Dear friends, recently I have been concentrating on sorting out various remedies for children’s coughs, hoping to add some weapons to your parents’ toolbox. For example, the “steamed garlic water” that I am going to share with you today is particularly effective for many parents, who say that their children will get better when they use this steamed garlic water every time they cough!
First of all, at what stage can this steamed garlic water be used?
Ladies and gentlemen, this formula is for use in the external cold stage. Simply put, the signs and symptoms of external cold are: runny nose, sneezing, choking and coughing, pale white tongue, fear of cold, and strong head and neck pain.
Now, let’s learn more about the garlic we often eat! Garlic was first produced in Central Asia, and was introduced to China through the Western region during the Qin and Han dynasties. Some people say that it was Zhang Qian who brought the seeds of garlic back to the Central Plains on his mission to the Western region. Nowadays, garlic is widely known as a health food. Modern research shows that garlic does have a protective effect on the human body, for example, in the prevention and treatment of external influenza, some studies show that garlic has a strong bactericidal effect. The sulfur compounds in garlic have a surprisingly strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effect, inhibiting and killing many kinds of cocci, bacilli, fungi and viruses, making it one of the strongest antibacterial effects among the natural plants found so far. Some researchers have used garlic extract to treat lobar pneumonia with remarkable results. There are many similar studies, and garlic does have a wide future in medical use.
Although we have a long history of eating garlic, in Chinese medicine, the application is mostly in the field of external use, such as topical application, etc. So, what kind of medicinal properties does garlic have?
According to Chinese medicine, garlic enters the lung, spleen and stomach meridians. Wang Mengying, a Chinese medicine master in the Qing Dynasty, said in his food therapy work “The Diet Book of Suixiju” that garlic: “The raw one is pungent and hot, while the cooked one is sweet and warm, which can remove cold and dampness, ward off yin and evil, lower gas and warm the middle, eliminate grain and transform meat, break bad blood and attack cold accumulation. It is used for treating abdominal pain of violent diarrhea, constipation of the passageway, removing filth and detoxification, eliminating gangrene and killing worms. External moxibustion canker sores, water to stop epistaxis”.
In this, it is worth paying attention to: Wang Mengying believes that the medicinal properties of raw and cooked garlic are different! This is the main point. According to Wang Mengying: raw garlic will be pungent and hot, while when garlic is cooked, the medicinal properties are sweet and warm. We believe that the pungent and hot medicinal properties of raw garlic can disperse the cold evil in the lungs, while the sweet and warm medicinal properties of cooked garlic can warm the spleen and remove the cold dampness in the spleen and stomach.
So, how should we apply the two together?
Steamed garlic water
First, let’s take a look at the ingredients, now issue the kitchen call! These are the ingredients that the kitchen has! They are: three cloves of garlic (this is the amount for children, adults can use seven cloves) and one piece of rock sugar.
So, how do we steam garlic?
Steaming garlic water tutorial
1: Use a knife to pat the garlic and chop it, or if you cut it into thin slices, that’s fine too.
2.Put the garlic into the steamer (you can use a bowl if you don’t have a steamer at home).
3.Put the icing sugar into the steamer.
4, add the right amount of water, about the amount of steamer height two-thirds.
5: Put the lid on to prevent the water from dripping in when steaming (if you use a bowl, use a small plate to hold it on).
6, put the steamer into the steamer to steam, high heat boil, turn off the fire slightly, and then steam for 15 minutes, at this time, the color of garlic water will be some light green color.
Then, take it out, let it warm up, and drink the water inside. You can drink it two or three times a day, and the amount you drink can be gradual. Keep in mind that you have to steam it now each time, not once, and keep it to drink slowly.
So, why can this steamed garlic water stop coughing?
My observation is that after 15 minutes of steaming, the garlic is half raw and half cooked, so this garlic water is not as pungent as raw garlic, but only a little bit of pungent irritation, at this time, the taste is somewhat like the taste of scallops with garlic that we often eat, at this time, the garlic water still has the pungent and hot medicinal properties of raw garlic, which can promote the lung and disperse cold, but only the medicinal properties are softened, so that the child is not stimulated so much. On the other hand, at this time, the garlic is half raw and half cooked, which has the sweet and warm medicinal properties of cooked garlic, which can warm the middle and remove the cold and dampness in the spleen and stomach. So, this is a two-in-one method.
What kind of children is garlic water suitable for?
According to our previous analysis, we can understand that such a child has cold in the lungs and, at the same time, cold dampness in the spleen and stomach. Therefore, steaming garlic water is the only way to disperse the cold in the lungs on the one hand and remove the cold and dampness in the spleen and stomach on the other hand in a two-pronged way, working simultaneously.
In many children, cold and dampness in the spleen and stomach, such as often drinking cold drinks and often using cold medicines, both herbal and western (such as antibiotics), results in, as a result, such children, always have more cold and dampness in the spleen and stomach. Their tongues will not be red, they will be pale white, they will sneeze easily, they will have a clear nose easily, and their stomachs will be painful and even have diarrhea once they get cold. The face will not be rosy and will often be pale or even dull in color.
In short, such a child is the opposite of the kind of child who has a hot constitution; such a child is often prone to be afraid of cold and is easily motivated by a cool constitution.
In such a child, the lack of spleen yang will easily lead to coughing due to feeling external cold, and in such a case, it is more effective to use steamed garlic water. So, remember, friends, steamed garlic water will act on two parts, one is the lungs and the other is the spleen and stomach.
After taking steamed garlic water, very few children will vomit or even have diarrhea. This is a sign that the half-cooked garlic, with its sweet and warm qi, has invigorated the spleen and stomach, causing cold and dampness to be expelled outward, which is not a bad thing.
My advice is that garlic water is more suitable for children over three years old, and children who are too young are still afraid that garlic is too pungent. When steaming the garlic water, you can give it to your child to drink on a trial basis, the amount can be a little less at first, and then gradually increase when you see that you can adapt to it.
What kind of children are not suitable for garlic water?
Children who are usually hot, easily get on fire, have a red tongue, and have a sore throat as soon as they catch a cold, are not suitable for steamed garlic water because they feel cold, but they are prone to heat.
Okay, friends, today, we have talked about another folk recipe that can be used in the stage of external cold, and this recipe is for children with cold constitution when they feel external evil, and it can be used as an auxiliary treatment. Tomorrow, I’ll continue to introduce you to various ways to control your cough!