I used to get colds regularly, about one every 2 – 3 months. I was quite a healthy eater to be honest, lots of greens, clean protein and little alcohol consumption, but it wasn’t until I visited a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner who took a look at me and advised that I start my day with a cup of warm water and warm breakfast – and that changed my life.
Asian Background
Mind you, coming from you an east-Asian background you would think I have understood TCM. Growing up with parents feeding you red dates to nurture you, drinking chrysanthemum tea to sooth a sore throat doesn’t really qualify you to be an expert (but we all wanna think we are). What gave rise to my issue was having smoothies in the morning, usually a mix of yoghurt, frozen mangoes and mixed nuts. Other combinations would be just yoghurt and mixed nuts.
Effects Of New Routine
A few months of this routine and I was in a state of what the TCM doctor would call 寒 (hán) – a state where the body is a bit too cold (I think, I need to research more as cold and cool aren’t really the same), opposite of your body when you’ve consumed too much heaty food such as chocolate, peanuts, deep-fried stuff. Related to this my body lacked 气(chì). They advised me immediately to start a morning routine with a glass of warm water (slightly hotter than warm if possible), having warm breakfast and practice 太极 (tàijí), or Taichi.
Better
After starting my day with a glass of warm water, which is a full cup, and oats with chia seeds, goji berries and banana for breakfast on a regular basis. Lo and behold I stopped getting sick every so regularly. A bit of research and reading on TCM, I discovered that what I’ve been doing, having cold water in the morning, starting the day with cold meals, having cold salads and 2 – 3 cups of coffee a day was not a healthy died from a TCM point of view as all these things made the coffee cold. The key in TCM is to ensure that your body is generally neutral, or balanced.