🌿 Folk Prescriptions

With winter approaching, colds become increasingly common. Most of these are caused by wind-cold. Experts recommend drinking porridge regularly, especially those with therapeutic properties and added special ingredients, which aid in cold prevention and treatment.
Professor Gan Aiping from the Integrated Medicine Department of Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine stated that winter air is colder, especially with large diurnal temperature differences. Negligence easily triggers colds. Winter colds are mostly wind-cold type, presenting symptoms like fever, chills, and absence of sweating. For the elderly, failing to prevent colds or delaying treatment can be especially dangerous—reducing immunity and worsening other conditions such as chronic bronchitis, hypertension, and heart disease.
Professor Gan advises that during winter colds, consuming warm porridge helps induce sweating, release heat, expel wind-cold, and speed recovery. Additionally, colds often reduce appetite and impair digestive function. Porridge aids absorption. Moreover, some medications strongly irritate the stomach lining; porridge helps protect the gastric mucosa.
She recommends using rice for winter porridge. Rice is neutral and sweet in nature, benefiting the stomach, strengthening the spleen, fortifying tendons and bones, and harmonizing the five zang organs. Other grains like millet, foxtail millet, and Job’s tears are slightly cold in nature—less suitable for winter consumption.
Additionally, adding special therapeutic ingredients during porridge-making can enhance benefits. Professor Gan recommends the following porridges:
• Ginger and Perilla Leaf Porridge: Ginger is the best remedy for fever, sneezing, and phlegm, a common TCM herb with effects of expelling phlegm, dispelling cold, invigorating Qi, clearing acne, and relieving asthma. Perilla leaf also disperses wind-cold and is available at most pharmacies. Preparation: Use 10g of perilla leaf and 3 slices of ginger. Add to boiled white porridge, bring to a boil again, then serve.
• Ginger and Jujube Porridge: Similar effects to the above. Preparation: Toast rice lightly in a dry pan, then add water. Stir well, add jujubes and ginger slices, simmer gently until porridge is cooked. Add a pinch of salt. Note: Both porridges have strong warming effects—unsuitable for young children, those with severe eye congestion, or hemorrhoids.
• Apricot Kernel Porridge: About 20 peeled apricot kernels and 50g of rice. Cook rice first, add apricot kernels near completion, continue cooking until done. Add a little sugar or salt. This porridge helps stop coughing, relieve asthma, expel phlegm, and moisten dryness.
• Wind-Preventing Porridge: 15g of Fangfeng (available at pharmacies), 2 green onions, 3 slices of ginger, 50g of rice. First cook rice, add Fangfeng, green onion, and ginger near the end, add salt as needed. This porridge clears heat, dispels wind, relieves cold, and alleviates pain—suitable for wind-cold-induced chills, fever, joint pain, nasal congestion, and diarrhea.
Professor Gan also reminds: When drinking porridge, pay attention to temperature—do not drink too hot (risking mucosal damage) or too cold (hindering therapeutic effect).