I originally wrote this article for Lifestyle Investor Magazine. Thanks to editor John Shirley for permission to reproduce it here. Quotations below in italics appear courtesy of Food for the Seasons by Professor Wong.
Poor health causes 12 million days of reduced productivity in Australia every year. How many of those days are yours?
Winter absenteeism from influenza costs Australian businesses millions of dollars every year and the cost of presenteeism (turning up to work when you are sick) is estimated to be even more. There are, on average, 85 deaths and over 4000 hospitalisations recorded due to influenza illness each year in Australia, making it a significant issue economically, personally and socially.
In the course of studying and practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine, I’ve been lucky to learn a few tricks when it comes to treating and preventing colds and flu. After all, traditionally in China, preventing colds and flu was very important. There was no access to the life saving medical treatment we have at our disposal here in modern Australia. Preventing colds and flu was the most effective strategy the Chinese had to avoid the potentially life threatening outbreak of the virus.
The following remedies, ideas and tips have been handed down for countless generations in China, each generation refining, improving and expanding on what was passed down. The result is an effective arsenal of strategies that you can use to prevent and treat upper respiratory tract infections.
Of course common sense prevails – don’t try to treat any health problems that are better left to trained professionals.
Prevention
If you are dying of thirst, is it not too late to start digging a well?
A healthy strong immune system is necessary to prevent infectious disease. The body’s ability to resist infection depends on many factors. Some of which, like our genes for example, aren’t really under our control. The factors we can control are discussed below.
Diet
Traditional Asian ideas in regard to diet are fundamentally the same as our modern Western understanding. There are some interesting differences.
• Eat warm, cooked foods. Avoid cold, raw foods. (See this post for more details)
• Eat 50% grains, 30% vegetables, and 20% is left over for everything else – meat, fruit, dairy, nuts, oils etc.
If immunity is weak, cut down on salt. Wei Qi (the body’s protective Qi) has an upward moving energy and salt’s downward energy can overwhelm our Wei Qi resulting in lowered immunity.
Digestive system function
When our digestive system is not working at 100% then all that good food you are putting in isn’t being absorbed properly and your body can be malnourished and unable to do your tasks properly. Warm cooked foods, appropriate exercise, and meditation are the tools needed to improve a weakened digestive system. Individually prescribed body treatments (such as acupuncture and massage) and herbal remedies are also applicable.
Honey in warm water before bed will ease a dry throat and a dry cough and assist with dry constipation.
Physical activity
Appropriate exercise (don’t over-exert, emphasis on good posture) is a great way of improving your general health and therefore your immunity. The Asian exercise systems (yoga, martial arts, tai chi, qi gong) have all been developed to train students in the art of appropriate exercise and are a great way to be truly healthy in mind, body and soul.
Mental health
The new scientific field of psycho-neuro-immunlogy has developed out of research that shows a happy and peaceful emotional life is essential to a healthy immune system. Stress and other emotional states such as anxiety, anger, fear and sadness are a normal part of life, but when these emotions are strongly felt and long lasting they render us sitting ducks for infectious disease. Traditionally in China, appropriate exercise and meditation were the tools used to improve mental health. Individually prescribed counseling, body treatments and herbal remedies were also used to treat patients with mental illness.
‘The Wind is an arrow of a thousand diseases.’
The common cold is often caused by an invasion of cold wind. Cold wind usually enters the body when you get cold. Prime targets are exposed necks and lower backs.
Sometimes the preventative approach doesn’t work and then its time to bring out the big guns...
Treatment
According to the traditional Chinese understanding of medicine, febrile (feverish) diseases are caused by sudden changes in the weather and extreme weather patterns. This makes sense with our modern scientific approach in terms of bacteria, viruses, and fungi being able to proliferate when the weather conditions suit, or being carried on the wind during rough weather to new localities where the residents don’t have any immunity to the new microbes. These external events create a challenge for your body’s immune system to defend against. If your general health is good and therefore your immune system is good then this challenge is met without too much drama. If your immune system is weakened for any reason then the external pathogen enters the body and a battle begins…
Part A: the first 24 hours
The main emphasis of treatment at this stage is to raise your body temperature so that the virus is inhibited and its effects are negated. It is important to conserve your energy, you’ll need it to fight the virus.
For a sore throat, peel a potato. Juice the peel and apply externally to the throat.
Chinese Army marching remedy.
The following remedy, for the initial stages of flu-like symptoms, was passed down to me seven years ago by a doctor of Chinese Medicine who had been using it for 60 years. He learnt it in the Chinese army during the Sino-Japanese war (1937-45) but it has probably been in use for much longer than that.
• Start with a hot drink – ideally a herbal tea with fresh ginger, peppermint, and the white part of a spring onion (click here to see recipe). If not just use hot water.
• Apply Tiger Balm (or a linament/balm that smells similar) to the upper back, chest and anywhere else that aches, taking care to avoid any sensitive areas (mouth, nostrils, eyes etc.).
• Rug up with many blankets. Lie down in a warm room, avoid exposure to any draughts. You should be warm enough to start sweating within 20minutes of lying down, if not drink more hot water and wrap up with more blankets.
• Once the sweating begins let it continue for an extra 5 - 10 minutes. Get up, dry off with a towel, and put on fresh dry (preferably warm) clothes.
• Lay back down and stay warm (without sweating) for at least one hour. Take it easy for the rest of the day. If you still have an aversion to cold or wind, and you don’t feel weak and tired you can repeat the whole sweating procedure again.
A cold with a runny nose may be treated with lemon in warm water because the lemon is astringent (which should ease the runny nose) and warm. If your nose is blocked and your tongue is pale, try cinnamon and honey, as the cinnamon will warm you and the honey should loosen the blockage.
Part B: If the cold sets in
Stay warm, rest, get plenty of sleep, eat only plain, bland foods (eg. rice with steamed veg and ginger). If you can’t be gentle with yourself during this time due to work commitments then go to Plan C.
In winter, get rid of phlegm with kohlrabi. For a dry cough, use seaweed.
Plan C: If it gets worse, won’t go away.
Seek treatment with a health professional, the good ones know how to prevent and treat colds and flu so won’t be scared of you arriving and spreading your germs around!
To gain strength after sickness, you’ll want more concentrated energy. Choose easy to digest, but concentrated foods such as lentils, beans and root vegetables – cook together in a pot with a lid for longer than usual time.
