The spring weather is changeable. Modern people exercise less, leading to reduced physical fitness. Coupled with severe air pollution, this makes colds common and frequent. From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine pathology, colds are often due to the imbalance of the six atmospheric influences of the four seasons. When a person's vital energy is insufficient, untimely pathogens, carrying seasonal viruses, can invade the body through the mouth, nose, and skin, causing illness. The syndromes are generally classified into wind-heat, wind-cold, and summer-heat dampness. Depending on one's constitution and type of cold, different food therapies can be chosen for prevention and treatment. For example, for wind-heat type, honeysuckle and mint decoction, or mulberry leaf and mint drink can be used. For wind-cold type, coriander and scallion stalk drink, or tofu, fermented black bean, and scallion stalk soup can be used. For summer-heat dampness type, hyacinth bean flower and agastache drink, or agastache leaf porridge can be used. The specific recipes are as follows:
Honeysuckle and Mint Drink: 30g honeysuckle, 10g mint, 60g fresh reed root. First, add honeysuckle and reed root to 500ml of water and boil for 15 minutes. Then add mint and boil for another 3 minutes. Strain, add an appropriate amount of sugar, and drink warm, 3-4 times a day.
Mulberry Leaf and Mint Drink: 5g mulberry leaf, 5g chrysanthemum, 3g mint, 30g bitter bamboo leaf. Wash the herbs with clear water, place them in a teapot, and steep with boiling water for ten minutes. Drink as desired.
Coriander and Scallion Stalk Drink: 15g coriander, 3 stalks of scallion (with roots). Wash both, add an appropriate amount of water, bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.
Tofu, Fermented Black Bean, and Scallion Stalk Soup: 250g tofu cut into cubes, 12g fermented black beans washed. Place both with 15g of scallion stalks in a clay pot, add water and bring to a boil. Then simmer over low heat for 5 minutes and consume while hot.
Hyacinth Bean Flower and Agastache Drink: 20g hyacinth bean flower, 12g agastache, 10g honeysuckle, sugar to taste. Wash the hyacinth bean flower, agastache, and honeysuckle, add an appropriate amount of water to decoct and boil. Season with sugar and drink.
Agastache Leaf Porridge: 20g fresh agastache leaves, decoct in water and set aside aside. First, cook 100g of japonica rice into a porridge. Add the prepared agastache decoction and bring to a boil to make agastache porridge. Take twice daily.