Dietary Advice on Coughs and the Recipes

According to Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the lungs are vulnerable organs, in which the flow of qi can easily be disturbed, leading to cough or other problems. Appropriate self management is crucial for long term lung health.

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Chinese recipes for coughs

When a cough develops into chronic, it takes time to go through the healing process even with proper treatment. Food can work to soothe the throat, regulate secretion in the airways and promote lung functioning. A well-plan diet not only speeds up the healing process but also ensures a full recovery. Food ingredients that commonly used in the Chinese recipes for cough include:

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• Soothing the throat: chrysanthemum, liquorice root, cabbage, olive, mango, pig's skin and duck egg;

• Resolving phlegm: arhat fruit, radish, sponge cucumber, kelp, laver, onion, tangerine peel, pomelo, kumquat, bamboo shoot and mushroom;

• Nourishing the lungs: lily bulb, fritillary bulb, dried persimmon, rock sugar, maltose, apricot kernel, pear, fig, pig's lung, white fungus and black fungus.