For all of us with little ones, we seem to always be on the verge of fighting bacterial and/or viral infections in the house. The best cure for any illness is always prevention (eating nutrient dense, whole and balanced diet full of fresh and bright foods-ideally organic and local) and there are endless things you can do to keep you and your family healthy this season.
When a cold hits your home, here are some immediate things you can do:
Protein
Not only is protein a building block for cells, it is a great immune system booster. Reach for something low fat and not fried-fried foods suppress our systems and never make us feel better. Not to mention the nutritional value plummets when foods are prepared this way. A healthy chicken noodle soup is great, as well as steamed chicken and whole grain brown rice. Tofu is also a great source of cold friendly protein and the perfect excuse to whip up a cold busting stir fry (add some ginger!)
Vitamin C
While vitamin C has long been known to keep us healthy and shorten the span of a cold, do yourself a favor and skip sugary organic juices. The best way to enjoy citrus is to eat the fruit fresh. If grapefruit and sliced up oranges isn’t your thing, throw a whole peeled orange into a high powered blender, such as a Vitamix, one cup of cold water and a handful of ice. If you have any mango (organic frozen works too) add a cup of mango to your juice as well.
Ginger
Immune boosting and full of anti-inflammatory properties ginger is an ancient cure for the cold. Boil some down into tea with honey and lemon or peel and slice into tonight’s stir fry. Of course if you are sick, trudging out to pick up knobs of ginger might not be high on your list-this is why always having fresh ginger in the fridge is key. Ginger is on Whole and Good’s list of 10 things you always want to have on hand.
Garlic
It is best to consume garlic regularly to fight off infection, but when a cold hits eat away! I recall one trip in Berlin where I was fighting one of the worst throat infections of my life (at least it felt that way) and my best friend insisted on feeding me handfuls chopped garlic. That’s right, whole garlic down the hatch. We put it on pasta, added it to soups and teas and I also just ate it raw. My infection was gone in 2 days and we went back to enjoying the city.
Anything Green
Not only are green juices a wonderful ongoing way to add nutrients to your diet, when you are under the weather you must attack the cold on all fronts.
Kale, lemon, avocado, celery and apples are all excellent cold busters-not to mention nutrient dense.
Try out Whole and Good’s Cold Green Juice recipe:
Cold Green Juice
Ingredients:
2 cups of cold water
2 cups of kale, remove stems
1 cup pineapple
1 cored apple, leave skin on
2 stalks chopped celery
1 avocado scooped
Juice from half lemon
Juice from half lime
Directions:
Add 1 ½ cups of ice blend and enjoy
Photo via Flickr User WomanHair23