‘Where¿s the honey, honey?’ may sound like a strange thing to yell to your loved one when you’ve just cut your finger, but honey has long been known to act as a gentle and effective antiseptic when applied to cleaned cuts, grazes and minor burns, like the ones I tend to get when I’m rushing to pull something out of the oven.
As well as treating a skin injury with honey, try boosting your immune system – your body’s wound-repairing agent – by eating foods that contain certain healing nutrients.
The most effective of these is zinc, which is found in nuts (included in my couscous recipe below), meat – especially liver – dairy produce, such as yogurt and crumbly cheeses like Parmesan and Lancashire, wholewheat bread, poppy, sunflower and pumpkin seeds (try roasting them) and oysters, so that tucking into these foods will encourage your immune system to fire on all cylinders.
(Note, however, that if you’re on the Pill, your body’s ability to absorb zinc is reduced, as it is when you smoke and drink alcohol.)
The next key nutrient is vitamin C, an antioxidant whose healing power has been known since sailors first used it to ward off scurvy.
You can usually glean all of the vitamin C that your body needs by eating at least five portions of fresh fruit or vegetables a day, although if you’re a smoker, or are under a lot of stress, you’d be advised to top up your intake by taking a 2,000mg supplement every day.
Along with spring greens, the best natural sources of vitamin C are guavas, blueberries, kiwi fruits, blackcurrants, strawberries, papayas, oranges, nectarines, mangoes and grapefruits, so stock up on these succulent fruits and start snacking on them, juicing them, making smoothies or preparing bowls of fresh-fruit salad.
Another useful nutrient is vitamin E, which is said to reduce scarring by encouraging wounds to heal. Although nuts, seeds and oils will provide your body with vitamin E, you could also buy some vitamin-E capsules from your local health-food store to break open and gently massage into your wound.
Small quantities of vitamin K are found in most foods, but the best sources are dark-green, leafy vegetables and the skins of fruits and vegetables (but remember to wash them well before eating them to rid them of waxes and pesticides).
Finally, if you’re really trying to look after yourself, try to reduce the amount of stress that you’re under because chronic worrying, depression and repressed anger are all known to impair the workings of the immune system by reducing its immune cells’ ability to form antibodies, by slowing down the action of its killer cells and by interfering with the co-ordination between its various types of cell.
What’s more, a recent study published in The Lancet showed that the wound-healing process of people under psychological stress was slowed down by as much as nine days, and sometimes even longer, when compared to unstressed individuals.
All of this confirms what many Eastern and Indian belief systems, such as Ayurveda, have been aware of for centuries, namely that stress reduction, using such techniques as focused breathing and meditation, is a key to enjoying a healthy life.
