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Foods That Cure


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What foods do you use to cure or relieve diseases or their symptoms? It's pretty well established that some foods inflame or even cause symptoms of some diseases (diabetes, gout, heartburn, gall stones, for example). Without getting into purely herbal remedies, what foods can be used to help?

My question is stimulated by this recipe I just found here

which claims yucca relieves arthritis.

But through the years, I've confirmed the lore that cheese "binds" and caffeine "loosens." I have not found that caffeine helps migraines even though it was suggested by doctors. Nor did it help my headache when a friend tried to rid me of one by rubbing an egg on my forehead.

"Half of cooking is thinking about cooking." ---Michael Roberts

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When I am in the throes of a migraine, I find that eating small carb-rich snacks (bread seems the best) every couple of hours really helps the nausea. I have no idea of the science behind that and it may not hold true for everyone but it sure works for me.

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for colds and flu: strong tomato rasam (with garlic).

the spices and tomato and hot liquid combination

really cures whatever ails me. i am sure there is

some science behind it (hot liquids, vitamin c,

and whatever digestive properties are in the spices)

but maybe its primarily the food - emotion connection too....

for nausea: anything containing lemon and or ginger.

my mom's mango-ginger and lemon pickle is a certain cure.

i carry small cartons of it to ward off motion sickness....

i believe ginger's anti-emetic properties are now coming

to be scientifically recognized.

for an upset tummy: yogurt-rice with rasam or above mentioned

pickle. stops all bugs in their tracks.

for an imminent, very mild, asthma attack: strong tea.

does not work for more severe attacks.

lots more, but these spring to mind immediately.

milagai

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When I am in the throes of a migraine, I find that eating small carb-rich snacks (bread seems the best) every couple of hours really helps the nausea.  I have no idea of the science behind that and it may not hold true for everyone but it sure works for me.

Yes, it seems that no remedy works for everyone. This is OT as it does not involve food, but pain trumps correctness. When I have a migraine, I find it relieves the pain temporarily to run my hands and (if possible) feet under hottest water possible short of scalding. When at home, I'll sit on the side of the tub and let the water pool around my feet while the water cascades over my hands. Some people find relief from pressing the pressure point in the web between thumb and index finger - hard. Others suggest the same with the ear lobe. I find longer relief from the hot water, but sometimes that's not available. Still another suggestion which I've not used successfully is to breath in a bag so that you rebreathe your own breath.

Of course, a doctor who knows you well enough to trust you may prescribe pain killers. I've used them with mixed success. Often they will make me throw up, after which the headaches lifts. Why? who knows?

"Half of cooking is thinking about cooking." ---Michael Roberts

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For me, there is nothing like something hot, salty and spicy for a cold. Tom Yum soup, for instance.

Also, something starchy and salty can sometimes do wonders for an upset stomach. I was fealing nauseated the other day and a package of honey mustard Pretz took care of it admirably.

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Chicken soup, of course, is good for all ills. :wink:

Hot & spicy stuff when I have a cold or am feeling peakish. Tom Yum soup. Japanese curry. Chili. Sushi with a good dose of wasabi.

Ginger candies for carsickness or nausea. (Not ginger tea -- too much liquid.) Coca-Cola syrup or sipping flat Coca-Cola is another old-time remedy that works.

Chamomile tea or mint tea for tummy aches. No eggs, no dairy, no fried foods.

Yogurt to prevent yeast infections caused by taking antibiotics.

Chocolate for stress or depression.

SuzySushi

"She sells shiso by the seashore."

My eGullet Foodblog: A Tropical Christmas in the Suburbs

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When I have a migraine, I find it relieves the pain temporarily to run my hands and (if possible) feet under hottest water possible short of scalding.  When at home, I'll sit on the side of the tub and let the water pool around my feet while the water cascades over my hands.

I thought I was the only one - for me, no matter if it is 95 degrees outside, I am reluctantly drawn to immerse myself, head in particular, into the hottest tub of water I can draw. Crazy, but that is my best relief.

Anise or fennel seeds chewed for indigestion (and flatulence).

Ginger tea for cold relief (though I haven't had one in over two years!)

Avoid tomato, eggplant, etc. prior to general anesthetics - easier to shake off the effects.

Chocolate for everything.

Salt water gargle for sore throats. Hated as a kid, still do, but it works.

Don't know much about this, but here's a link:

webzine

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Anise or fennel seeds chewed for indigestion (and flatulence).

Ginger tea for cold relief (though I haven't had one in over two years!)

Chocolate for everything.

Salt water gargle for sore throats. Hated as a kid, still do, but it works.

re fennel: works great on babies too, when made into a tea

and given in tiny sips.

ITA re chocolate :biggrin:

re salt water: my kids' pediatrician recommends this too.

and does the food have to be actually eaten to count in this

category?

otherwise:

coconut or amla (indian gooseberry) oil for hair

mustard oil for skin in winter (pre bath)

turmeric for just about any skin ailment, though you will turn

bright yellow.

etc.

milagai

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If we're going to include things you bathe in, squeezing limau nipis (a kind of fragrant lime) into bathing water is a traditional treatment in rural Malay medicine. A bomoh (traditional healer) prescribed that as part of a cure for symptoms my mother experienced after being released from the hospital after a month as an inpatient for mononucleosis (then a very rare disease in Malaysia), and it really refreshed her and helped her get well.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Since I was about 12 I have regulated my asthma with caffeine, primarily GOOD HOT COFFEE or espresso. Does the trick everytime! Same with apples. I know for sure that caffeine is a bronchodialator.

" You soo tall, but you so skinny. I like you, you come home with me, I feed you!"- random japanese food worker.

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Back east I would get rushed to the hospital quite a few times when my asthma got out of hand in the cold weather. My doctor met me there once when I had a particulary bad attack. I had a shot and a breathing treatment. We were in a room with me struggling to breathe and he asked the nurse to bring him a cup of coffee. I was really ticked, thinking, why is the SOB, asking for a cup of coffee with me dying here. The nurse came back with the coffee, and he handed it to me, and told me to drink it.At the time I thought that it was awfully wierd, but later I found it pretty funny.

"My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne."

John Maynard Keynes

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Ginger tea/ginger ale for nausea

Coca Cola (regular) also for nausea

salt and vinegar potato chips and coca cola (regular) for bad diarrhea (doesn't help the diarrhea, but replaces all of the minerals you lose in having diarrhea)

Kimchee gigae for a cold (chili, garlic, and ginger have been proven to have natural antibiotic properties)

Copious amounts of coffee to keep me "regular"

Crushed linseeds for shiny hair (and soft skin)

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Flax seeds help with digestion (fiber) and the oil seems to make my skin and hair healthier.

For carsickness, peanut butter, even those awful cheese crackers with peanut butter sold in convenience stores.

Another vote for ginger-lemon tea for colds, but I put sprigs of rosemary in it, too.

I don't think the hot water trick would work for my migraines, and I never want to eat when I have one either. Strangely enough, I haven't gotten a serious migraine since starting on Atkins. Hmmm. So there must be a food connection there somewhere.

Water isn't exactly a food, but I drink a LOT of water and it helps me feel better, think better, and function better. I think the real reason a lot of teas and other beverages make us feel better is that we're dehydrated.

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If I am nauseous, I find that a stick of Big Red gum does the trick. For sore throats I go with ginger/honey tea.

Believe me, I tied my shoes once, and it was an overrated experience - King Jaffe Joffer, ruler of Zamunda

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This is a wonderful thread!

I have something to add, though it isn't a food that cures, its a food maker that cures!

last spring when i went to visit the water buffalo in campania, for the mozzarella cheese, i had the tail end of a nasty case of bronchitis and was coughing and wheezing from post bronchitis asthma, and in general sounding and feeling pretty bad.

When i got to the water buffalo place, my companion, a native napoletana, said: thank goodness you have gotten here soon! when i looked quizically, she continued:

yes, when we are children, and we have bad chest illnesses, our mothers take us to see the water buffalo, and they cure us!

did it work? i stopped coughing and though i started up again when we left, i only started a little bit and within a few days it was cured!

a month or two later, another bad cold/bronchitis (it was a rough spring). this time i went to benevento, and went to visit some pigs.

my companion, a different one, said when we got close to the pigs: thank goodness you've come to the pigs, you have come in the nick of time. when we have a bad chest illness as children, our mothers take us to see the pigs!

Did it work? i stopped coughing. started up again when i left but within a few days was cough-free. my husband had exactly the same reaction!

water buffal, pigs, cows too i hear, they are all there in campania, making food and curing people!

i find this wonderful! (and actually think there is something in the air, perhaps the animals hair, or their hay, or their excrement.....something theaputic).

x marlena

Marlena the spieler

www.marlenaspieler.com

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Pineapple helps relieve inflammation.

I ate a whole pineapple the day before I had my wisdom teeth pulled and I had no swelling whatsoever. (Best to divide throughout the day, or you may need to eat yogurt to regulate the other end....) :smile:

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Caffeine for a migraine is supposed to be consumed during the aura phase, not when you're in the midst of a full-blown headache. Classic migraines are preceded by a constriction of the blood vessels in the brain; this constriction causes the aura. The pain starts when those same blood vessels magically dilate.

So, if you consume caffeine during the aura phase, the theory is that it will either stave off or at least lessen the degree to which the blood vessels then dilate. This is the same principle behind those migraine meds containing ergotamines (Cafergot, for example).

If you consume the caffeine too late (or, if you don't notice or suffer the aura stage), then it will do nothing for you.

I've known two people in my lifetime who used the hot water on feet and hands trick. Their theory was that it increased the blood flow to their extremeties and reduced the blood flow to their brain. I never had any success with it though.

As for me, I like magic melt-in-your-mouth migraine mints.

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Rice in its various forms are classic home remedies for the Chinese household.  Plain white congee for indigestion and plain rice for diarrhea.  Works, too.

very similar in indian households:

khichdi (rice and dal cooked together to a mush).

very bland version for sickness

spiced version (with veggies, and/or ghee

with cashews and black peppercorns, etc etc) for feel-good food.

cures whatever ails you.

one of the greatest comfort foods of all time:

bowl of piping hot khichdi, with dahi (yogurt)

and some tongue-smacking lemon pickle.

would wake the dead.

milagai

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My grandmother swears that eating the shiso out of the bottom of the umeboshi container is good for upset stomach.

My mother-in-law and the hubby's grandmother were talking about how eating natto is supposed to be good for you. Too bad I can't stomach what looks like navy beans in muselage.

Cheryl

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The syrup collected from a container of thinly sliced Spanish onion layered with brown sugar is an old Icelandic recipe for croup or phlemy chest. Onion is a natural expectorant and the addition of brown sugar makes it into a nice sweet syrup that makes drinking easier.

Cranberry juice for urinary infections. Grape juice to make you pee lots.

Ginger for cleansing the blood and for queasy stomaches.

Cloves of raw garlic tucked up between the gums and inside of your cheeks will cure a cold, prevent a cold, or make you into a great bluegrass musician. :rolleyes:

Comfrey leaves make a good poultice on a festering wound.

Water from the first rice washing clears up facial blemishes ( so said my Po-Po).

Rehydrate conch meat simmered with an old laying hen will improve hearing...so you can hear the ocean in the conch shell. :wink:

Deer tendons simmered with Chinese herbs to improve strength in the legs.

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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When I was a kid, any time I (or my siblings) had an upset stomach and couldn't keep down any food, my mother made a batch of jello. Rather than letting it cool and gel, she had us drink a small glass of "jello juice" while it was still warm. It always made us feel better, and it nearly always stayed down when nothing else would.

I've offered my own kids "jello juice" a few times, when I was feeling desperate in the face of a stomach virus, and it has the same effect on them. No idea why this works but, for us, it does.

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