The "Cold Turkey" Cold...

If you know about my bet, then you know that I've been trying to eat healthy and exercise more in an effort to lose 10 pounds. Unfortunately, I have caught a cold as a result of this. This is in line with my theory that my body has adapted itself to extracting nutrients from a diet that is comprised solely of junk food. It knows how to break down a pizza slice or a hot dog, but tofu or salad are likely to confuse my digestive system. (I haven't ruled out the possibility that this whole thing is an immune response against healthy eating.)

I feel like I've drained about 10 pounds of mucus. When I get better, I'm going to take a more gradual approach to this. My girlfriend insisted that abruptly changing my eating and exercise routine would be harmful... and oddly enough she was right... again. Anyway, this cold has re-introduced me to some Chinese herbal medicine.

I've been infected with the common cold. It's one of the most common winter illnesses out there, but the best thing that western medicine can give you for it is cough syrup. You see, antibiotics have no effect on the common cold virus, and it's many serotypes have prevented western medicine from finding an anti-viral agent against it. Knowing this, I've resorted to chinese medicine, which means taking Nin Jiom herbal cough syrup and Yinchiao tablets.

Nin Jiom cough syrup

Yinchiao tablets

Okay, if you aren't Chinese, you probably have never heard of these things. Here's the deal with Nin Jiom... it's probably the best tasting cough syrup around, and it's just as effective as that Buckley's crap. The Yinchiao tablets are a bit more confusing. I'm not sure what it's supposed to do, but you're supposed to take them when you are sick, and I guess it's supposed to help your immune system somehow.

People who are trained in western medicine will dismiss herbal remedies as nonsense. A lot of western medicine is focused on treating just the symptoms, without really exploring the underlining causes of things. It's a real problem that people here are trying to change. Chinese medicine is more focused on treating the whole body, but lacks the solid scientific evidence to back it up. That being said, I'd like to see someone do clinicial trials on Yinchiao tablets. Maybe they're just placebos, but at least I know that the Nin Jiom stuff works... and it's delicious.