With Winter fast approaching many of us will start seeing signs of coming down with that dreaded cold. While eating the right foods, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables will help reduce our chances of catching a cold, that pesky little virus doesn’t give up easily and chances are no matter how healthy you are or how balanced your diet, you will have at least one cold this year.
Colds, while usually not life threatening, are a nuisance and makes us feel miserable, crabby, and want nothing more than for it to just go away. The good news is there are several foods that will help lessen your cold symptoms and aid in a quicker recovery.
The first thing to remember is that many doctors recommend that you eat less when you have a cold. You own body reinforces this opinion as many of us simply lose our appetite when we are suffering from a cold virus. This is the body’s way of telling you that it wants to cleanse your system to help rid you of the virus. Listen to what your body is telling you.
While, eating lighter is good, it is important that you consume plenty of liquid in order to keep from becoming dehydrated. Consuming liquids that give your body needed vitamins and minerals will help lead you to a quick recovery.
While many of us know that drinking juice that is high in vitamin C when we are suffering from a cold helps us, what we don’t realize is that drinking orange juice may be a poor way to get that vitamin. Studies have shown that taking in sugar can actually slow down your immune system and slow your recovery from a cold; orange juice is loaded with sugar.
A better choice is to drink water with the juice from a freshly squeezed lemon or lime added. Both of these fruits are loaded with Vitamin C and contain far less sugar than Orange Juice. If you do crave the taste of orange, squeeze a fresh one into a glass of water, as fresh oranges contain less sugar than orange juice.
Another great drink that will help you to recover from a cold is hot tea. Tea contains antioxidants that help boost your immune system. To make it more beneficial after brewing the tea pour it over some freshly shredded ginger root, as ginger is known to reduce fever, settle the stomach and help reduce coughing. To increase your dosage of vitamin C, you can add lemon or orange juice from freshly squeezed fruit.
One of the oldest-known cold-fighting foods is chicken soup. Homemade, not canned. Chicken contains high quantities of zinc which will help boost your immune system and the steam from a cup of hot soup will help open sinus passages. Adding onion and garlic will help break up congestion and a few dark vegetables to your soup will give you increased vitamins and minerals to help you recover.
Even if you don’t feel well enough to actually eat the vegetables, drinking the broth from chicken soup prepared with these things will aid you.
Once you feel like eating a bit of food try some chicken and shrimp gumbo. Both the chicken and shrimp have zinc, the tomatoes are loaded with great vitamins and the touch of hot spices will help clear your airways.
While nothing can completely prevent you from getting a cold, eating these simple but nourishing foods will make a having a cold more bearable and will actually speed your recovery time. Besides there is nothing like good, hot, homemade soup to make you feel loved and cherished and that will also make you feel better.
