Written By: Setareh Kiumarsi
In a previous post about flu and allergy we mentioned that when you suffer from flu or severe allergy, you should avoid eating phlegmatic and mucusy food for 2 to 3 days. You must instead, go on a cleansing diet which is like a light fasting.
In this cleansing diet, you should eat food which cleanses your digestive tube from excess mucus! Examples of such siccative foods are greens and vegetables.
Think about greens and vegetables such as parsley, basil, carrot, celery! when such food enters your digestive tube, it acts like a dry sponge in water and absorbs all the indigested mucus in your digestive tube. As a result, your digestive as well as respiratory systems become clean from excess mucus and phlegm.
That’s why it is very useful to eat only digestive soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner or digestive salad for 2 to 3 days when you are suffering from flu or allergy.
Also, from 2 hours after each meal, drink a cup of digestive tea every hour. You can also drink herbal teas suitable for cold and flu (stay tuned for our future posts!)
For snack, you can have cooked apple and orange and sweet lemon (2 sweet lemons + 1 orange)
This diet is similar to fasting and you might feel tired so avoid excessive physical activity. (Beware that this diet is not advised for people with special diseases, the elderly and children, without supervision of an Ayurvedic practitioner!)
When you have flu or allergy, for 2-3 days, have this herbal tea every hour, from two hours after your meal.
Mix the following herbs and spices in their whole form. Don’t use the powder form. Mix them with The following proportions in a jar. (You can use a tablespoon as your unit)
2 part of Thyme + 1 part of Pennyroyal + 1 part of Fennel + 1 Part of Broken Cinnamon Sticks + 1 part of Ziziphora or Clove + 1 part of Coriander
**Each time that you want to make the tea, add one teaspoon of this mixture to a cup of hot water:
¼-½ teaspoon fresh grated ginger + 1 teaspoon lemon/lime + 1 teaspoon honey.