Kick Your Cold To The Curb With These 4 Simple Food Remedies

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Liquids are your best friend

Cold and flu bugs thrive in dried-out throats and nasal passages, but drinking plenty of fluids throughout the day can help keep your mucous membranes moist so they’re better able to trap viruses. Then you can either blow them out your nose or swallow them so they’re destroyed by your stomach acids before they have a chance to make you sick. Not only can this help prevent cold and flu symptoms, but it’s just as useful if you’re already sick.

If you have a sore throat, sip your water hot with a bit of honey (to coat your throat) and lemon (to shrink swollen throat tissues and help kill off virus cells), or add honey and lemon to tea.

Aim for: At least eight glasses of water or other fluids each day, and more if you have a fever.

Alyssa Ball

Chicken soup is not just for the soul

Although Grandma’s favorite cold fighter hasn’t yet yielded up all its healing secrets, researchers are beginning to puzzle out why it may work. For starters, hot chicken soup raises the temperature in your nose and throat, creating an inhospitable environment for viruses that prefer cooler, drier climates. Hot, steamy soup also thins out your mucus so you can blow it out more easily. Studies have proved it works better at this than plain old hot water.

And finally, according to a laboratory study of both homemade and store-bought soups done at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the soup inhibits white blood cells called neutrophils that are released in huge numbers when you have a cold. It’s the congregation of these white cells that causes a cold’s hallmark congestion.

Aim for: There’s no prescribed “dosage” for chicken soup, so just enjoy a steaming bowlful when you’re feeling sniffly and sneezy.

(Elevate your go-to chicken soup recipe with your favourite warming Indian spices.)

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Bring on the garlic

Those pungent cloves contain allicin, a potent antimicrobial that can fend off bacteria, viruses, and fungi. (Here’s 13 surprising benefits of garlic.)

Aim for: If you can stand it, chew a clove every 3 to 4 hours. You can also cut the clove into pieces and swallow them like pills. Or simply add them to your chicken soup, along with some onions. But chop garlic first and let it stand for 10 to 15 minutes before adding it to the soup. This will allow its therapeutic compounds to form.

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Spice up your diet

According to Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine), cinnamon, coriander, and ginger promote sweating and are often used to help break a fever. You may also be able to unclog your stuffy nose by generously spicing up some dishes with cayenne, horseradish, or (for lovers of sushi) wasabi. Each of these condiments can shrink the blood vessels in your nose and throat to temporarily relieve congestion.

Try this Ayurvedic fever reducer: In a cup add 250 mL of hot water, mix 1/2 teaspoon each of powdered coriander and cinnamon with 1/4 teaspoon of powdered ginger. Let it steep for 10 minutes, then enjoy!

Aim for: As much of the spicy hot stuff as you can comfortably stand.

Are you unsure if you have a cold or the flu? Here’s how to find out and how to treat it.