Here is another gentle holistic therapy that acts on the entire body/mind/spirit continuum without side effects (unlike allopathic medications, which alter the body chemistry to counter-act symptoms and do so with side effects). Aromatherapy, in contrast to homeopathy, which I wrote about recently, is a very ancient healing modality dating back thousands of years.
Essential oils are distilled from different plant parts and are massaged into different body parts, inhaled or even ingested. Many essential oils have anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-parasitic properties, and may be excellent substitutes for antibiotics and other drugs with side effects.
I put a few drops of tea tree and eucalyptus oil in a bowl of hot water and inhale the steam for treatment of viral or bacterial infections of the respiratory tract. Lavender oil (diluted in water and sprayed on) heals scar tissue and burns. When my children had ear infections, I dripped a bit of warm (not hot!) olive oil with a drop of tea tree oil (or garlic, oregano or cinnamon oil) into the affected ear, put some cotton in it, and repeated this a few times a day. The ear infection usually cleared without the use of antibiotics. My daughter swears by a drop or two of lavender on her pillow to sleep well. Instead of commercial mouthwash I rinse with a few drops of peppermint and tea tree oil in water after brushing my teeth (tea tree is anti-bacterial, peppermint is anti-inflammatory). When my children had colds I used to put a diffuser in their room overnight with a few drops of eucalyptus and tea tree oil.
The sicker our body and our emotional health, the lower the frequency of the body. Different essential oils have different electrical frequencies. A properly trained aromatherapist can realign the body's "out-of-tune" frequency through a combination of different oils and different application methods on different body locations. This is obviously much more complex than my little home remedies.
Please take a look at these links for further inspiration and information: University of Maryland Medical Center on aromatherapy, www.aromatherapy.com, and health.howstuffworks.com.
On a different note, essential oils, such as citrus oils (lemon, orange) or herbal oils (rosemary, thyme) can be used in cooking and baking (cinnamon oil) by adding a few drops to cake or cookie dough or salad dressings for example.
Happy healing and happy cooking!