Better health starts in the kitchen: Topical food fixes for common ailments

If you're suffering from certain health problems you could just find a quick cure in your kitchen! We've consulted with our nutritionist, Peggy Kotsopoulos and you can find more helpful tips on her website. She stopped by to show us the best topical food fixes for common ailments. Here are some foods that can help heal you in a heartbeat!

Sunburn

Skin can burn in just 15 minutes (depending on the UV index) and if you do get scorched, there is a common kitchen staple that can help soothe your skin – cucumbers!

When applied topically, cucumber soothes inflamed skin and will leave your burnt skin feeling as cool as a cucumber. Cucumbers are a natural diuretic. They are 95% water, so they help you stay hydrated.

Sunburn remedy

For quick pain relief, slice up a chilled cucumber and lay the slices on your burned skin. Flip the slices when the first side heats up. For a longer lasting effect, toss a cool cucumber in a blender and add in a teaspoon of coconut oil to make a cooling cucumber cream and apply where needed.

Bug bites

Once bitten you can experience itching, swelling, redness and pain. Milk powder can help! The enzymes in milk help to take away the bite from any sting. It also helps to relieve itching. The lactic acid can cut the risk of skin infection and has soothing ingredients that will soften the skin and bring down inflammation.

You can use milk in liquid form, but if you're travelling it's much easier to take milk powder on a plane. So, if you're headed to a tropical destination, this simple food could save your skin.

Bug bite remedy

To make your own remedy for bug bites, simply mix one part powdered milk with two parts water. Then, just dab it on the bite!

Calluses

If the thought of showing your feet makes you wince, don't worry about it! You can easily get rid of calluses with a quick home remedy using chamomile tea.

Chamomile tea is your go-to remedy. One of the causes of calluses are sweaty feet – and chamomile tea can temporarily change the pH of the skin to help dry them out. It's also very soothing and can soften the thick skin.

Callus remedy

There are many ways you can use chamomile tea to help treat your calluses. You can add a cup to a foot bath for a good soak. If you're not near a tub, you can brew a cup, allow it to cool and then dab a cotton ball in the tea and apply to the affected area. Or, you can even skip the cotton altogether and just use the cooled tea bag.

Our hosts were also challenged to create a concoction that would help beat belly bloat. They had access to these 9 ingredients and they were to use at least 4 ingredients from the list to create a concoction that would help beat belly bloat.

The 9 ingredients:

• Cucumbers
• Pears
• Lemons
• Watermelon
• Mint
• Milk
• Kale
• Chamomile tea
• Blackberries

Out of the above 9 ingredients four can cause belly bloat while five are the best foods to combat bloating. Do you know what they are? Our hosts did. Scroll below to find out:

The four worst foods from the list are:

• Pears
• Milk
• Blackberries
• Kale Juice

And that means the best five foods to beat belly bloat from the ingredients available are:

• Cucumbers
• Lemons
• Watermelon
• Mint
• Chamomile tea

We consulted with our nutritionist Peggy Kotsopoulos for the best belly bloat drinks and with these ingredients, there are two winning combinations. Here are the recipes:

Calming Iced Mint Chamomile Tea

What you will need:

• Chamomile tea, steeped and chilled
• Fresh mint
• Squeeze of lemon
• Cucumber slices

Directions:

1. Muddle the mint in a tall glass.

2. Fill with ice.

3. Pour in chilled chamomile tea and finish with a wedge of lemon and cucumber slices.

Note: You can replace chamomile tea with cucumber juice.

Wonderful Watermelon Mint Medley

What you'll need:

• Watermelon
• Fresh mint

Directions:

1. Blend both ingredients with a squeeze of lemon.

2. Then, simply add cucumber slices as a garnish!

Note: You can also dilute this remedy with watermelon water.