Welcome to Series #2 of a 4 part series, where we’re putting on our Ninja Mythbusters hats to explore some common myths most of us have been brought up to believe support our health – when in actual fact they don’t.

In Series #1 we debunked the myth of Orange Juice being good for you (in general and especially when you have a cold or flu).

If you missed it you can check it out here

In today’s Part 2, I’m sharing three recipes à la Japanese Yoga (Macrobiotic) style to get you better faster and keep you healthier for longer:

#1 Brown Rice Cream

Good for:

• Colds and flu
• Tiredness, weak people
• For sick children
• For people who can’t chew because they’re too sick or old
• For people who have no appetite and patients that have been bedridden
• For a long time and have no more vitality
• For coming out of a fast

Method:

• Dry roast 1 cup of organic brown rice in a cast iron or stainless steel skillet until it’s golden yellow
• Put this rice in a pot
• Add 7-10 cups of spring water
• Bring to a boil
• Cover, lower the flame and simmer for 3-4 hours
  (NB: you can use a pressure cooker and use about 5 cups of water and boil for 2 hours)
• Let the preparation cool
• Squeeze the thick soup a little at a time through a cheesecloth
• You should get about 3 – 3 ½ cups of rice cream
• Add good quality sea salt to the cream (don’t do this for babies or very sick people), reheat and serve
• You can add condiments such as umeboshi, gomashio, chopped shallots, nori, parsley etc.
• Chew well!

#2 Kuzu Tea

This tea has been used for hundreds of years in Japan. Kuzu’s an extremely hardy root plant grown in the Japanese mountains.

Good for:

• Colds, influenza
• Slight fever (not higher than 100 F)
• All Headaches

Method:

• Dissolve 1 teaspoon of kuzu in about 2 tablespoons of cold water
• Add the water a little at a time and stir well until all the kuzu pieces are dissolved
• Add 1 cup of boiling water and stir well
• Add some sea salt or tamari soy sauce

#3 Umeboshi-Kuzu Tea (A Variation of Kuzu Tea)

Umeboshi is salted plum. Incredible alkalising and cleansing for the blood, you can get it from good health food stores (I don’t recommend buying them from Asian food stores as often preservatives and other harmful ingredients are added)

Good for:

• Colds
• Tiredness, lack of vitality
• Diarrhea and other stomach or intestinal troubles (in the case of diarrhea, drink 1 cup at a time, 2-3 times per day until it’s stopped)

Method:

• Dissolve 1 large teaspoon of kuzu in 2 tablespoons of cold water
• Add the water a little at a time and stir well until all the kuzu pieces are dissolved
• Crush the meat of 1 umeboshi (salted plum)
• Add 1 and a half to 2 cups of water and bring to the boil
• Add a touch of grated ginger
• Boil the preparation gently until it’s more or less transparent
• (optional) Add 1-3 teaspoons of tamari soy sauce and boil the preparation a little longer
• Serve immediately
• Add some sea salt or tamari soy sauce

Next time you or a loved one gets a cold or flu, try these simple recipes and feel the difference!

And a few basic hacks for when you have a cold or flu:

Stop ALL dairy (it’ll turn you into a mucous factory)

Stop ALL heavy foods that take the body a lot of effort to digest (eg: meat)

Stop ALL sugar (including juices, honey, alcohol)

Eat very simple, plain foods high in nutrients and easy to digest.

I like to combine pure essential oils with my Japanese Yoga recipes to be even more efficient.

My favourite oil to diffuse whenever anyone gets struck down is ‘On Guard’ by Doterra.

On Guard’s been proven to reduce the spread of pathogens and strengthen the immune system.

In my family I’ve noticed it acts as a protective shield and stops the rest of the family getting sick when one person’s gone down.

It also speeds up recovery time much faster than using these healthy recipes alone.

Click here for more info about On Guard and Doterra’s other phenomenal pure essential oils.

How did you go with these recipes?

Let me know in the comments.