Sick of being sick with common cold? We all are and yet when the season of common cold arrives, nobody seems to be able to escape its reach. But you don’t always have to rush to a doctor when you catch a cold and you don’t have to lie in misery either. Just some simple ayurvedic changes can make a lot of difference. Here are 10 best diet tips for common cold prevention. Make them a part of your lifestyle to protect yourself against common cold and flu.
Drink Lots Of Fluids
It is important to keep your mucous membranes moist so that they can trap any virus because these viruses and bugs thrive in dried nasal passages and throats. Keep blowing your nose to let these viruses out. This will not only prevent you from common cold, but it is very useful trick even if you are suffering from it. Drink lots of water (warm with honey to coat your throat) and tea with honey and lemon. Drink about 8 glasses of water everyday and up your fluid intake if you are suffering from fever.
Cut Down On Sugar
The best diet tip for preventing the common cold is to reduce your sugar intake. It has been scientifically proven that sugar hampers the performance of the immune system. When the fighter cells or the white blood cells are exposed to sugar, their ability to fight bacteria is reduced considerably meaning that the body is now more vulnerable to infections. Sugar also deprives the body of vitamin and minerals needed to fight infections.
Chicken Soup
See the first sign of common cold, have a bowl of chicken soup. It provides you the necessary fluids that are needed to fight off viruses but it also reduces the inflammation which can lead to more colds. Combined with a lot of vegetables, chicken soup is the ideal choice to fight a common cold.
Eat Garlic
Garlic has been the most common remedy for various infections and common cold and flu since ancient times. Bacteria cannot survive when exposed to garlic. Garlic is an anti-bacterial and anti-viral food and these properties can be attributed to the presence of allicin in garlic. The same compound can also be found in onions and shallots. So include garlic in your diet to get maximum protection against cold and flu.
Eat Citrus Fruits
Citrus fruits are rich in vitamin C, which is touted as the natural cure for common cold. It is known to reduce symptoms of cold. Various studies have shown that if you consume large amount of vitamin C before the onset of cold, you can prevent the symptoms or at least shorten their duration quite significantly. Vitamin C is also known to provide protection in another manner; it stimulates the white blood cells which are responsible for defending the body against any attack by virus or bacteria.
Eat Ginger
Ginger not only soothes a scratchy throat, it also suppresses coughing. The chemical compounds found in ginger attack the rhinovirus which is the most common virus for causing common cold. It has natural pain alleviating properties and it also acts as a mild sedative and can be great use when you are sick. Add it to your tea or nibble on a small stalk to get the best results.
Limit Dairy Products
It is best to avoid dairy products such as milk when you are sick as they lead to creation of more mucous in the throat and may worsen the cold and increase its duration.
Honey
Honey has a reputation of curing almost everything from burns, cuts and scrapes to common cold, all thanks to the antiseptic properties of honey. It coats your throat so it is best suited for a sore throat. The antioxidants and antimicrobial properties of honey provide protection against infections from various pathogens such as bacteria, virus and fungi.
Increase Your Zinc Intake
A good way to prevent common cold is to increase your zinc intake by eating more of foods that are rich in zinc. Zinc is known to enhance your immune system, thus reducing the duration and intensity of colds. It promotes the production of white blood cells which are needed for a good immune system. Foods such as red meat, oysters and poultry are rich in zinc.
Get Plenty Of Vitamin D
The final diet tip for prevention of common cold is to get plenty of vitamin D. It has protective effects against colds and many other respiratory tract infections. You can eat foods such as egg yolks, liver and fish to get vitamin D or go out in the sun for some time to get your share of vitamin D.
