Boozeless cold remedies

[STN]

I have a frightful cold. Does anyone have any recipes to alleviate my symptoms? I'm especially keen on hot drinks. My normal remedies (loads of orange juice, a ferocious garlicky curry, eating a raw pepper, watching Inspector Morse) have done me no good this time. Please help, I'll even eat a newt if you think it'll work.

 

[hundredmillionlifetimes]

These additional remedies might also help: try and stay in a high-humidity environment, as the cold virus multiplies rapidly in parched or dry conditions; salt-water gargle and/or saline nasal spray; and, loads of chicken soup: "Generations of parents have spooned chicken soup into their sick children. Now scientists have put chicken soup to the test, discovering that it does seem to help relieve cold and flu symptoms in two ways. First, it acts as an anti-inflammatory by inhibiting the movement of neutrophils — immune system cells that participate in the body's inflammatory response. Second, it temporarily speeds up the movement of mucus through the nose, helping relieve congestion and limiting the amount of time viruses are in contact with the nose lining. Researchers at the University of Nebraska compared homemade chicken soup with canned versions and found that many, though not all, canned chicken soups worked just as well as soups made from scratch."

 

[zhao]

1. stop eating. because food complicates things and slow your body down / take energy away from fighting the viruses, and will prolong your illness. if you do eat, try staying away from animal protein, especially cooked - and eat mainly fresh stuff like salads.

2. best army you can recruit to fight off the invading viruses. 2 big glasses a day should be good:

• large portions of fresh vegetable (green) juice - celery, cabage, sprouts, cucumber, anything green. also tomatoes if you like, tastes yummy. (fruit juices are also good, but not nearly as powerful)

(i worked out a deal with local juice place, and i bring vegetables for them to juice, and i pay a couple of euros for the drink. i do this on the regular, keeps immune system strong. you can ofcourse invest in a good juicer, but it costs 300+ euros (the cheap ones are not worth bothering with), and is a bitch to clean)

• as much raw garlic juiced as you can handle. for me an entire head (12 pieces or so) tends to upset my stomach - not to mention make the drink taste TERRIBLE (so i usually do half a head or about 6 pieces)

• lemon juice - acts as anti-oxident.

• some pieces of ginger, also juiced.

works wonders. if you do this at the beginning of a cold you're likely to be better the next day.

3. a netty pot is the best thing for congested sinuses.

4. also if you can get to a sauna the sweating can be of limited help.

 

[STN]

Cheers for these - I'll try chicken soup tonight (as I like it very much) and if that doesn't work I'll call in the big guns of vegetable juice (that sounds like a very hardcore remedy - I can't believe not eating would help rather than hinder but will give it a go).

 

[hint]

I drink hot Ribena... loads of it, along with glasses of water. Seems to help.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Heroin. Well, you did say 'boozeless'...

On a serious note, I find honey-lemon-and-ginger tea works pretty well. I guess it's got some of the things in it zhao mentions. Chop up a couple of inches of fresh ginger root as fine as you can be arsed to, then boil in a pan for about 10 minutes. The long you boil it, the more hard-bastard spicy it'll be. Then strain into a mug and add juice of 1/2 a lemon and a dessert-spoon of honey. Mmm-mm.

 

[mms]

i've got the same bastard thing.
it's an absolute scum bag of a cold, i'm gonna get the blender running

 

[STN]

Alright, tonight's chicken soup and Mr Lemon and Ginger Tea (with hot ribena as an auxillary potion) tomorrow is Zhao's Total War Raw Technique. Good luck getting rid of it, mms - let me know how you get on.

keep em coming, surely someone has a recipe with cinnamon and nutmeg?

 

[Eric]

the japanese seem to swear by the saline gargle thing. I usually do that & a bunch of water & juice. and rest ...

 

[STN]

The high humidity thing is intriguing as it's the opposite of what I would assume to be true. Any ideas on how I can humidise my flat?

 

[dHarry]

Any ideas on how I can humidise my flat?

Close the windows/extractors and keep a saucepan of water simmering on the cooker - sounds horrible, making your living space all hot, steamy and damp. A more moderate option would be to drape a towel over your head & over a bowl of boiling water, leaning over it to inhale all that lovely steam.

 

[zhao]

I can't believe not eating would help rather than hinder but will give it a go).

this is actually what one should do at the first sign of almost ANY kind of illness (with a few exceptions - such as mal-nutrition related illnesses).

 

[Slothrop]

this is actually what one should do at the first sign of almost ANY kind of illness (with a few exceptions - such as mal-nutrition related illnesses).

Erm, do you have any references for this? Intuitively it sounds like the sort of thing that could do a lot more harm than good...

 

[Mr. Tea]

There's that saying, isn't there - "Feed a cold and starve a fever"...or then again, it could be the other way round.

 

[zhao]

There's that saying, isn't there - "Feed a cold and starve a fever"...or then again, it could be the other way round.

that's all bullshit. starve everything.

i go by this man's practice and advice:

http://www.herbdoc.com
http://drschultz.com/

i can lay out a detailed list of reasons but that would be a bit of an undertaking, involving knowledge that i have acquired regarding health and diet, which frankly a lot of people stuck in the traditional mindset think is crazy.

 

[nomadologist]

i think Zhao may be right about not eating when you have a virus...I know whenever I have a fever I'm usually not hungry. I know that the whole idea people have that they need to medicate a fever to make it go away is wrong: the fever actually helps kill viruses that's why your body creates one. Maybe it's the same with food, so if you're not hungry, don't eat.

I'd have to look up any real evidence, though.

 

[Mr. Tea]

i think Zhao may be right about not eating when you have a virus...

n.b. not recommended if the virus is of the human immunodeficiency persuasion...

 

[zhao]

no.

especially if the illness is result of poor immune system -- 90% of what people eat is taxing to the immune system -- carbs, fats, protein.

what helps immune systems is raw vegetables and fruits (or their juices).

 

[Mr. Tea]

what helps immune systems is raw vegetables and fruits (or their juices).

What? You need ENERGY to stay alive, and to be able to do anything, e.g. fight off infection.
If you go on some crazy fruitarian diet you're only going to make yourself ill(er) because you won't be taking in enough calories, which you get from carbohydrates and fats. You might be getting some sugars from the fruit, but probably not enough. And if you're repairing damaged tissue you'll need protein too, of which animal products are a much better source than plant ones.

By all means eat plenty of fruit'n'veg, because you need vitamins, minerals and fibre, but it's not healthy to rely on that alone. People != cows.

 

[mistersloane]

Not thinking of scotch as booze but MEDECINE really helps I find.