Foods To Eat When You Have a Cold

[tryska]

well garlic is an anti-microbial, ginger is an expectorant, cayenne is a stimulant. so yeah, i would say spicy foods do help burn off germs, simply because of the healing properties the spices contain.

[Cusina]

My sinuses thank you all for this thread. I'll be having lots of ginger tea with honey and soup, both chicken and hot and sour. Anyone have good relief ideas for coughing? Mine is coming in painful bursts.

Thankfully I think the worst is over. Maybelline, I'm sorry to hear your story. Hope you keep on the mend.

[tryska]

i've been surviving with halls honey-lemon for the coughing.

oh one other thing i found. ginger-honey-lemon-whiskey wasn't very nice to my throat. but it was temporary, and i didn't cough. my throat just felt raw.

[Knicke]

Which ingredient do you think was mean to your poor throat? I almost never get sore throats...colds always skip down to my chest instead.

The ginger is particularly good 'pre-cold'...

Oh! Just thought of another remedy I love! Thyme tea; just a couple sprigs with the leave stripped, then bruised/muddled a bit. Pour boiling water, steep ten minutes. It actually DOES help sore throats (so I've heard), and I've found it to be awfully useful in relieving dry coughs. Somehow it relaxes all that chest tightness...seems to make coughs more productive, too, but that may be all in my head.

[tryska]

i'm not sure Knicke - i do have to tell you - i changed the recipe you gave somewhat, adding in a couple shots of whiskey, and a teabag of goldenseal. it tasted lovely -but i'm wondering if either the ginger was too harsh, or perhaps the cayenne. it felt good going down, but maybe 10 minutes later my throat felt raw, and i was worried about laryngitis. i tried it again the second night, and felt the rawness again, but not the laryngitis. it might even have been the whiskey.

[Hiroyuki]

My daughter, age 4, has a cold now and has little appetite. Yesterday, she wanted to eat rice porridge, or okayu in Japanese. Okayu is made by simply boiling previously cooked rice with a lot of water. It is often served with a bit of salt, pickled plums (umeboshi), soy sauce, shredded dry bonito, and so on. In Japan, someone who has a cold tends to avoid greasy food. Is this the case in your country too? What do you usually have when you have a cold? And, what do you make for your loved one when he/she has a cold?

Thanks.

[Tydel]

For whatever reason, I'm of the belief that you can "burn the cold out," using spicy foods and hot sauces. It's probably bogus, but the pain of the spice takes your mind off what the rest of your body is feeling.

[KHT20]

My Vietnamese mother would always make me rice porridge when I was sick, but she'd only put a little sugar in it to make it sweet. It always made me feel better - but probably just because it's a comfort food.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Is this the case in your country too?  What do you usually have when you have a cold?  And, what do you make for your loved one when he/she has a cold?

.

Easy.... bona fide, noodle-laced, chicken soup, hotter the better! also referred to as "Jewish penicillin"...

Hot tea with honey and lemon ....

Friends suggested a shot of whiskey and then taking a hot bath .. me? just want to sleep ...

[johnnyd]

I always get results with chicken stock w/"trinity roots": ginger, garlic, onion - fresh of course, and lots of it. Add parsley, celery, lemon peels and hot pepper flakes. Works everytime. Udon noodles in it sometimes adds substance.

I also have fresh sliced ginger on a low simmer in water all day for sipping.

I heard on the radio once if you heat some red wine with any and all citrus fruit in the house, GFruit, Orange, Lemon, etc to a boil, then let cool. Have a cup of that and you pass out for twelve hours. When you wake up you're cured!

[morda]

My daughter, age 4, has a cold now and has little appetite. Yesterday, she wanted to eat rice porridge, or okayu in Japanese.

Here's another vote for rice porridge (Chinese, this time). I usually make it with bone-in chicken and more water than usual so it's extra soupy. I like to think it has the benefits of "jewish penicillin" since the chicken essentially simmers in water to make chicken broth.

Of course, if I'm home by myself with no one to cook for me and I'm really sick, I resort to canned chicken soup. Preferably Campbell's chicken and stars

morda

[enrevanche]

Chicken soup, with plenty of onion, carrot, and celery in it, and some freshly ground black pepper added just before serving. Just a few egg noodles or a bit of rice, not too much, added to the broth.

Anything with loads of garlic. Garlic has remarkable healing properties in my opinion and experience.

Takeout or delivery: Spicy Chinese and Thai soups. (When I get stuffed up, I crave strong flavors for some reason.)

Hot tea with lemon.

Not appropriate for children, but: hot toddies or Irish Coffee. Heat and whiskey, that's the ticket.

[eunny jang]

When I was small and sick, my mom used to make me juk, which seems to be the Korean equivalent of congee or okayu. She'd bring it up on a tray with a small dish of soy and a few slivered green onions. I'd eat it by dipping the very tip of my spoon in soy and then taking a spoonful of juk, flavored just a little with the drop of soy sauce.

When I was feeling better, she'd crack an egg into the steaming hot porridge before bringing it up. Then shredded pork or fish would start going into it, until I felt well enough to eat real meals.

Nowadays, I eat the spiciest things I can get my hands on, but try to avoid a lot of grease or heaviness to keep all my strength focused on getting better and NOT on digesting a five ton brick of butter and cheese in my stomach - lots of Thai take out.

[bloviatrix]

Another vote for chicken soup. When Blovie was knocked out by the flu this past winter I wore out the sidewalk between my building and the butcher making runs for chicken backs and necks.

I actually like applesauce when I'm sick. I find it comforting.

[Rachel Perlow]

When Jason was sick a couple weeks ago, I made him Matzo Ball Soup. It's Jewish Penicillin with turbo power!

I've been curious about something. What do most restaurants use as their broth? I noticed that whenever we have leftover chinese or other soups in the fridge, they stay liquid. My soups, made with homemade stock a la eGCI always gel, even the finished soups with vegetables, meat or whatever in them. Are they all just using some kind of bouillon powder?

[Basilgirl]

Hot and sour soup

Soft cooked eggs, mixed with lots of pieces of heavily buttered toast and tons of salt and pepper

Orange juice with vodka

Alka Seltzer Plus Night Time Cold Medicine - during the day

[miahoyhoy]

Hi!

The kids get chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sammies.

I get spicy pork or chicken bbq hoagies. The spice and robust meal kick that cold's behind!

If I'm like knoked on my behind sick and truely nauscious I do the chiky noodle trick too.

[s'kat]

Rachel, another devotee of matzo ball soup, here. I usually make a huge batch in the fall and freeze it, in anticipation of the day that I become too ill to actually prepare anything.

If I'm too sick, and haven't stocked up, I rely upon copious amounts of fiery tom yum soupl

[fifi]

I am definitely in the chicken soup camp. For the past few years, my absoloute favorite has been the Thai style with the coconut milk, lemon grass, ginger and lots of chile. Otherwise, I use a really strong stock that I have made and add plenty of garlic, noddles or rice, maybe pasta, and some sort of chile sauce or peppers.

Funny story... I was making the chicken soup once to dose a miserable cold. All I had in the house was short grain brown rice. Lovely... That will be really healthy. Only one problem... The stuff takes forever to cook and I made the mistake of dumping it in raw. It would have been ok eventually, but the smell got the better of me and I stole a big bowl from the pot a little prematurely. The rice was "toothsome" but not too bad. That wasn't the problem. I think what happened is that it continued to swell in my stomach. I was doubly miserable for a couple of hours. I won't make THAT mistake again.

Oh... And I will have a really stiff hot toddy with that.

[jo-mel]

Chicken soup, with lots of garlic and a heavy sprinkle of cayenne.

[Behemoth]

My lebanese grandmother would give me boiled rice with plain yoghurt. I still crave it when I am sick. It's easy to digest, and great for an upset stomach.

You know that slightly scratchy throat you get right before a cold? My husband taught me a great one for that: mix juice of a lemon, 1 tsp sugar, and a cup of boiling water, and try to drink it as fast as possible. Last time I am pretty sure I stopped myself from getting a cold even though half my department was a mess.

[Carlovski]

Whenever I am feeling ill, for some reason I always crave spicy food. With a cold it is understandable, at least you can taste it! Thai style hot and sour soups, with or without noodles are a favourite.

Strange thing is, I also have to have spicy foods when I have an upset stomach, which all my family find very strange. It may be partly my body expressing a need for something too, as I quite often want something salty as well. A while ago I had to go on a trek to a place I knew did just what I needed - Salt and chilli fried squid and king prawns - put me right in no time!

[Milagai]

tomato rasam! very hot in temperature, and

rivals any amount of chicken soup in germ-fighting

and mood lifting properties.

contains lots of appetizing ingredients like:

tomatoes, cumin, black pepper, tamarind, dal-paste,

hing, etc. etc.

comfort food is such a cultural thing!

i was very interested to see that lebanese grandmothers

dish up yogurt rice when people are sick.

so do south indian grandmothers and mothers!

my best comfort food is a bowl of yogurt rice

with a dab of home made lemon pickle (cuts nausea

like nothing eles); with a steaming mug of tomato rasam.

milagai

[Jason Perlow]

Besides Rachel's chicken soup, I also like a nice bowl of Vietnamese pho, with a lot of chilis in it. Thai Tom Yum and Tom Kha soup is a close second.

[Jason Perlow]

My daughter, age 4, has a cold now and has little appetite. Yesterday, she wanted to eat rice porridge, or okayu in Japanese.

How is Okayu different from Zousui?

I like Zousui a lot.