Let our food be our medicine, and our medicine be our food

Medicinal Foods For Common Diseases.
Below are some of the medicinal foods recommended for certain common diseases.

1. Common Cold. It is divided into two types, cold-wind and hot wind, which should be treated with different medicinal foods.

Cold-wind type Cold . Manifestations are fever, chill without perspiration, headache, pains over the whole body, obstruction of nose (stuffy nose), nasal secretion (runny nose), white coating tongue, mildly quick pulse.
Prescriptions:
a. Decoction of ginger with sugar -25 gram of ginger, cleaned and sliced into small chips, then put into a bowl. Add boiling water and cover for 5-10 minutes. Add an equal amount (25 gram) of brown sugar. Drink the decoction while hot, then cover oneself up well, sleep and get sweating.

Decoction is the most widely used, possessing the advantages of being easily digested, easily handled and of reliable effect. In general, decoction is prepared by putting the raw medicines into water and then boiling, first with a strong heat and then with a low heat to keep it simmering in order to dissolve the active constituents. This decoction is then filtered and the residue discarded. The decoction is now ready for administration. Sometimes the residue is also eaten, since not all the active constituents are extracted out into the decoction. However, bitter and puckery residue are as a rule, discarded. Decoction can also be prepared by placing the container in a steamer or water bath, which is a method used for valuable medicines such as ginseng, tremella, etc.

b. Decoction of scallion and ginger. Scallion stalk and fresh ginger, 25 gram each. Cut into small pieces. Prepare a small bowl of bean starch vermicelli, or rice or flour noodles with salt. Add the scallion and ginger pieces and eat. Then cover oneself up well, sleep and get sweating.

2. Hot-wind type Cold. Manifestations are high fever, no chill, slight sweating, thirst red eye, sore throat, headache, slightly yellow coating tongue and rapid pulse.
Prescription:
a. Chrysanthemum, peppermint and mulberry leaf drink. Chrysanthemum and mulberry leaves, 5 gram each, bitter bamboo leaves and cogongrass root 30 gram each and peppermint, 3 gram. Put all the ingredients in a bowl or cup, pour in boiling water and cover for 10 minutes. Drink the decoction like tea.

b. Peppermint sweets. Boil 500 gram of cane sugar with a considerable amount of water at a low heat until it becomes sticky. Then slowly add 5 milliliter of peppermint powder or peppermint oil and stir steady until the mixture sticks to the stirring implement like threads. Pour the sugar into a big porcelain tray (coated with a thin layer of vegetable oil). Cut the hardened sugar into small pieces. Take several times daily for a mild common cold.

3. Influenza (flu)
Generally known as “severe common cold”. Its manifestations are sudden onset, severe headache and pain over whole body, congestion of the eyes and throat, coughing and high fever. It is highly infectious, usually affecting many people in the same area.
Prescriptions:
a. Thoroughly rinse and clean 250 gram of turnip. Chop up, then immerse in vinegar for several hours. Eat with hot rice porridge.

NOTE. The rice is first boiled at a high heat for a few minutes and then at a gentle heat until it becomes mucilaginous. Obviously, the right amount of water should be used. Too much water would make the porridge too thin, which is not effective as medicinal food, whereas too little water would make it too concentrated or make it into steamed rice, even perhaps burning it, which is clearly no good. When suitably cooked, rice porridge provides sufficient energy and protects the functions of the spleen and stomach. When the vital energy of the stomach is “depleted”, the disease will be incurable, and that is why rice porridge is considered to be the most fundamental of medicinal foods. Non-glutinous rice is preferred to other grains. Millet, wheat and maize can also be used to make porridge; however, they are inferior to rice porridge. Glutinous rice is difficult to digest and hence is not so suitable to make porridge. For medicinal porridge, the medicine can be either pulverized and added directly to the porridge for cooking, or prepared as a decoction in advance and then added.

b. Take soybeans 10 gram, fresh coriander 30 gram. Cook the soybeans in water for about 15-20 minutes, then add the coriander and boil for another 10 minutes. Eat the whole dose once daily.

c. Take tender peppermint leaves 3 gram and licorice root 3 gram. Put them together in a cup, pour in boiling water and cover for 15 minutes. Drink it hot, two or three times a day.

d. Take bean curd 200 gram, processed (fermented) soybeans 12 gram and scallion stalk, 15 gram. Cook bean curd in water until it is well done. Add fermented bean and scallion stalk and boil for another 20 minutes. Eat it all while hot, then cover oneself up well, sleep and get slight sweating.

4. Bronchitis. This refers to chronic bronchitis, not acute bronchitis developing from common cold, which is the result of long irritation of the bronchus. Please ensure one’s daily water quota is met ( see water cure protocol) to prevent the onset of dehydration related symptoms/signs. Chronic bronchitis manifestations are coughing with sputum and with no or very mild fever or headache.

Prescription:

a. Take a reasonable amount of rock candy and a pear of about 200 gram chopped into pieces. Put these two in a bowl or cup, and steam in a water bath for half an hour. Eat the whole dose once or twice a day for 1-2 weeks.

b. Lily porridge: Take dried lily 30 gram (or 60 gram fresh lily), a reasonable amount of rock candy and rice 100 gram. Boil the lily first for 15 minutes, then add the rice and cook at a low heat until it becomes glutinous (sticky). Add the rock candy and boil for a further short while. This porridge is good for moistening the lungs and is indicated for chronic bronchitis. It is not suitable for acute common cold, or acute bronchitis.

NOTE: When the human body does not receive sufficient water for overall normal body functions, over time, the body will over produce histamine to substitute the functions of free-water. But when the over crowding of histamine at lung’s avelios tissues will cause constriction which is actually the body’s natural mechanism to conserve further water loss via respiration, hence the manifestation of wheezing in asthmatic. The remedy is to re hydrate one’s body, every 90 minute drink 10% of one’s daily water quota,(31.42 ml multiply by one’s personal body weight in kilogram). Use ¼ teaspoon of unrefined sea salt in daily diet for every 1250 ml of water intake.