5 Energy Science Ways to Deal With The Common Cold
When the qualities of Kapha(heavy, slow/dull, cool, slimy/smooth, oily, liquid, dense, static, gross, and sticky/cloudy) pile up during the winter months the mindbody naturally wants to shed these in the springtime to restore balance(eg too much heavy, liquid, dense, slimy smooth, sticky/cloudy qualites) If excessive these qualities are released in the form of mucous from the nose and airways(trachea, bronchi) It is the cool quality of Kapha that gives the name to this condition as the common "cold"
Qualities accumulate due to foods consumed with inadequate digestive fire, foods inappropriate for your body's energy makeup, and incompatible food combinations, with less accumulation due to wintertime's environmental factors, At other times there can be releases(cold, cough, and congestion) from past years if the individual is moving to higher states of health
Green Is Mean
The color of Pitta the energy of transformation is yellow to green The excess accumulated Pitta energy pattern is always present with inflammation so when these colors show up in the mucous you can be certain infection is present On the other hand the color of Kapha mucous is clear or white If just Kapha release is happening then no antibiotic is necessary
At the first sign of green or yellow mucous you should begin using antibiotics This is particularly the case when there have been previous bouts of bronchitis or not feeling strong during the wintertime season Green to yellow mucous implies that the body's immune status working to clear an infection And it doesn't make any difference if the green appears late or early For example if the green shows up in the first one or two days of mucous discharge antibiotics would still be the first choice in management Probiotics should be considered if you begin antibiotics to maintain a healthy gut bowel flora
Reducing Metabolic Load
You've heard of the common adage starve a cold, feed a fever Or is it the opposite feed a cold starve a fever? The energy science of Ayurveda can help us here Since Kapha is a hypometabolic state to begin with, it doesn't make sense to feed it more The digestive power is compromised
Therefore it makes sense to starve a cold and feed a fever Obvously I'm not talking about complete water fasting but doing juices is best eg apple and pomegranite or foods that are Kapha pacifying So chicken soup with rough(counters the slimy smooth quality) soda crackers becomes an excellent choice for the diet when going through Kapha release but not milky creamy soups
Remember Incompatible Food Combinations
If you are going to use foods be sure that the foods are compatible with one another Poor food combining can result in congestion and interfere with the Kapha release It makes complete sense that if you have excess heavy, slimy/smooth, cloudy/sticky being released you would not want to add more of these qualities in your nutritional format Examples include all dairy(cheees, yogurt, milk) almond milk is OK, nuts(heavy and oily), oils unless light, uncooked foods, heavy grains(oatmeal,wheat, yeasted breads) and of course no sugar Best to emphasize the tastes of pungent, bitter, and astringent
Buck Up Your Digestive Fire
Because Kapha is heavy, it takes a lot of energy to burn up Kapha molecules so the stronger your digestion through this process of Kapha release the better Of course the first rule of thumb is don't add any more Kapha molecules to the system in terms of food but at the same time by stoking your central digestive fire you strengthen all the digestive fires in the body including those that are trying to release these heavy qualities So for example the sweet taste is Kapha provoking so using sugary cough drops makes no sense
I mentioned probiotics above as intestinal bacteria are integral part of the concept of digestive fire I have covered other nutritional techniques in another post including ginger pickle which is a great way to enhance digestive fire
Herbal Remedies
The best remedy for colds is ginger and using it in combination with cinnamon, cardamom to make teas for a straightforward cold For colds with a productive cough making teas with dry powdered cloves, cinnamon, dry ginger is useful These heating spices(herbs) help with warming the cool quality of Kapha
Simple black pepper from the table is good to use since it burns off the Kapha qualities Pippali is a great herb to use for the lungs and should be considered when there are repeated bronchitis attacks in an individual's history Honey is heating and using this with or without ghee(in equal volumes) is useful as tissue buildup(improves immunity) but also aids in the clearance of Kapha qualities
Just remember you can take all the herbs in the world but if you haven't done anything about your nutritional choices you're wasting your time
Until next time To Health as a Skill Love DrBill
