NATURE’S TREAT FOR COUGH & COLD

Thought of winter is coupled with cough & cold. They are so common in winters. You catch      it when you just come out of your warm bed & run out in the open cold air to fetch the newspaper or come out of the bathroom without wearing proper clothing after a hot water bath. Simple to understand is that it starts after the exposure of the body to the sudden change of  temperature. Starting with running nose & watery eyes followed by congestion, nasal blockage, formation of thick phlegm & cough comes in the last. In fact , cough is an effort of the throat & chest to throw out the thick phlegm and save you from oncoming worse conditions of sinusitis or bronchitis. So, before its too late, take precautions. Prevention is always better than cure. Be careful about the exposure to sudden change of temperature.

            Open up a door or a window just after getting up but don’t leave the warm room immediately. Spend some time doing any other work in the bedroom. After a hot bath, go to bed with blankets for 10 minutes. Rather dare take a fresh water bath. It is best because it causes contractions of the muscles of whole body generating enough heat to increase the body resistance & fight cold.

Use of room heaters burns out the water content of the air & causes suffocation. Always prefer to keep a pan full of water on the heater to maintain moisture with steam.

Researchers find that intake of vitamin ‘C’ produces resistance against cold. Here I refer my previous article “Get Rid of Those Toxins”. “Often the vegetation growing in abundance around us, according to the seasons, is the best bet for a healthy body”. Nature knows better & bestows you with the purest & abundance of vitamin ‘C’ particularly during winters to fight cold. So, go for the cheap & best of natural vitamin ‘C’ against Ascorbic acid from Amla(Indian Gooseberry), Oranges, Guava, Papaya, Zizyphus (Ber), Lime, Sweet Lime & Pineapple & in vegetables, it is Chaulai,Cabbage, Turnip, Gaanth Gobhi, Bitter Gourd, Cauliflower, Capsicum, Singhri, Leaves of Drumstick, Coriander, Fenugreek, Radish, Carrot & Indian Red Spinach which grow in abundance in winters.

            But what to do once you catch it ? Naturopathy says that it’s a Natures effort to throw out Toxins from the body.

Trying to stop the running nose may cause thickness of Phlegm, Sinusitis & even Bronchitis. Don’t interrupt with Nature, instead help it to clean the upper respiratory tract as fast as possible.

            To begin with, select a diet, which should be preventive, nourishing & medicinal.

            A gluten rich diet like Colocasia, Potato, Rice, Urad, Rajmah, Mothe, Ladies Finger etc. may thicken the mucous. There remains the continuous formation of phlegm when we take excess of Fats, Milk, Curd, Butter Milk & Cheese. So, stop taking such a diet & select from the nourishing vitamin ‘C’ rich diet.

            Did you ever feel that in winters the liking for condiments & spices is raised? It’s a Natural body requirement to fight cold. Use of Ginger, fresh or dry (Sonth), Cardamoms, black or green, Cloves, Dalchini,  Tejpatha, Tulsi, Bantulsi, Seeds of Cumin and Conianger, Black pepper are all there to help you medicinally. Sip a hot tea prepared from any one or more of them and see the effect. Sucking a piece of Ginger or a Clove or a bit of Dalchini, chewing some Tulsi leaves will soothe your throat. A tasty & carminative green chutney of Amla with fresh Coriander & Mint leaves, Green Chilies & Tomatoes will provide a very high content of vitamin ‘C’ (Amla 600mg, Coriander leaves135mg, Green Chilies111mg, Mint leaves27mg, Tomatoes 27 mg – all values per 100 gm). The pungency of Green Chilies break down the thick mucous & the expectorating properties of Mint & Coriander leaves make the phlegm to come out easily & off course the richness of vitamin ‘C’ prevents the recurrence.

            Sitting in the Sun for sometime in the morning & evening is helpful but if sitting in the bright noon, take sunrays from back.

            Drinking hot water in  large quantity liquefies the thick mucous & also soothes the irritated throat.

            Steam inhalation putting Eucalyptus leaves in the water for 5-10 minutes twice a day is a good home remedy to decongest nose & throat. But be careful not to come out in cold after inhalation.

            Another simple procedure to get rid of cough & cold is to keep your legs (up to the knee height) in a hot water bucket for 10-15 minutes just before going to bed. The temperature of water should be upto the personal tolerance. And you will definitely feel better next morning. But it will be better to make it a point not to catch it this time.

                                                Dr. Satish Bajaj

                                                Bajaj’s Nature Cure & Yoga Clinic

                                                7 A.G.C.R Enclave

                                                New Delhi-92.

                                Ph.22374713, 9868569986