Best Foods to Ease Your Cough and Cold

Cold and cough are symptoms of viral infection. Your body can overproduce mucous and phlegm, causing you to constantly sneeze, cough, and sniffle. Due to the virus, you might also experience sore throat, mild or high fever, fatigue, headaches and body aches.

Having strong immunity and good health is extremely important to fight these viruses, as they can take a toll on your physical and mental well-being.

As always, prevention is key and following a few health-related protocols can help you stray away from a cold and cough –

• Cover your nose and mouth with a face mask,

• Wash your hands thoroughly after arriving home, and

• Maintain good overall hygiene.

There might be times when it becomes difficult to prevent infection, but you can take a few steps to prevent them.

Ginger

Ginger is a root vegetable that brings various health benefits to your plate. Old civilisations have used it for centuries for its medicinal properties.

Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds soothe your throat, reduce soreness and irritation, reduce coughing and ease congestion. All of these benefits make it the best food for a cold and cough.

Garlic

Most people love garlic for the taste and flavour it brings to a dish. However, garlic has a lot to offer than just taste, and one of those things is medicinal properties. It is the best food for a dry cough!

Garlic’s antiviral properties make it an effective medicine for viral infections causing colds and coughs. These properties strengthen your immunity, fight viruses, and help your body recover faster.

Lemon

Lemon is a citrus fruit, which means it is naturally high in vitamin C.

Vitamin C is a powerhouse nutrient that helps strengthen your immunity. It shortens the duration of your cold, breaks up the mucus, soothes your sore throat, and relieves congestion and coughing. It is one of the best fruits to eat during coughs and colds.

Other citrus fruits good for cough are orange, tangerine and lime. While being therapeutic and refreshing, lemon juice will help you ease your cough and cold as well.

Honey

Honey is the best food for a dry cough. It also helps with a sore throat and soothes it. This sweet gift of nature has been used as an ingredient in ancient Indian medicine for ages.

Because of its antimicrobial properties, honey is a great remedy against cough and cold. It helps soothe the irritation in your throat and suppress coughing. These benefits definitely add honey to the list of “best food for cold and cough”!

Turmeric

Turmeric is one of the most important medicines in “Ayurveda,” – an ancient Indian medicinal practice. It can be named “the elixir of Ayurveda” because of all the benefits it offers

Turmeric is considered the best food for colds and coughs due to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant components and immunity-boosting properties.

It alleviates the symptoms of respiratory infections, supports immunity and rids your body of any infection causing colds, coughs, mucus and congestion.

Bananas

Bananas aren’t necessarily medicinal for curing a cold and cough, but they surely accelerate the process. Bananas are soothing in nature, light on the stomach, filling, and easily digestible.

Apart from that, they also hold nutrients that support and boost your immunity, like potassium, vitamins and fibre. A banana for cough might not be medicinal, but it is a strong ally!

Yoghurt

Even if milk for a cough and cold might not be the best medicine, this version of milk is.

Yoghurt is a probiotic. It contains good bacteria that support gut health, accelerate immunity, promote good digestion and improve overall health. Make sure that the yoghurt you consume during a cold and cough is unsweetened, unflavoured and at room temperature.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are a root vegetable high in Vitamin A. Vitamin A helps reduce the effects of the cold by strengthening and stimulating the immune system. For better results, eat boiled or cooked sweet potatoes without adding any seasoning.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is surely one of the best breakfast dishes one can ask for. It is filling, comforting, and healthy. However, did you know that it is also healing?

Oatmeal is rich in beta-glucan. Beta-glucan helps your body fight against pathogens, ultimately stimulating your immune system and increasing the healing process. Its Zinc and Selenium content also help fight respiratory infections, sore throats and coughs.

Having classic oatmeal – a mixture of milk, berries, oatmeal, and banana, will greatly help your health. The banana will help your gut health and keep you filled, whereas the berries, oatmeal, and warm milk will heal your cold and cough!

Berries

Berries are good fruits to eat during a cough and cold. The reason is their high Vitamin C and flavonoid content.

Vitamin C and flavonoids are great antioxidants that help reduce inflammation, protect cells from damage caused by free radicals, increase immunity, and reduce the duration of colds.

You can eat any kind of berry – strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, or raspberries.

Leafy Vegetables

Green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, fenugreek, coriander, mint and curry leaves are rich in vitamins and minerals. These vegetables are filled with plant-based compounds that protect you from inflammation, improving your immunity.

They help you heal from the cold and cough a lot faster. Make sure that you don’t overwash the vegetables and drain them of their minerals.

Pomegranate

A fresh pomegranate is highly recommended and is one of the best fruits to eat during a cough and cold. It contains anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties that boost immunity and eradicate the viruses causing the cough.

They also assist your body in reducing the duration of the cold and cough. Pomegranates for coughs and colds help immensely with reducing congestion and sore throat. Its rich flavour adds a hint of refreshment and soothes your tired body.

Honey-Lemon-Ginger Water

Honey-lemon-ginger water is a staple in the houses of north and northeast Indian homes. The cold weather in the regions prompts them to drink this healthy, medicinal, and preventative concoction.

Honey, lemon, and ginger are individually useful to fight a cold and cough. However, together, the power intensifies and maximises the benefits, eradicating cold in just a few days.

Recipe:

• Take one and a half cups of water.

• Add 2 big ginger slices to the water and let the water boil.

• Once the water is boiled and reduced to one cup, remove it from the stove and pour it into your cup.

• Add half the lemon’s juicy extract to the ginger water.

• Add one spoon of raw honey and combine.

• Drink the concoction while it is still hot or warm. It will warm your throat, reduce irritation, deal with the mucus, and reduce your coughing.

Ginger-Turmeric Tea

• Ginger-turmeric tea is a healing agent for dry coughs and colds. Ginger and turmeric are considered to be the best food for a cold and cough, and hence, their mixture makes more sense as medicine.

Recipe:

• Take 1 and a half cups of water in a pot.

• Add 2 big ginger slices to the water and let it boil.

• If you want to make a stronger concoction, add other spices, such as black pepper and a stick of cinnamon.

• Add one teaspoon of turmeric to the boil and let it mix thoroughly.

• Strain the reduced mixture into your cup and drink while hot for better results.

• You can add one spoon of raw honey if you want a sweetened and medicinal concoction.

Turmeric Milk

Turmeric milk, or the Golden Turmeric Milk Latte, as it was famously known during the COVID-19 lockdown, is a highly medicinal food for colds and coughs.

• It is a traditional Ayurvedic remedy for dry cough, colds, or respiratory infections, among other ailments. It is soothing, anti-inflammatory, healing, and tasty, helping you heal from the irritation of a cold and cough!

Recipe:

• Add one and a half cups of milk. [Instead of only milk, you can also use a mixture of water (25%) and milk (75%).]

• Add turmeric to the milk and let it boil.

• You can add ginger, a cinnamon stick, and a tablespoon of honey for taste and to improve the healing process.

• When the milk reduces to one cup and the ingredients become one, strain it into your cup and drink it while it is warm for better results!

• Turmeric milk for a cough and cold is one of the best remedies!

Banana Berry Smoothie

Bananas and berries are great ingredients for health and immunity individually. These two fruits are also very flavourful and tasty. They bring sweetness and tartness to the dish they are added to.

• A smoothie is a highly nutritious and healthy dish if done correctly. Berries are great for healing your body from a cold and cough, whereas bananas provide the necessary nutrition while filling you up.

Recipe:

• Add one cup of milk, berries of your choice, one full banana, one tablespoon of honey, two to three almonds, and any other fruit of your choice, preferably pineapple, to the blender.

• Blend till it has a smooth consistency.

• Serve it in a bowl.

• Garnish it with dry fruits of your choice, fresh berries, and half a chopped banana.

Chicken or Vegetable Stew

• Chicken or vegetable stew is a hearty and comforting dish for colds and coughs. It will lift your mood instantly, provide warmth, hydrate and provide essential nutrients to your body.

• This protein-loaded dish helps you recover instantly due to its immunity-boosting ingredients.

Recipe:

• Vegetable Stew

• Take a large pot.

• Add butter or ghee (avoid oil), then sliced onions, garlic, ginger, black pepper, and salt to taste. Saute the ingredients until they exude fragrance.

• Add your vegetables: one carrot (chopped), a handful of green peas, half a radish (chopped), green leafy vegetables, 1 small potato (cubed), a quarter or less cauliflower, and a little pumpkin (chopped).

• Saute these vegetables till they are properly cooked.

• Add coconut milk and a little water to the vegetables.

• Add all your favourite herbs and spices.

• Let the mixture simmer.

• Serve and enjoy a hearty, nutritious, and medicinal meal.

• Chicken Stew

• Take a large pot.

• Add butter or ghee (avoid oil), then sliced onion, garlic, ginger, black pepper, and salt.

• Add vegetables of your choice and add some chicken.

• Saute the chicken and vegetables well, and let them cook.

• Add chicken broth/coconut milk/vegetable broth/plain water to the mixture.

• Add the necessary spices to make it a little flavourful and spicy.

• Let the mixture simmer.

• Serve hot, and enjoy the stew.

Garlic Chicken Soup

• Stews and soups are close relatives in the “hearty-meal” family of dishes. When you increase the amount of water added to a stew and reduce the amount of ingredients, a stew becomes a soup! That is what we will do for the garlic chicken soup.

• They are considered the best foods for a cold and cough. The combination of anti-inflammatory ingredients like garlic and protein-rich ingredients like chicken brings out the best in the dish.

Recipe:

• Add butter or ghee to a pot.

• Add onions and a handful of garlic cloves to the ghee. Saute them till the ingredients change colour and become fragrant.

• Add 250 grams of chicken to the pot. Saute for a few minutes.

• You can add a small amount of vegetables of your choice. Make sure it doesn’t take up too much space in the dish.

• Add spices, such as black pepper, red chilli powder or paste, salt, and ginger. You can also add a little honey to balance the spiciness.

• Add 2 glasses of water and let the concoction simmer.

• Once the soup is reduced to half the original quantity, serve hot, and enjoy the soup!

Indian Spicy Dishes

• If you are wondering what Indian food to eat during cough and cold, we have got you covered. You can eat anything you feel like eating. Just make sure it is spicy. Spicy food is very helpful in healing your cold.

• While the spiciness of the food does not have a healing property, it does open up your sinuses and alleviate nasal congestion, leaving you free to breathe clear air.

• Any traditional dal, soup, or vegetable will do wonders for you in a cold and cough.

• Sugary-food

• Fried food

• Caffeine

• Milk and dairy products other than Yoghurt, such as cheese.

• Starchy food, such as rice.

• Dietary sodium

• Preserved meat

• Custard apple

• Brinjal

The human body maintains a delicate balance of fluids, electrolytes, vitamins, minerals, and other necessary components. Your immunity and health depend on these. Getting infected by a cold or cough virus can result in an imbalance. In such cases food can act as a strong ally, improving your health.

By incorporating the above mentioned foods and fruits into your diet when you have a cold and cough, you are nourishing and nurturing your body. Some of the above dishes are great for your overall health and can prevent any viral or common flu that can affect your body!
Food is the primary support system of your body, so utilise it wisely and to your benefit!

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Are eggs good for a cough and cold?

Eggs are good protein-rich sources of food. However, they are not specifically well-known for their capability of curing colds and coughs.

If the cold and cough do not get better, when should you call the doctor?

A viral flu usually lasts for 7 days at the most, not more than that. If your cough and cold persist for more than a week, even after trying allopathic medication and home remedies, you must seek further medical help.

What kind of food worsens cold and cough?

Some foods, such as ice cream, caffeine, milk, cheese, and sugary foods, worsen your condition when you have a cold and cough. These foods cause inflammation, which can prolong your current body condition.

Is mango good to eat during a cough and cold?

It is recommended that you should not consume mango, or any sugary fruit if you are suffering from a viral cough and cold.

Disclaimer: This is a general guide on the Best Foods for Easing Cold and Cough. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice. It is advisable to consult a qualified health professional for treatment in severe cases.