• Large quantities of liquids, juices, fruits Their symptoms include an actively runny nose, plenty of mucus discharge, coughing, sneezing, and wheezing. There is usually no fever, and the patient is quite willing and able to continue with daily work and activities, taking time out for some nose blowing here or there. A cold of this type can sometimes be caught and reversed right at the beginning by some quick contracting, with an umeboshi plum or two, for example. If that doesn’ t work, it’ s best just to let it go and allow the body to go through its cleaning process. A little stimulus and general noninterference work best, and these can be assisted by:
• Partial fasting, that is, no fats or protein for a few days.( The old adage“ Feed a cold, starve a fever” has been distorted by word-of-mouth transmission: The original saying was“ If you feed a cold, you’ ll have to starve a fever,” that is, you’ ll get worse if you keep eating. My experience supports this.)
• Alkalizing foods, but on the contractive side: cooked vegetables, soups( including miso soup), baked potatoes.
• Fluids only when desired, or when there is a feeling of stuck mucus( in that case they should be abundant, to help loosen it). Caution: Large amounts of fluids in a cold of expansion will make it feel worse.
• Moderate activity.
Contraction colds are usually caused by:
• Tension, overwork, fatigue
• Salty, fatty foods
• Excess protein and sugar Their symptoms include tightness in the chest and head, headache, fever, exhaustion, stuffiness in the sinuses, chills, aches. This condition is also known as the flu. Remedies should aim to loosen and relax. Thus, the following are helpful:
• Partial fasting— no salt, fat, protein, or starches— until the fever disappears( if there is one).
• Plenty of hot fluids, in the form of juice( try hot apple or pear juice with cinnamon); chamomile, ginger, or lemon tea; or plain hot water with lemon, to help loosen the tightness.( this page)
• Alkalizing foods, on the expansive side: fruits and salads, unsalted vegetable soup.( this page)
• Rest. It is mandatory. In fact, often the rest alone will allow the body to recuperate easily. As should be evident, these remedies are not intended to interrupt the process of a cold, but rather to relieve the discomfort of its symptoms. Coughs The treatment of a cough will depend on whether it is a useful cough that brings up mucus or a useless, dry one caused by local irritation( a“ tickle in the chest”). The first kind should be encouraged and allowed to do its cleansing job; staying away from salty foods, which tend to tighten and hold back, will help speed up the process. This cough can be treated like chest tightness in a contractive cold: Drink hot lemon tea, perhaps with honey; try a hot chest compress; drink hot pear juice with a cinnamon stick. The second kind of cough can be stopped with a lick or two of something salty, especially umeboshi plum paste. I was once doing a demonstration class at Artpark, an outdoor art exhibition near Niagara Falls, and mentioned this very subject. As if on cue, a woman in the audience had a dry-coughing attack. The fifty people present watched in silent anticipation as the jar of umeboshi paste was passed along from my table to the uncontrollably coughing woman. She dipped her pinky into the paste and licked it— and instantly stopped coughing. The crowd applauded. She took another lick for good measure and, smiling and nodding, sent the jar back to me. If the umeboshi( this page), which is quite contractive, doesn’ t do it, licorice tea, a bit more expansive, often works. Persistent, chronic coughs should be diagnosed by a physician. Sore Throats Ginger tea( this page), slippery elm tea, and shoyu-kuzu with ginger( this page) are very soothing to a sore throat. In addition, an effective external remedy is the cold-water compress: Dip a large cotton handkerchief in cold tap water, wring it out, fold lengthwise, and wrap around the throat. Fold a dry cotton dish cloth or hand towel in the same way and place it over the handkerchief, securing them in place with a woolen scarf that covers everything. The handkerchief will get warm from the body heat, which is fine. The compress should be left on for a minimum of two and a maximum of four hours. Then it can be either renewed