Colds can occur year-round and are often accompanied by symptoms such as dizziness, headache, fever, and runny nose. Childhood colds are generally classified into wind-cold, wind-heat, and summer-dampness colds. So, what foods are beneficial for children's health depending on the type of cold they have?
Dietary therapy for wind-heat cold
Main symptoms and causes: aversion to wind, sweating or no sweating, headache, conjunctival congestion, nasal congestion with purulent nasal discharge, sneezing and coughing, thick white or yellow phlegm, thirst and sore throat, red or swollen throat, red tongue, and thin white or yellow tongue coating. Common cold due to wind-cold is more common in winter and spring, caused by external wind-cold invasion.
Treatment strategy: It is necessary to dispel wind and clear heat, and promote lung function and relieve exterior symptoms.
Dietary therapy:
1. For those with red, swollen, and painful throats, chewing raw olives can help clear heat and relieve throat pain.
2. Star fruit. Eating raw star fruit after washing is effective for those with wind-heat type colds accompanied by cough and sore throat.
3. Crush 15 grams of mung beans and 10 grams of tea leaves. Boil them in a bowl of water for ten minutes, then remove the residue. Add sugar to taste and drink at once.
4. Take 4 dried plums and 90 grams of brown sugar. Boil them in a bowl of water and drink in two divided doses.
5. Pear
1) Eating a moderate amount of fresh pears raw is suitable for treating wind-heat colds.
2) Pear porridge: Chop 3 pears, simmer in water for half an hour, then remove the juice and cook with an appropriate amount of rice into porridge. Eat while hot. This is especially suitable for children with wind-heat colds and coughs.
6. You can add 5 sections of scallion whites, 3 slices of ginger, and 30 grams of brown sugar to hot porridge or soup, boil for 10 minutes, drink it while it's hot, and then cover yourself with a blanket to sweat. It's not advisable to eat too many cold foods, such as persimmons, crabs, chicken, duck, pork, bananas, and watermelons.
Dietary therapy for colds caused by wind and cold
Main symptoms and causes: Commonly seen at the onset of a cold, with symptoms including fever and chills (primarily chills or even shivering), fatigue, mild fever, no sweating or slight sweating, nasal congestion with clear runny nose, sneezing, cough with phlegm, thin and green phlegm, itchy throat with no desire to drink, mild redness of the throat, and a thin white tongue coating. Wind-heat type colds are more common in summer and autumn, caused by external wind-heat.
Treatment strategy: It is necessary to dispel wind and cold, and promote lung function and relieve exterior symptoms.
Dietary therapy:
1. Radish and scallion soup
One radish, six scallions (white part only), and 15 grams of ginger. First, boil the radish in three bowls of water until cooked. Then add the scallions and ginger, and boil until only one bowl of soup remains. Consume the entire mixture, including the solids, at once. This remedy clears the lungs, relieves exterior symptoms, resolves phlegm, and stops coughing; it treats coughs due to wind-cold, with copious frothy phlegm, accompanied by chills, fatigue, and body aches.
2. Brown sugar, ginger, and jujube soup treats colds and coughs.
Take 30 grams of brown sugar, 15 grams of fresh ginger, and 30 grams of red dates. Simmer in three bowls of water until reduced by half, then drink the entire amount at once. A slight sweat after drinking indicates recovery. This remedy dispels wind and cold; treats colds and coughs.
3. Coriander soup
30g coriander (cilantro), 30g maltose, 100g rice. First, wash the rice, add water and cook into a soup. Take three tablespoons of the rice soup, mix with the coriander and maltose, steam for 10 minutes, and take it all at once while it is hot. Be careful to avoid wind and cold. This will induce sweating and relieve cough caused by colds.
4. White radish and honey
One large white radish, 30 grams of honey, 5 white peppercorns, and 2 grams of ephedra. Wash the radish, slice it, put it in a bowl, pour in the honey, white peppercorns, and ephedra, and steam for half an hour. Take it while it's hot and lie in bed until you sweat; this remedy promotes sweating, dispels cold, clears cough and phlegm, and treats coughs caused by wind and cold.
5. Fresh pear and fritillaria
500g fresh pear, 6g fritillaria powder, 30g white sugar. Peel and core the pear, fill it with fritillaria powder and white sugar, put it back together, place it in a bowl and steam until cooked. Eat it twice a day, morning and evening. It clears heat, resolves phlegm, disperses nodules and relieves exterior symptoms, and is used to treat cough or lung abscess.
6. Radish and pepper relieve cough and reduce phlegm.
Take one radish, five white peppercorns, three slices of ginger, and one piece of dried tangerine peel. Add water and simmer for 30 minutes. Drink the soup twice a day. This remedy helps to relieve cough and phlegm.
7. Soy milk drink
Soybeans and rock sugar. Soak soybeans, grind them into juice, boil them, add sugar, and drink one bowl on an empty stomach every morning. It strengthens the spleen and stomach, moistens dryness, clears the lungs, stops coughs, and resolves phlegm. It is used to treat malnutrition, emaciation, and coughs due to lung heat.
8. Tofu Candy
500g tofu, 100g brown sugar, 100g white sugar. Make a well in the center of the tofu, add the brown and white sugar, place in a bowl and steam for 30 minutes. Eat it all at once, repeat 4 times. It clears heat, generates fluids, moistens dryness, and treats cough and wheezing.
9. Corn silk and orange peel
Take appropriate amounts of corn silk and orange peel. Boil them together in water and take twice a day; it can stop coughing and reduce phlegm, and treat coughs caused by wind-cold and excessive phlegm.
10. Radish and Pig Lung Cough-Relieving Soup
Take one radish, one pig lung, and 15 grams of almonds. Add water and boil together for one hour. Eat the meat and drink the soup. This dish clears heat and resolves phlegm, stops coughs and relieves asthma, and treats persistent coughs, excessive phlegm, and shortness of breath.
