10 Best Foods to Eat When You’re Sick

10 Best Foods to Eat When You’re Sick

Being sick sucks! You feel miserable and you don’t want to spend your energy cooking. There is an old wives tale saying to “feed a cold and starve a flu”. This is completely untrue. When you’re sick, you body is spending energy making you healthy again. Help your body heal you by fueling it with healthy, nutritious food.

Feeding yourself is especially important when suffering from nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This can leave you seriously dehydrated. It can be hard to keep down food, but make sure you keep drinking and try eating easily digestible foods.

When you have a sore throat, you may also not want to eat. Swallowing can be very painful, making you not even want to try eating anything. The same can happen when you are very congested. You can lose your sense of smell, which is vitally important in your sense of taste. If you can’t taste your food, you certainly won’t feel like eating.

We brought together 10 amazing foods that will help you when you are sick. Whether you are suffering from a cold or are sick with a stomach flu, we have some top tips for what to eat to get healthy faster.

1. Ginger

A common drink to enjoy when you are sick is ginger ale, but have you ever wondered why? Ginger is a natural anti-nauseant. When you are feeling sick to your stomach, drinking ginger beverages can be the best option. Many popular ginger sodas contain real ginger, not just ginger flavoring. You can also make your own ginger tea by pouring boiling water over slices of ginger and honey. Enjoy this hot beverage and feel the stomach relief.

2. Soup

Soup is another favorite when you are feeling sick. The warming broth relaxes your chest when you are congested. Garlic and onion broth give amazing nutrients and have been shown to be antimicrobial. Some people believe that you should restrict dairy intake when you have a lot of mucus and phlegm. This is just an old wives tale. Feel free to enjoy creamy soups, like cream of chicken and mushroom.

 

3. Honey

Not only is honey sweet and delicious, but it’s great for a sore throat. Honey is an antimicrobial and can help kill the bacteria on the back of your throat. Enjoy a spoonful of honey or mix it into a treat. Warm honey tea can give amazing relief to a sore throat. The combination of the warm liquid and the bacteria destroying honey is a powerful one-two punch. Mix it with the ginger and you’ll have a delicious remedy.

4. Spicy Foods

When you are congested, it may be hard to get the will to eat. You can’t smell, you can’t taste, and you’re just miserable. What you really need is to clear your sinuses and eustachian tube. The perfect remedy for this is to eat super spicy foods. As you suffer from the burning, your body reacts by loosening up the mucus that is clogging your body. Plus, the strong flavors will be easier for you to taste when compared with bland foods.

5. Ginseng 

Ginseng is a popular ingredient in energizing drinks and cold remedy medications. One popular pill brand promises shorter illnesses with continued consumption of their ginseng product. You can easily make ginseng drinks and soup at home and forgo these manufactured concoctions. You can find ginseng at Asian grocery stores in dried and powdered form. Add ginseng to your honey tea and pop a root in your broth as you make soup. It will help energize you and reduce the duration and severity of your sickness.

6. Cloves

Clove oil is commonly used in dental surgeries when packing open wounds in the mouth. It is a powerful topical pain killer. You can use this natural action to your advantage when you have a sore throat. Add clove powder to your warm tea to get it working fast. You can chew on whole cloves for a more potent action. Be careful with clove oil as it can be an irritant. Clove is a very powerful flavor and it can be overwhelming in abundance, but sometimes you need a powerful pain killer when your throat is sore.

7. Crackers

If you have a stomach flu, eating may be the last thing on your mind. If you can manage it, crackers are a great food to eat. They help absorb excess stomach acids when you have thrown up everything else. Enjoy simple crackers and not cheese, butter, or herb flavored. While these may taste better, they could be too much on your sensitive stomach. When you’re feeling up to it, add some peanut butter on top of your crackers and see how that goes down.

8. Bananas

Bananas are another great food to have when you are feeling nauseated. They are high in sugar, which can give you a much needed energy boost when you are sick. Bananas make up part of the BRAT diet, which is a recommended diet when suffering from nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. BRAT stands for Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast. Enjoy any of these four foods knowing they are easy on the stomach.

9. Popsicles

It seems any sort of illness can be lessened with a delicious popsicle. When you’re feeling sick, you may resist drinking liquids. This is the total opposite of what you need to do to get better faster. Stave off dehydration by consuming a variety of liquids. Popsicles are a great frozen liquid for you to enjoy. The cold will also help numb a sore throat. Look for pure juice varieties of popsicles to get some natural sugars and energy from this treat.

10. Orange Juice

Normally, juice is considered an unhealthy drink. It’s typically high in sugar and very processed. When you’re healthy, it’s a much better choice to eat the actual fruit rather than drink the juice. This is not true for when you’re sick. It may be hard to digest foods high in fiber when you are suffering gastric distress. Juice is a great way to get vitamins and fruit sugar in an easily digestible format. Vegetable juices are also a great choice. What ever you pick, just make sure it’s 100% pure fruit or vegetable and not a processed chemical concoction.

http://www.activebeat.com/diet-nutrition/10-best-foods-to-eat-when-youre-sick/10/

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