10 natural products for a healthy life, and how to use them at home

I think almost everything you need to look after yourself simply fits in the kitchen cupboard and the bathroom cabinet. Here are ten natural products for a healthy life, across what you eat, what you put on your skin and what you clean with, and for each one, where it comes from, how to use it and when it's better left alone.

You don't need all of them. Three or four you actually use are worth more than ten forgotten at the back of a shelf.

Natural products and a healthy life

Isn't natural always better? Not always. Plants do things precisely because they're strong, and pennyroyal, aloe latex or an undiluted essential oil can do harm however natural they are. On cosmetics, “natural” has no legal definition either, so what counts is the ingredients list.

What they do usually give you is simplicity: few ingredients and less packaging. A bar of soap wrapped in paper replaces two or three plastic bottles on the edge of the bath.

In the kitchen cupboard

1. Raw honey

Raw honey hasn't been heated or heavily filtered, so it keeps more of the taste of its flowers. Honey and lemon for a sore throat has always been made at home, and here the tradition has backing: a review of several trials concludes that a spoonful before bed probably eases a child's night-time cough more than giving nothing.

From one year old, half to one teaspoon (2.5 to 5 ml). Never give it to a baby under twelve months, because honey can carry botulism spores. And kitchen honey isn't for wounds; the honey used in dressings is medical grade. If you can, buy it from a local beekeeper.

2. Herbal infusions

Chamomile after a heavy meal, lime flower before an exam, lemon verbena, ginger. It's one of the simplest rituals there is: a hot cup that marks the end of the day.

• One teaspoon of dried herb, about 2 or 3 g, per cup.
• Water just off the boil.
• Cover the cup for five to ten minutes, so the aroma doesn't escape with the steam.

In pregnancy, have no more than four cups a day, avoid anything with liquorice and mention to your midwife the herbs you drink often. Poleo menta, served after meals in many bars in Spain, is pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) and contains pulegone, which is toxic to the liver: in pregnancy, while breastfeeding and with children, it's best avoided. If you're allergic to daisies, be careful with chamomile, which is in the same family.

3. Apple cider vinegar

It's a good vinegar for salads and pickling. A tablespoon in a large glass of water, as a final rinse for your hair, is an old habit for leaving it soft and shiny.

There's a lot of talk about drinking it to lose weight or for blood sugar. The evidence is thin and small-scale, and I wouldn't recommend it as a remedy. It's a vinegar.

Never put it neat on your skin, not even to remove warts or moles: there are documented cases of chemical burns. If you drink it, it's best well diluted, as the acid isn't kind to tooth enamel.

4. Oats

An oat bath is a traditional home remedy for dry, itchy skin, and dermatology recognises it too: colloidal oatmeal, ground very fine, is accepted as a skin protectant against itching.

• Blitz a cup of rolled oats, about 80 g, or put a handful in a clean sock tied to the tap.
• Fill the bath with warm water, not hot, until it turns milky.
• Soak for ten to fifteen minutes, pat yourself dry and moisturise.

The bottom of the bath gets slippery, so step out carefully, especially with a bump. In pregnancy it's normal for your bump to feel tight and itchy as it grows, but strong itching on your palms or the soles of your feet, especially at night, is worth mentioning to your midwife as soon as you can: it can be a liver condition that needs keeping an eye on.

For your skin

5. Aloe vera

It's the plant on the kitchen windowsill, known in many places as the burn plant, and its gel has been used on skin since ancient Egypt.

Cut an outer leaf at the base and stand it cut side down in a glass for about ten minutes, so the yellow liquid, the latex, which irritates, drains off. Then peel it and scoop out the gel with a spoon. It keeps for a few days in the fridge, and it's even nicer cold.

Many people find it soothes their skin after a day in the sun. It's relief, not a cure: not on open wounds or serious burns, not by mouth, and it's worth trying on your forearm first. If you have a dog or a cat, keep the pot out of reach, because aloe is toxic to them.

6. Coconut oil

Virgin and cold-pressed is best. In winter it's a white block in the jar and in summer it turns liquid; that's just the temperature. Use it on still-damp skin after a shower or on the ends of your hair. Small trials suggest it moisturises very dry skin better than mineral oil, including in children with atopic eczema.

It works as a base for diluting essential oils, and it has a ritual of its own for your mouth, which you'll find in home remedies for oral hygiene. Some people find it clogs the pores on their face.

It travels a long way to reach you, so fair trade is the better choice. And before putting any oil on a newborn, ask your midwife: one study suggests olive and sunflower oil slow the development of a baby's skin barrier.

7. Shea butter

It comes from the nut of the shea tree, which grows on the savannah of West Africa, where it's called women's gold: it's women, often in cooperatives, who gather, boil, roast and knead the nuts until the butter separates. That's why it's worth looking for fair trade shea.

Unrefined, it's ivory-coloured with a slightly nutty smell; refined, it's white and odourless. Melt a pinch between your hands and use it on elbows, heels, cracked hands or your bump when it starts to feel tight. No cream prevents stretch marks, but a massage in the evening is good time for yourself. If you have a nut allergy, check first.

8. Natural soap

Aleppo soap, made with olive and laurel oil, is cooked for days and then left to cure for several months, and from that tradition come Marseille and Castile soap. On the label of real soap you'll see “saponified” oils; many bars are actually solid detergent.

A bar lasts for weeks and leaves no empty bottle behind, especially if it dries between uses on a soap dish with drainage holes. A bar that lives in a puddle dissolves in days. If your skin is very dry, a gentle, unscented one may suit you better.

For the house

9. Old-fashioned cleaning products

Hot water, soap, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda clean almost the whole house, and one spray bottle you keep refilling saves you half a shelf of products.

• Equal parts vinegar and water for windows, taps and limescale on the shower screen.
• Bicarbonate of soda with a little water for the hob, the sink and pans with stuck-on bits.
• Hot soapy water for the floor and nearly everything else.

Vinegar doesn't go on marble or limestone, which it leaves with dull marks. Never mix it with bleach: together they give off a toxic gas. And it cleans, but it doesn't disinfect. If it's smells you're worried about, there are more ideas in how to make your home smell good.

10. Essential oils

They're the concentrated aroma of a plant, so they're used sparingly: a few drops in a diffuser, or diluted in a vegetable oil before they touch your skin. Never swallowed, never neat on skin and never near a flame. In pregnancy, while breastfeeding and around babies, check with your midwife or doctor first, and with pets at home, with your vet. Amounts and dilutions are in three uses for your essential oils at home.

A healthy life looks more like a well-chosen cupboard than a cabinet full of bottles. Start with one, the one you already have at home.