Need food to combat colds

[Mary]

I got a cold last weekend and it decided to go directly to my sinuses. Man! So there's two more days I walk around feeling "ick."

I figure, there has to be some sort of food I can eat to stop getting colds and barring that, to stop the cold from going into my sinuses.

And, what can I start eating now to boost my immune system.

(btw: I cook all my food at home. I never go to fast food joints. I love garlic in all its forms. I use a lot of tomatoes, mozzarella cheese (low-fat), onions, potatoes, chicken, turkey (no red meats), no sugar and very little coffee, fresh veggies, lots of salads and I use VirginOliveOil in most of my cooking.)

I eat breakfast and only nibble lunch because I'm not hungry. And we have a good dinner. I get plenty of sleep..., well most of the time - so that's the *basic* background.

Is there anything else I can do do get things up to speed? I don't want to be sick all winter like last year. The house leaks like a sieve so there are no dangerous toxins floating around - and as the person who orders the oil, take my word on it

I figured if anyone knew of some good ways to make your medicine your food and your food your medicine then it would be here. (Yep, that's someone's sig line and I always liked it. Makes sense.)

Thanks!
M~~

 

[summerthyme]

Mary, if you don't take a Vitamin D3 supplement, I'd strongly suggest you start there. I know... it's not "Food" precisely, but there isn't enough of the stuff in the "fortified" dairy products, and you just aren't going to get enough in the winter especially, because you need to be out in the sun for at least 30 minutes with quite a bit of skin exposed to get it.

The difference in my immune system since I started taking 4000 IU daily is stunning. Hubby had a nasty bug a couple weeks ago which went into a nastier bacterial bronchitis/pneumonia. I got about three hours of feeling "crawly" and like I was running a little bit of a fever... that was the end of it!

Aside from that, eating foods with pepper- black or "hot" keeps mucous loose and can keep colds from moving into the sinuses. Good old chicken soup, with lots of onions and garlic and black pepper really IS good for a cold.

Summerthyme

 

[Mary]

Summerthyme,

I LOVE your chicken soup idea with lots of pepper. I'll look around for a nice spicy recipe.

We could probably eat chicken tacos once a week too - DH makes them smokin' hot ( ), would that be good?

And if that's good, I could make some cajun chicken - now there's pepper in all its forms!!

I was thinking about Vit D but then I read some reports on it saying it's not that good for you. Then there are the others that say take it. Guess I'll have to read more.

Last year DH ate a garlic clove - raw - and only got small colds for the rest of the winter. He said he tasted it for days, lol, but it worked. Don't know if I can do that - but if the alternative is having a cold all winter, I'll bet I can...

Thanks for the suggestions - I'll stock up on the chicken broth now!

M~~