Good Foods To Eat When Sick

Feed a cold, starve a fever,” used to be how people approached illness dietary needs, but after our understanding of how the body eliminates sickness increased the mantra became “feed a cold, feed a fever.” That’s because it doesn’t matter if you have a cold or a fever, your body need lots of nutrients to stay strong while fighting your illness. It is important to listen to your body though. I f you aren’t hungry don’t force it, but do keep your hydration up. There are many good foods to eat when sick that will help your immune system work efficiently and effectively.

Chicken Noodle Soup

When thinking about what to eat when sick, chicken noodle soup is often the first thing that pops into peoples’ heads. It is good for sickies, because it has lots of protein, vitamins and other nutrients, and helps maintain your body’s electrolytes and hydration. Homemade chicken noodle soup is ideal due to the fact it has more fresh nutrients than the canned variety and no preservatives. When homemade soup isn’t an option, look for a premade soup that doesn’t have added sweeteners, tons of sodium, or lots of preservatives.

Chicken or Fish Stock

This was the original go to food when sick, but has dropped in popularity in recent years due to fewer and fewer people having stock on hand. As the base for good chicken noodle soup, chicken stock (or fish stock) have the same nutritional benefits, but in a more concentrated dose. Homemade stock is much better than store bought, but there are a growing number of decent store bought stocks. To find one, read the ingredients list. If it reads something along the lines of “water, chicken, onion, celery, carrots, garlic, sea salt,” then it is good.

Miso Soup

The most basic form of miso soup is made from a sort of fish stock known as dashi, a miso paste, but it can be dressed up with various vegetables and spices. Miso soup boosts is good for providing your body with the nutrients it needs, while maintaining healthy digestion and boosting your immune system. Fresh miso is easy to make at home and will often provide the best benefits, but it can also be found at most Japanese restaurants. The powdered miso soups aren’t as effective due to the fact that the good live bacteria tends to die in the drying process, but it still will provide your body with good nutrients.

Hot, Spicy Anything

Soups are very good foods to eat when sick, but if you are just beginning to feel a bit under the weather and don’t want to wait for it to become a full blown illness, then you might want to try this technique. There are tons of people who swear by this. Do be warned that it is probably not great for people with sensitive stomachs, and does involves a bit of pain and a lot of tissues.

What you need to do is eat the hottest, spice-wise, food that you can find. If it makes you break into a sweat just by smelling it, then it is perfect. To find your tear inducing meal you can either go out to a restaurant, Southeast Asian cuisines work wonderfully, or you can buy an assortment of chilies from the market, dried chilies are more potent, and put them in any dish you want. Your mouth will be burning, the tears will be flowing and your clothes will be bathed in sweat, but when you wake up the next day your impending illness will be gone.

The next time your find yourself sick, or getting sick, you’ll know how to get yourself feeling healthy in no time.