Everyone in the family is down with cough and phelgm.  First Sherilyn got it (which was about a month ago and she still has it), then Alycia, next the hubs, then the maid, yesterday I got bitten and Baby is showing signs too.  Baby has been throwing up her milk for the past few days each time I’m about to finish spoon-feeding her.   It’s an extra struggle to spoon-feed her formula milk these few days.   Just now she threw up her Pediasure again when I had just finished spoon-feeding her the last drop.  Sigh…. all my time and effort of painfully spoon-feeding her went down the drain.  My 3 girls always show signs of rejecting milk each time they are under the weather, especially with an irritable throat and phlegm.

Today I boiled a big pot of luo han guo for everyone. After Baby had puked her milk, I gave her a sip of luo han guo drink to try.  To my surprise, she gave me a forefinger’s up sign (thumb’s up – which means she likes it!) and signaled for more.  I quickly  gave her 2.5 ounces which she happily drank.

I find that boiled luo han guo drink is quite effective in expelling phlegm, if drank on a very regular basis.  However, if I have a chronic cough with yellowish-greenish phlegm, then it would take a longer time to see results.  Double-boiling fresh olives with lean pork still works the best for me whenever I have a chronic cough.  It’s a traditional natural remedy in China.  I don’t normally pay a visit to the GP, even when I am down with fever, chronic cough and phlegm, coz I don’t believe in antibiotics.  I prefer to let my body heal naturally.

Here’s my luo han guo drink:

I normally crack up 2 tennis ball-sized luo han guo and dump everything into a pot filled with water and boil it for an hour. I don’t add honey dates or rock sugar coz the luo han guo is naturally sweet. The drink tastes really refreshing when chilled.

Here’s a little information on luo han guo:
The dried fruit can be bought in Chinese Medicine Halls, mini marts and supermarkets.  They are not very costly, costs about RM1-RM2 each, depending on the size of the dried fruit. The outer surface of the dried fruit is round and smooth, dusty yellow-brown or dusty green-brown. It is covered with fine, soft hair. The fruit is covered by a hard but thin shell. Inside is a partly dry, flexible substance containing the juice, as well as a large number of seeds. The skin, juicy part, and seeds all have a good sweet flavor. Its nature is cool and it has no poison. The fruit helps relieve sunstroke, moistens the lungs, eliminates phlegm, stops cough, and promotes bowel movements.