What food for colds? The age-old question of whether you feed a cold or starve a fever is often confusing. The truth is really that you should eat when you are hungry and always stay hydrated. Here are some more do’s and don’ts that you should consider when you have a cold and the best foods to eat to prevent one in the first place!
It’s a big mistake to use a cold as an excuse to eat a bunch of junk. Ordering a big cheesy pizza or eating a bag of chips will just make you feel worse for longer!
Food for colds – What to do
Do: Eat More Calories When You Have a Cold
To fight infection your body needs more calories, but of course, you don’t need to stuff yourself. Just try eating a little bit every couple of hours, so that you’ll have the caloric intake to help produce the immune cell T helper 1 (th1), which attacks the virus. Eating is a great way for the body to generate heat that will make you feel better as it is quickly turned into energy.
Do: Keep Yourself Hydrated
The important thing is to stay hydrated as this will help your throat and release phlegm quicker. Fever dehydrates us really quickly as we often sweat as our body temperature rises. To begin to heal, drinking fluids really is critical to fighting the infection as it keeps the mucus in your lungs, nose, and throat running; that’s a good thing! If it solidifies it can block your sinuses and make coughing more difficult, so you generally feel rubbish for longer.
Lemon, honey, and ginger tea is the perfect concoction to cure the cold!
Do: Boost Zinc Levels
If you normally eat three meals a day and two snacks each day, try to stick to that schedule. This will help you ensure that you’re eating enough calories by keeping track of the clock. Studies have shown that eating foods rich in Zinc, mixed with Vitamin C, provide relief quicker. Chickpeas, lentils, beans, and cashews are an excellent source of Zinc.
Do: Eat Smaller Portions
Sometimes when you’re sick it can be hard to eat due to a stuffed nose or a sore throat. Swallowing water can be painful let alone food! In this case, you’ll want to eat smaller portions of food to ensure that you can get something down. Just eat more often. I would recommend light meals such as scrambled eggs or soups, such as chicken noodle or vegetable.
Do: Eat Immune Boosting Food
You know the score, your child has a sore throat and temperature, their friends are ill, your partner then begins to complain of a runny nose; so you are bound to fall ill too! Well, not necessarily. Eating the right foods is the best way to boost your immune system, so here’s my top 10.
- Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Oranges are stuffed with vitamin C which is an essential nutrient.
- Greek yogurt is a probiotic-rich food and tests show those who eat it are far less likely to catch a cold
- Blueberries are a superfood and full of antioxidants to thwart coughs and colds.
- Tomatoes are also a great source of vitamin C and the great thing about these is they can be eaten raw or cooked.
- Salmon is filled with Zinc
- Dark chocolate- hooray! It contains theobromine which can stop coughing.
- Broccoli is packed with sulforaphane and that turns on cells in your body to fight infection
- Extra virgin olive oil is a healthy fat and protects your body from illness
Whole grain bread contains anti-inflammatory and assists your body to produce healthy bacteria. Having a healthy gut guards you against germs!
Food for colds – What not to do
Don’t: Restrict Food
That old saying mentioned earlier is just not true. Restricting food does not help you get better when you have a cold. Some people believe that water fasting will help due to improving digestion, but that’s not true. If you want to, make green smoothies instead of fasting, so that you at least get the right nutrients.
Don’t: Eat Junk
It’s a big mistake to use a cold as an excuse to eat a bunch of junk. Ordering a big cheesy pizza or eating a bag of chips or the entire leftover cake in the fridge because you feel too sick to prepare, will just make you feel worse for longer and could leave you open to getting a secondary infection in quick succession.
Don’t: Eat Fatty Foods
Try to avoid fatty foods like fried foods, pizza with cheese, and hamburgers. Instead, focus on eating mostly carbs, veggies, and lean proteins. Fat is hard to digest, as are most meats (because they’re often high in fat). Focusing on low-fat carb-rich soups, stews, and meals will help you more.
Don’t: Eat Too Much Sugar
Although sugar does give a quick burst of energy and that can be good, the problem is that it does you more harm when you have a cold. Sugar contests with vitamin C in the body and can cause inflammation. It is very unfriendly to your good bacteria in the gut and that is where 75% of your immune cells are located!
The main takeaway is to please eat nutritionally dense foods, soups, and a lot of liquid when you are sick. Juicing and smoothies are absolutely perfect when you are ill as they are nutrient-dense and extremely quick to make.
Here are some other articles you may like:
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Food Do’s & Don’ts Series: What Best to Eat When You Have a Stomach Bug
