5 Foods to Beat Your Cold

Try adding some of these immune-boosting foods to your diet this flu seasonIt starts with an achy body and the sniffles and before you know it, your eyes are puffy and red and your nose is all stuffed up. You're coughing, you're sneezing, you're completely miserable. Welcome to the height of cold and flu season, friends.







Click here for the 10 Foods to Beat Your Cold Slideshow

Who has time to be sick? Sure, playing hooky from class or work is fun, but not when you're surrounded by a sea of used tissues.

Click for the Best and Worst Celebrity Diet Spokespeople Slideshow

The good news is you don't necessarily have to load up on the sleep-inducing cold and flu medicines, despite the fact that everyone around you has fallen ill or you're starting to feel under the weather. There are plenty of ways to combat the common cold through your daily routine. Washing hands often, getting enough sleep, and even eating some of your favorite foods can keep the sniffles at bay or lessen the time you have them.

Click to see How to Make Everyday Foods Healthier Slideshow

While the research conducted over the past 10 years has not found a specific food to be the end-all cure-all, there seem to be some foods that affect the way your body responds to infections. By integrating vitamin- and antioxidant-rich foods into your diet, you have a better chance of shortening the length of your sickness and giving your immune system a better fighting chance.

Get ready to load up on foods ranging from garlic to yogurt, and save those "sick" days for something fun!


Sxchu/CronOranges
An orange a day may keep the doctor away, too, since it boosts your immune system with the fighting power of vitamin C. Regularly taking the FDA-recommended amount of vitamin C daily (90 milligrams for the average male, 75 milligrams for the average female) can shorten the duration of a cold, though it may not prevent you from catching a cold in the first place.


Stay Well: If you don't favor the taste of oranges, then sink your teeth into a grapefruit, which is packed with just as much vitamin C.


Flickr/Jordan-SimButton Mushrooms
Though there is an allure to exotic mushrooms (and a costly price), simple mushrooms, like white button mushrooms, can also provide health benefits. A 2008 study conducted by the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University found that white button mushrooms enhance the immune system through antivirals and other proteins released by their cells. They also contain polysaccharides, which activate natural killer cells to destroy cold- and flu-causing viruses.

Stay Well: If the texture of mushrooms is less than desirable to you, foods high in starch, like corn, contain plenty of polysaccharides to activate those assassin-like cells.


Flickr/Sweet Sugar SunshineChile Peppers
If you're feeling hot, hot, hot, the old adage "starve a cold, feed a fever" is a wise saying you can swear by with chile peppers. Anyone who bites into a hot pepper can attest to the fact that it will clear your sinuses and break up mucus in no time. You can sweat out a fever with the help of this spicy food, since after eating it, your body temperature actually rises and causes fever to break. The capsaicin in chile peppers also unclogs noses by breaking up mucus.

Stay Well: Sensitive to spicy foods? After bravely enduring the heat of a pepper, try immediately eating a piece of whole-grain bread. The bread will ease the burn on your tongue while the whole grain will boost the immune system.


Istock/AgfotoYogurt
It's the battle of the bacteria! While nasty, cold-causing bacteria are trying to fight their way into your body, probiotics in yogurt help push them out. Probiotics are considered "good bacteria" and are also believed to help ease digestive pains and irritable bowels. A combination of probiotics fortified with vitamins and minerals seemed to stave off sickness in several studies according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Stay Well: If you have a sore throat, pop your whipped, probiotic-infused yogurt in the freezer for a few hours and enjoy a soothing, bacteria-butt-kicking treat.


Flickr/Fifth World ArtHoney
Sticky, sweet, and good to eat - Winnie the Pooh probably never had a cold a day in his fictional life, thanks to the honey he gorged on. In a recent 2009 study, 60 participants who had contracted a cold within the last 24 hours were all given traditional therapies (ex: decongestants). Half of the participants were also instructed to take two ounce doses of honey every day. Researchers found a significant difference in the duration of cold symptoms between the two groups. Compounds in honey, like flavonoids and phenolic acids, are thought to combat cold symptoms. It is best to use raw honey rather than processed liquid honey, since raw honey retains all of the rich vitamins and nutrients needed to shorten sickness.

Stay Well: If you're tired of enjoying spoonfuls of honey or drinking it in your tea, why not drizzle it on some baked salmon or on top of your oatmeal in the morning?

Click here for 5 More Foods To Beat Your Cold With Slideshow

Lauren Gordon, The Daily Meal

More from The Daily Meal:
Making the Perfect Pizza Dough
10 Foods That Make You Smell