Although modern medicine is great and all, it is nice to not have to rely on it for everything. If there's a natural remedy for something, then forget putting chemicals in my body! If there's a will, there's a way!

Ever since I was pretty young, I hated taking medicine. But as a kid, who doesn't?

Thankfully, my mom also hates taking medication and prefers alternatives that are more natural and can be done at home with the things you might have in the kitchen.

My absolute top favorite thing that my mom has taught me is for when you feel like you're getting a cold and even when you have one and you want to kick it fast. Now here me out, this will sound absolutely disgusting, but it works. Plus, most people think it tastes pretty okay. This one is simply drinking a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Here's the trick to making it taste good:

Apple Cider Immune Boost:

- 1 Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar

- 8 oz hot water

- Cinnamon *to taste, optional*

- Honey *use as much as you'd like!*

Then stir it all together until its dissolved!

Without the cinnamon and honey, it will taste pretty similar to apple cider, but will be more bitter. With the cinnamon and honey, it tastes pretty dang close to just drinking a nice warm cup of apple cider. Not only is it good for colds, apple cider vinegar is just a good way to strengthen your immune system when given in good amounts. I like to make sure I don't have more than 2 of those cups a day because, like most other things, too much of it can make you sick.

This next one is a close runner-up and is absolutely perfect for summer since it's right around the corner. Which means pesky mosquitoes are too. Unfortunately, I have one of the blood types that mosquitoes are attracted to the most, so my legs can scar up quickly and have tons and tons of bites. I think the most I have had on my legs at one time was around 30 mosquito bites, that's no exaggeration either.

Now, before you lecture me on bug spray, yes. I have used so many types of spray and balms and candles but none of them work for me! So here's what works for me. Thanks mom!

What I use to stay mosquito free during the summer is simply these two ingredients mixed half and half in a roller ball or mixed with some water in a small, travel-size mister: Lavender oil, and lemongrass oil.

Both of those essential oils will make a mosquito think twice about making you their breakfast, lunch or dinner! This is a nice natural way instead of using those sprays with all those nasty chemicals in them and you can actually make your skin a little softer in the process! Plus it smells awesome!

The third one I have rounded up is definitely not a secret but something more people should do!

A stomach ache is never fun, whether you've eaten too much too fast, or you just have an ache from some mystery cause, this should never fail to make you feel a little bit better. This is nice because I can almost promise that everyone has this in their kitchen or even a bathroom cabinet.

Baking Soda!

This one definitely sounded funny... and gross to me when my mom first showed me this trick to getting rid of an upset stomach. It's easy, all you need to do is make your finger a little damp and pressing it lightly in some baking soda and putting it on the back of your tongue. The baking soda helps break down some acids in your stomach, much like how Tums works! (except not as expensive)

Neat huh?

The last one is pretty common and I still remember the first time my mom made me do this when I had a headache or even a stuffy nose.

Take a nice, long, and hot shower.

The steam from the hot water makes pressure subside a bit from sinuses and headaches. I use to get headaches that were similar to migraines when I was a kid and for some reason, ibuprofen and aspirin were not doing the trick, next thing I know, my mom was yelling at me to take a hot shower, and BOOM! My headache was gone! Same thing with a stuffy nose that was a little too stuffy. It was still stuffy but gave me some quick and temporary relief without having to use an awful neti-pot or nasal sprays (they didn't work for me anyway).

Now although you can't beat Mom's chicken soup when you're feeling a little under the weather, I hope these might give you a little bit of ease when you don't have access to your parents. And by all means, I am definitely not a doctor, just someone who hates medicine!