Doctor: What should people with colds eat and drink to get well soon?

In the process of caring for people with colds, dishes combining familiar foods and medicinal herbs are considered a simple, safe, easy-to-apply method at home, helping to relieve symptoms and support health recovery.

Master, specialist 1, resident physician Duong Thi Ngoc Lan, Nutrition Consulting Clinic, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City - branch 3 said that colds (cold, flu) are common diseases when the weather changes, with symptoms such as fever, cough, stuffy nose, headache, fatigue.

In traditional medicine, the common cold is believed to be caused by "external evils" (wind, cold, heat, dampness, etc.) invading, causing the lungs to lose their ability to propagate and descend, and the surface defenses to become unbalanced. Over thousands of years, traditional medicine has accumulated many treatment methods such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, steam baths, cupping, etc. to alleviate symptoms and support health recovery.

Modern research also shows that these methods are effective in reducing fever, reducing cough, enhancing immunity, and are safe when used as directed. In addition to medicine, acupuncture, and nutrition, dishes combining familiar foods and medicinal herbs are considered simple, safe, and easy-to-apply methods at home, especially useful during the illness.

Below are some common traditional medicine syndromes and their corresponding therapeutic foods:

cold

Symptoms: Fear of cold, mild fever, aching joints, no sweating, stuffy nose, runny nose, itchy throat, cough, thin white phlegm, thin white tongue coating.

Ginger and perilla leaf water: 3g perilla leaves, 3g fresh ginger, 15g brown sugar. Slice into strips, steep in boiling water for 10 minutes, drink while still warm.

Five-God Water: 10g each of Vietnamese balm, perilla leaves, and fresh ginger, 6g of tea, 30g of brown sugar, steep in boiling water for 10 minutes, drink while still warm.

Heat stroke

Symptoms: High fever, slight fear of wind, headache, red face, dry and painful throat, yellow phlegm, stuffy nose, thick yellow nasal discharge, dry mouth, thirst, thin white and slightly yellow tongue coating, red tongue edge.

Mint and perilla porridge: 9g perilla, 6g mint, 6g fermented soybean protein, 60g rice. Boil perilla, mint and fermented soybean protein separately, after boiling continue to boil for 10 more minutes, remove residue, collect the herbal water, and use. Cook the rice into porridge, when the rice is soft, add the herbal water, continue to cook into porridge. Eat while still hot, 2 times/day.

Mint perilla porridge is good for people with heat stroke.

ILLUSTRATION: AI

Sand root porridge: 30g sand root, 60g rice. Boil 30g sand root, remove residue, take the medicinal water, add rice to cook porridge, eat hot.

Low feeling

Symptoms: Hot body, little sweat, aching limbs, heavy and painful headache, cough with sticky phlegm, thick nasal discharge, poor appetite, bloating, diarrhea, dark urine, thirst, thin and sticky yellow tongue coating.

White bean basil water: Basil 9g, white bean 9g, Magnolia bark 6g. Boil for 15 minutes, remove residue, add sugar, use as tea, drink while still warm.

Green bean porridge: Cook 50g green beans, 250g rice into porridge, add rock sugar.

Vaginal discharge

Symptoms: Fear of cold, fever, no sweat, headache, body aches, cough, white phlegm, people often catch colds, often relapse, fatigue, pale tongue with white coating.

Ginger sticky rice porridge: Cook 30g sticky rice, 10g fresh ginger slices, 6g white onion into porridge. When eating, you can add rice vinegar and eat hot. When having a cold, the patient needs to rest, keep warm, drink enough water, and eat light and easy-to-digest foods.

"Macrobiotics according to traditional medicine can help improve symptoms and shorten the duration of illness, but it is necessary to choose dishes that are appropriate for the disease syndrome according to traditional medicine. If there is a prolonged high fever, difficulty breathing, a lot of cough with thick yellow phlegm or an underlying disease, the patient should go to a medical facility to be examined and treated promptly by a doctor," Dr. Ngoc Lan shared.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bac-si-nguoi-benh-cam-mao-nen-an-uong-gi-de-mau-khoe-185251002233040702.htm