The following simple dietary modifications and precautions can help with a speed recovery from illness when used with acupuncture and herbs.  During a fever it is important avoid overeating, avoid animal products, and it is best not to force feed people who are not hungry.  Excess foods and animal products prolong the duration of the fever.  One of the oldest Chinese Medicine texts (Nei Jing Su Wen) notes that animal products “trap the heat” thereby preventing the fever from resolving.  Instead, Chinese Medicine practitioners focus on “release surface” foods and herbs during a fever.  These are foods that help create a minute sweat to assist in the elimination of toxins from the body.  These foods include cilantro, mint, green onion, and ginger.  Breaking a sweat helps in the recovery process, however, in the case of a high fever with excess sweating, herbal medicine is required to cool the body and reduce sweating to preserve bodily fluids.

    It is best to avoid hot & spicy foods, fried foods, and refined sugars. Bacteria thrive on refined sugar. Refined sugar can worsen a sore throat and add to the toxicity of a febrile disease (fever). Fried foods, milk, and cheese are damp in nature meaning that they contribute to the production of phlegm. This can produce nausea and abdominal distension and/or increased phlegm in the respiratory system and sinuses. To avoid phlegm congestion in the sinuses and chest, it is important to avoid milk, cheese and pizza.

    I have mentioned that it is important not to force feed people who are not hungry during a common cold, flu, or febrile disease. However, if the illness persists for more than a day and the patient is not eating, congee is recommended to build strength. Congee is a rice soup that is prepared by cooking 1 cup of rice in 8 cups of water over very low heat for several hours. If the patient's constitution is extremely weak, then the rice water floating above the congee is recommended until the patient can handle the congee. Congee is very easy to digest and can bring strength to the weak. There are many simple ways to add nutrition to the congee. Some congee recipes include adding ginger, sliced carrots or celery to the rice before cooking. These ingredients dissolve into the rice soup and are then easily absorbed by the patient. If a person suffers from a fever but cannot break a sweat to expel the toxins, make sure the congee is served very hot and the person wears some warm clothing when eating it. Try adding cilantro or green onion as a garnish.  Hopefully, this will help the person to break a sweat in order to help reduce the fever.

    In general, soup is an excellent choice of food when feeling ill. The broth helps to replenish fluids that are burned off due to fever and/or excess sweating. If someone is not sweating during illness, a hot soup can bring about a healthy sweat which assists in the elimination of toxins and may alleviate neck and back pain associated with a common cold or flu.

 

    Conveniently located on the corner of 49th St. and Capitola Road in Capitola, the Capitola Health Center is located across the street from the Shadowbrook Restaurant parking lot.  The Capitola Health Center is 5 minutes from Capitola Village and just a few blocks from the ocean.

    The Capitola Health Center is located near 41st Ave and Highway 1 in Capitola between Soquel, Aptos, and Santa Cruz.  The clinic is also convenient for Watsonville, Scotts Valley, Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond, Brookdale, UCSC, Los Gatos, Saratoga, San Jose, Palo Alto and surrounding areas.