Coughing is one of the most persistent sicknesses if it is not addressed in time. Left unattended, it can cause a person to keep coughing for months resulting in the weakening of the lungs. This post will share how you can relieve cough with phlegm quickly (in a matter of days).
Why Coughing Occurs?
There are many reasons why coughing occurs.
One of the most common reasons is that when a person just recovers from the flu and the virus residue needs to be purged out from the lungs, during this time, coughing will occur.
Another cause is when a person has eaten something that is not suitable for his/her body’s constitution, then coughing will occur as it wants to purge out the stuff that the body can’t absorb.
Regardless of the reason, it is always better to know what kind of cough it is at any given time.
The Different Types of Coughs
Heaty Cough – Heaty cough is very common and it is shown by yellow and/or thick phlegm. If a person is having a heaty cough, he/she should avoid eating or drinking foods with warm thermal nature like ginger, longan, and red dates.
Cold Cough – Cold cough is also very common and is shown by white phlegm and is pretty easy to cough out. A person having a cold cough should avoid eating foods or drinks with cooling thermal nature such as bitter gourd and almost all types of herbal tea (Chrysanthemum, Monk fruit, barley drink etc).
Dry Cough – While heaty and cold cough normally happen in the beginning stages of coughing, dry cough mostly happens when a person ignores the heaty and cold cough for too long. Dry cough is shown by no sound of phlegm when coughing or phlegm is very difficult to be coughed out. Dry cough will take a longer time to recover.
Coughing should not be left untreated or unattended because the longer time a person is coughing, the harder it is to recover.
It is pretty easy and fast to recover from heaty and cold cough so I always encourage people to act promptly as soon as coughing starts.
Foods To Avoid If You Are Coughing
While the remedy is important, it is also important to know what food to avoid so that the recovery will be faster.
First, avoid oily and deep-fried foods. These foods will contribute to the production of phlegm and thus, coughing a lot more than normal.
Second, avoid taking cold drinks and raw foods. These food will weaken your spleen and lungs and hence, delay the time to recover.
Third, choose low-sodium foods and avoid eating dessert for the time being. Sugary stuff will promote the development of phlegm in people who have weaker spleens. So it is best to avoid eating dessert when you are coughing.
What To Eat When You Are Coughing
Regardless of what type of cough you are having, the following two pieces of advice work:
First, you would need to drink more water (not iced or cool water), particularly warm water. Water will help your body to dissolve the phlegm. So reducing the intake of caffeine drinks and replacing it with water is a wise choice when you are coughing.
The second piece of advice is to you can eat more white radishes. White radish has a strong property of dissolving phlegm. You can cook white radish as soup or steam it to eat. White radish is effective for all types of coughing with phlegm.
A Fast Remedy: Phlegm-Dissolving Cough Syrup
If you can’t follow the above dietary advice 100% and still want your cough to recover soonest, you can consider getting the following cough syrup. This particular brand of cough syrup is one of those rare ones in the market that is effective for almost all types of cough.
You can get a bottle of this cough syrup in most TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) retail shops.
The reason why this cough syrup works for almost all types of cough is that it contains both cooling and warm herbs that can treat heaty and cold coughs.
It also has lung-strengthening herbs for people having dry coughs.
Most importantly, it contains herbs that help to dissolve phlegm so it will help to stop your coughing.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Not all cough syrup works for all types of cough. If you are drinking a different type of cough syrup, do consult a physician if that is suitable for your cough.
Hope you find this post useful and just let me know if you have any questions (by posting in the comments below).
Hi KC, how often should an individual take white radish soup when he or she is having occasional cough and yellow phlegm?
Hi Wen Jie, white radish soup can be taken two to three times a week. Hope this answers your doubt.