How to Eat Right When You Have a Cold

Try as we might, there's really very little we can do, once cold and flu season starts, to give ourselves iron-clad protection. We wash our hands, we take lots of Vitamin C, we dose ourselves with zinc lozenges, but still, each year millions of Americans will suffer from the common cold more than once. When we have a cold all we can do is eat right, get plenty of rest, and just wait it out.

Things You'll Need

• Healthy food
• Vitamins
• Plenty of fluids

Show More

Instructions

Eat Right When You Have a Cold

• 1

  Eat lots of chicken soup! Although it was once considered an old wives' tale that if you eat chicken soup it will help with your cold, studies have actually shown that the combination of nutrients in chicken soup may actually help alleviate symptoms as well as help fight the infection.

• 2

  Drink plenty of orange juice or other drinks high in Vitamin C right as soon as you begin to feel symptoms or as a precaution if you know someone in your office or home is suffering from a cold. Some tests have shown that Vitamin C can reduce the occurrence of colds by as much as 50 percent.

• 3

  Eat spicy foods when you have the cold. Although this may have an uncomfortable effect on your throat if it's already sore, spicy foods are excellent for clearing out the sinuses and helping to reduce overall congestion. Wasabe, for example, can have a profound effect on congestion.

• 4

  Eat plenty of soup and drink lots of teas, the warmer the better. Warm drinks and soups help to soothe irritation as well as swelling in your throat and the steam can help relieve some congestion.

• 5

  Drink coffee or any drink that contains caffeine. Caffeine can help stave off the sluggishness and weariness associated with a cold.

• 6

  Find recipes for chicken soup, ginger tea and other home remedies for colds at Web M.D. (See Resources below).