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FARMICINE
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”— Thomas A. Edison🌿“No illness which can be treated by diet should be treated by any other means.”— Maimonides (commonly attributed)🌿“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use; when diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”— Ayurvedic proverb🌿“Medicine and food share a common origin.”— Traditional Chinese medicine saying🌿“Food is medicine is not only an idea whose time has come; it is absolutely essential.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“Nature is the true healer. The physician is only nature's assistant.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“All that man needs for health and healing has been provided in nature; the challenge of science is to find it.”— Attributed to Paracelsus🌿“Vitality and beauty are gifts of Nature for those who live according to its laws.”— Leonardo da Vinci🌿“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”— Attributed to Voltaire🌿“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”— Benjamin Franklin🌿“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise — not too little and not too much — we would have found the safest way to health.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Eating alone will not keep a man well; he must also take exercise.”— Hippocrates, On Regimen🌿“Health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life.”— WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion🌿“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being — not merely the absence of disease.”— WHO Constitution🌿“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”— Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin🌿“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Do not eat anything your great-grandmother would not recognise as food.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Diet-related diseases produce crushing health and economic burdens.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Good food is a right, not a privilege.”— Alice Waters🌿“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”— Thomas A. Edison🌿“No illness which can be treated by diet should be treated by any other means.”— Maimonides (commonly attributed)🌿“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use; when diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”— Ayurvedic proverb🌿“Medicine and food share a common origin.”— Traditional Chinese medicine saying🌿“Food is medicine is not only an idea whose time has come; it is absolutely essential.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“Nature is the true healer. The physician is only nature's assistant.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“All that man needs for health and healing has been provided in nature; the challenge of science is to find it.”— Attributed to Paracelsus🌿“Vitality and beauty are gifts of Nature for those who live according to its laws.”— Leonardo da Vinci🌿“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”— Attributed to Voltaire🌿“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”— Benjamin Franklin🌿“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise — not too little and not too much — we would have found the safest way to health.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Eating alone will not keep a man well; he must also take exercise.”— Hippocrates, On Regimen🌿“Health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life.”— WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion🌿“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being — not merely the absence of disease.”— WHO Constitution🌿“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”— Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin🌿“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Do not eat anything your great-grandmother would not recognise as food.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Diet-related diseases produce crushing health and economic burdens.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Good food is a right, not a privilege.”— Alice Waters🌿
Prevent · Protect · Heal
Kids & parents · Childhood Infections (Supportive)

Mumps — Supportive Comfort Care (Referral) in children

Signs: painful swelling of the cheeks/jaw (salivary glands), fever, pain on chewing or swallowing

Age: 2 years+ (see a doctor to confirm)
Go to a doctor now if: Get medical care to confirm mumps and watch for complications: severe headache, stiff neck, drowsiness, repeated vomiting, hearing change, testicular pain/swelling in boys, severe abdominal pain, or high persistent fever — seek care.

Food-first comfort

Soft, easy-to-chew foods (khichdi, dal, mashed vegetables, curd, custard) and plenty of fluids; avoid sour, citrus and very acidic foods that trigger painful saliva flow; a warm or cool compress on the swollen area for comfort; rest.

What to nourish

Soft bland foods, fluids, non-acidic fruit; keep nutrition up while chewing hurts.

Never

NEVER give aspirin to children. Don't give sour/citrus foods (worsen gland pain). Keep the child home to avoid spreading it. No honey under 1 year.

Care at home

Mumps is a viral illness needing medical confirmation; home care is soft food, fluids, compresses and rest while it passes. Vaccination (MMR) prevents it.

Related guides

When to see a doctor. Children are not small adults. This guide offers food-first comfort for a parent to consider; it gives no medicines, doses or supplements for children. A paediatrician decides on treatment. When in doubt, go.