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Drinking Rice Porridge Helps Prevent Cold<br>Other

🔑 Keywords: Traditional Chinese Medicine · As winter arrives, cold cases increase. Most are caused by wind-cold. Experts advise drinking porridge regularly, especially nourishing porridges with special ingredients, to prevent and treat colds.<br>Professor Gan Aiping from the Integrated Medicine Department of Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine notes that winter air is chilly, especially with large day-night temperature differences. Minor carelessness can trigger colds. Winter colds are mostly wind-cold type, presenting symptoms like fever, chills, and lack of sweating. For elderly people, failing to prevent colds or delaying treatment can be particularly dangerous, weakening immunity and aggravating other conditions such as chronic bronchitis, hypertension, and heart disease.<br>Professor Gan recommends eating warm porridge during colds to induce sweating, dissipate heat, expel wind-cold, and speed recovery. Additionally, poor appetite and impaired digestion often accompany colds—porridge aids absorption. Some medications also irritate the stomach; porridge protects the gastric mucosa.<br>She says winter porridge is best made from rice, as rice is sweet and neutral in nature, benefiting the stomach, supplementing spleen deficiency, strengthening bones and muscles, and harmonizing the five zang organs. Other grains like millet, foxtail millet, and coix seed are sweet and slightly cold—unsuitable for winter consumption.<br>Additionally, special ingredients with therapeutic effects can be added to porridge. Professor Gan recommends the following:<br>Shredded Ginger and Perilla Leaf Porridge: Ginger is excellent for treating fever, sneezing, and phlegm, and is a common TCM herb with effects including expectorant, warming, qi-tonifying, acne-clearing, and asthma-relieving actions. Perilla leaf also disperses wind-cold and is available at pharmacies. Preparation: 10g perilla leaf, 3 slices of ginger. Add to boiled white porridge and reboil before serving.<br>Ginger and Jujube Porridge: Similar effects to ginger-perilla porridge. Preparation: Dry-roast rice briefly in a pan, then add water, stir evenly with a spoon, add jujubes and ginger slices, simmer gently until porridge is done, add a pinch of salt. Note: Both porridges have strong warming effects—avoid in children, those with severe eye congestion, or hemorrhoid sufferers.<br>Almond Porridge: About 20 shelled almonds, 50g rice. Cook rice first, add almonds near completion, continue cooking until fully done, then add a little sugar or salt. This porridge helps relieve cough, asthma, phlegm, and dryness.<br>Wind-Preventing Porridge: 15g wind-preventing herb (available at pharmacies), 2 stalks of green onion, 3 slices of ginger, 50g rice. First cook rice until nearly done, then add wind-preventing herb, green onion, and ginger, add salt as needed. This porridge clears heat, dispels wind, relieves cold, and stops pain—suitable for wind-cold-induced chills, fever, joint pain, nasal congestion, and loose stools.<br>Professor Gan also reminds: Drink porridge at appropriate temperature—neither too hot (to avoid mucosal injury) nor too cold (to preserve therapeutic effect).

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