes for Better Health

To treat chest congestion, a compress can help:

1. Quarter 4 onions
2. Steam or lightly sauté in water until soft
3. Let cool until you are able to handle
4. Wrap in cheesecloth and secure with safety pins
5. Apply to chest

You can put it on under a shirt or towel to keep it in place.

For children you won’t need as many onions so you can cut the recipe down, depending on the size of your child. A good way to keep it in place for little ones is lay the pouch on their chest and wrap an ace bandage all the way around them and secure.

Earache

Earaches can be very painful and it’s hard to watch your children suffer through one. But, with this simple recipe you can knock out earache pain in a matter of minutes. Here’s what you’ll need:

1 onion with skin
Bowl
Spatula
Eyedropper

Steam the onion with the skin on. Keeping the skin on helps to keep all of the onion juice inside until you’re ready to use it. Once it’s done (when it’s soft) cut in half and put one half into a bowl. Then press the onion with a spatula or other utensil to squeeze out the juice. Use the eyedropper to capture some of the juice and put several drops into the ear and the earache should dissipate within 15 minutes or so.

If it doesn’t go away in that amount of time you can apply several more drops.

Acne

To help get rid of embarrassing acne, apply this simple mixture to your skin:

1 tablespoon fresh onion juice
1 tablespoon olive oil

Combine and rub over entire face with your fingers in a circular motion. Let sit for about 20 minutes then rinse off with warm water. Pat your face dry. This will help clear up blemishes. It can be used as a spot treatment for breakouts, too.

Who would’ve thought the smelly onion could do all this!