These cold winter months bring about all kinds of illnesses like the cold and flu. Our immune systems are challenged more than in the warmer months, and our body’s defenses are lowered. There are many remedies supported by Chinese medicine that offer relief and immune support to boost our body’s virus fighting abilities to maintain wellness. Depending on your illness, there are different foods, essential oils, herbs, spices, and tools to alleviate symptoms and aid healing.
Treating Colds
Traditional Chinese Medicine’s (TCM) approach to healing from a cold is to bolster the body’s first lines of defense- the skin, nose, mouth, and throat, and encourage sweating to expel the virus from the body. It’s also important to decide whether your symptoms are more “heat wind”- sore throat, fever, thirst, nasal congestion yellow phlegm, or coughing up yellow mucus, or “damp wind”- sneezing, runny nose with clear or white phlegm, itchy throat, coughing up clear or white mucus, and body aches. This determination will help you decide which remedy is best for healing your particular cold. Each type of cold is best treated with warm liquids and broth based soups, and foods that are easy to digest like rice. For “heat wind” colds, drink peppermint tea, and cooling fruits like oranges and other citrus fruits. In both cases, avoid dairy, sugar and fried foods. For a “damp wind” cold, add warming ingredients like cinnamon, ginger, green onion, and garlic to your soup.
Miso Soup with Scallion and Ginger
Fermented black beans and scallions are a TCM remedy for early cold treatment. These ingredients work together to warm the body. Miso soup is rich in essential vitamins, minerals, and probiotics, and combined with warming ingredients like scallion and ginger, it is ideal for boosting the immune system and pushing the cold out of the body. Drinking something warm and then bundling up for a rest heats your body inside and out, emboldens your body to be strong against external environmental factors, causes a light sweat, opens your pores, and fortifies your body’s defenses.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp miso paste
1-1.5 cups water
1 tbsp sliced scallion
2 tsp peeled and slivered garlic
Instructions:
Bring the water to a boil, pour into a bowl with the miso paste. Stir until dissolved
Add ginger and scallions
Drink miso soup while it is still steaming
Bundle up in warm comfortable clothing and get into bed, covering yourself with a warm blanket. You want to be warm enough to break a light sweat. Do not let your body catch a chill
It is best to nap or go to bed for the night after drinking this soup, letting your warm body rest
Damp Wind Remedies
Sweat these symptoms out with a sauna or hot bath. Incorporate foods like ginger, garlic, mustard seed and greens, grapefruit peel, cilantro, parsnips, scallions, cinnamon, basil, soup, rice porridge, and eating less to avoid overwhelming the system with digestion
Other suggestions:
Lightly boil garlic, ginger, green onion, basil, mustard, or cinnamon in water for 5 minutes. Drink the tea warm, go to bed and bundle up, allow sweating
Brew cilantro and ginger together into a tea
Brew scallion and basil together into a tea
Make a tea from dried grapefruit peel
Make a tea from parsnips and ginger
Avoid shellfish, heavy proteins and fats, meat, and all vinegars because vinegar closes the pores and negates the benefits of sweating
Heat Wind Remedies
Incorporate mint, cabbage, chrysanthemum, burdock, dandelion, pears, apples, bitter melons, citrus, drink plenty of water, and get plenty of rest
Other suggestions:.
Drink cabbage broth
Brew cilantro and mint together and drink
Drink mint, chrysanthemum, and dandelion teas
Drink mint, dandelion, and licorice teas
Drink burdock tea
Use White Flower Analgesic Balm to ease nasal congestion
Avoid shellfish, meat, vinegars, drafts, and hot foods
Tea Tree Oil and Salt Water Throat Rinse
A sore throat is a clear sign of an impending cold, and is usually caused by a post nasal drip. When the immune system is challenged, it produces mucus to capture and kill foreign pathogens. This extra mucus can irritate the throat membrane and cause a sore throat and infection. A simple gargle with salt water and tea tree oil is soothing and neutralizes invading pathogens and microbes, lessening the chance of infection.
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sea salt
2-3 drops tea tree oil
Instructions:
Dissolve a teaspoon of salt into very warm water, then add tea tree drops
Tilt head back and gargle 5-10 times, letting the mixture penetrate into the sore spots on the throat
Repeat 1-2 times a day until sore throat is relieved
Keep your neck covered in a scarf to protect against the cold
Nasal Congestion Relief
Symptoms of the common cold like sneezing, coughing, and a runny nose are not caused by the virus, but by our body’s immune defenses increasing to expel the virus from the body. Within the nasal passage, there is a mucus membrane and tiny hairs that are intended to catch foreign particles and entities from entering the body. When the body is overloaded from pollution, chemicals, fragrances, pollen, or viruses, the body’s response is to generate more mucus, forcing us to blow our noses and expel the virus. An alternative to blowing your nose is a neti pot, which introduces a warm saline solution to the nasal passage, forcing mucus out while soothing and neutralizing any irritants.
Neti Pot Instructions:
Prepare a saline solution with 1 cup of lukewarm water and ¼ teaspoon sea salt, and fill the neti pot- water too hot can burn, and too cool is not soothing. Ensure the correct proportions of salt to water to avoid burns and aggravation from the salt
Lean over your sink and tilt your head to the side, with your forehead lower than your chin
Insert the spout of your neti pot into your nostril, creating a seal
Be very careful not to inhale
Gently pour in and across your nasal cavity and out the other nostril- gravity allows the water to flow correctly. Be sure to breathe through your mouth and relax
If it drains out your mouth, lower your forehead in relation to your chin
Remove the spout from your nostril and gently blow your nose without closing off one nostril- blowing out one nostril with the other plugged can harm your eardrums
Repeat on the other nostril
Thoroughly clean your neti pot with soap and hot water
White Flower Analgesic Balm
Developed in 1927 by Gan Geog Eng of Singapore, White Flower Analgesic Balm, also known as Pak Fah Yeow and Bai Hua You, was originally intended for private use, but became popular through the demand of friends and family who liked it so much. The trademark was registered in 1935 and sold in Singapore and Penang, and in 1951, he entered the Hong Kong market. From there, it became a leading product in the Far East. It is made from camphor, menthol, Methyl Salicylate, as well as eucalyptus, lavender, and peppermint oil. It is used for minor aches and pains, sore muscles, sore joints, inflammation, hot areas, and to relieve nasal congestion and headaches.
Apply a few drops of the oil to the affected area and gently rub in. Use 2-3 times a day, and wash hands after each application. For nasal congestion, inhale the White Flower while holding the bottle a few inches from the nose, or apply 1 drop under the nose with a cotton swab. To treat headaches, apply with a clean cotton cloth to the temples, forehead, neck, top of head, or any other painful spot, while carefully avoiding the eyes, mucus membranes, sensitive tissue, or broken skin. Avoid applying to open wounds or damaged skin.
Colds and the flu can take their toll on the body, but recognizing your symptoms and treating accordingly will help pass the virus through faster. Make sure to eat warm foods that are easy to digest, keep your body warm, allow yourself to sweat, keep your nose, mouth, neck, and chest covered from cold winds, try a neti pot to expel mucus from the body, or white flower oil for symptom relief. Stay hydrated with peppermint tea to cool the body, or add ginger to warm the body. Treat based on your symptoms to best support your body’s natural immune responses,
Resources
“Benefits of White Flower Oil”. Retrieved from https://lkacupuncture.com/benefits-of-white-flower-oil/.
“Central Family Practice-White Flower Oil”. Retrieved from https://central-family-practice.myshopify.com/products/white-flower-oil#:~:text=White%20Flower%20Analgesic%20oil%20or,sensitive%20tissue%20or%20broken%20skin.
“Fight your cold and flu with traditional Chinese medicine”. Retrieved from https://www.allinahealth.org/healthysetgo/care/fight-the-cold-and-flu-with-chinese-medicine#:~:text=Eat%20plenty%20of%20broth%2Dbased,oranges%20and%20other%20citrus%20fruits.
“How Neti pots can clear your sinus problems”. Retrieved from https://www.orientalwisdom.com.au/2018/09/02/how-neti-pots-can-clear-your-sinus-problems/.
“TCM tea recipes to treat the common cold”. Retrieved from https://www.acupunctureinmichigan.com/tcm-tea-recipes-to-treat-the-common-cold.
“White Flower Oil”. Retrieved from https://www.modernherbshop.com/White_Flower_Oil_for_Simple_Headache_Congestion_p/whitefloweroil.htm.