Cold and flu season is upon us and as hard as we try to stay healthy, most of us get run over by a cold at some point or another during the year. Having a cold isn’t a ‘bad’ thing (although it doesn’t feel great!). Sometimes it’s your body’s way of detoxifying and getting a bit of much needed r & r and couch time. If you do find yourself sick this winter, here are a few home cures to help you heal and clear some of those nasty symptoms as fast as you can.
We say there are a few types of common cold in Traditional Chinese Medicine but two very common ones in the cold winter months: wind-heat type and wind-cold type.
The wind-heat type will present with fever or just feel really hot. You might get chills and have a sore throat, stuffy nose with thick yellow mucus. When you have this type of cold, you want to treat it with cooling foods and herbs (like mint, lots of fluids and lightly steamed or cooked simple foods) and avoid anything hot or spicy (such as ginger, garlic or spicy foods).
The wind-cold type will present with definite chills and a feeling you can’t get warm, sometimes it has a mild fever sensation, body aches, headache and a nose that runs like a faucet with a clear watery discharge. With this type you want to just the opposite to the heat type and make sure you have warm cooked foods and include lots of warming teas and soups full of things like ginger, green onion or garlic.
It’s important to treat the type of cold that you have as adding more heat when you’re already suffering from a burning throat and fever can actually make things worse. It’s also not uncommon for a cold to switch from one type to the other, so just listen to your body and take the care needed.
I’ve recently posted two types of at home cold cures, which you can find here: Sore Throat & Fever Tea & Broth Recipe for the Common Cold. Some of the ingredients might not be things you regularly stock at home, but if you can seek them out when you’re healthy and have them in your pantry, you will have them right there when you need them.
Wishing you a happy, healthy, cold-free winter!
– Angela Warburton, B.A, DTCM, R.Ac