Heaty or Cooling?

I remember once when I had a cough, a doctor I went to see spoke to me in terms of cooling and heaty and told me to avoid "leong cha" (cooling tea) and fruits. Another doctor told me there is no such thing as heaty or cooling and that I should continue to take my fruits as usual. And then the old ppl told me to avoid fruits when I am sick. Errrr... so which is it?

I have very poor knowledge when it comes to such things. I believe the best kinds of knowledge or recipes are the hand-me-down kind ie passed from generation to generation from mothers to daughters or whatever. My own mother died when I was 10 so there goes my hand-me-down knowledge and recipes. Although I vaguely remember her telling us that there are two types of colds ie the cooling type of the heaty type and if one had the cooling type than one should avoid cooling foods and vice versa.

Oh dearie me. How utterly confusing! So should I be taking fruits or not and if so what kind? Or are fruits too acidic for the stomach when taking meds? Haiyah! Should I be boiling some herbal teas for my family and if so what kind or would I be making things worse if I did? So confusing!

Since most of the time, I have to learn most things on my own, with no elderly folks to "teach" me, (the internet is my teacher but thats confusing too because theres too much information out there!). I digress, as I was saying since I have no knowledge I subscribe by the rule of "Avoid if not sure" and "Take everything in moderation." I guess thats the most sensible and prudent thing to do after all. Anyone care to enlighten this blur momma? Maybe I shouldn' t ask or I might end up even more confused? What do you think?