What to eat when you’re sick?

Are you sick? Or maybe a family member or friends is sick? Or maybe you just want to prepare? 

If the answer is yes, this post is for you! 

In this post we take a look at what foods you should eat if you’ve fallen sick, either with flu, a cold or any other virus. 

To summarize, eating varied nutritious foods such as chick soup, broth, bananas, fruits, vegetables, salmon, etc while keeping hydrated and getting enough rest is vital for recovery! 

An important thing to note here is that you should buy these things before you get sick! 
Because when you’re sick, the last thing you want is to go shopping. 

Two reasons for that, the first one being that you’re contagious. And if you’re sick with you really shouldn’t go outside. The second one is that you probably don’t have the energy to go outside. 

Remember, this is our personal advice, they do not replace or diminish the need to seek advice or help from health professionals. If sick, follow your country’s guidelines. 

What should you do? 

The most important thing, when sick is to get enough rest, eat nutritious foods and keep hydrated. 

When you’re sick it is more important to focus on getting energy, so your body can get better, than staying true to your macros. 
Without the proper energy and time to recover your body won’t have the energy to get better and recover. 

That is why, in this post, we focus on what you should eat (and drink) while sick. 

If you want to know what what foods that can boost your immune system, so you might stay healthier longer. You can read this post ☺️

Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food

Hippocrates

What should you consume? 

You should eat food that supports your immune system, relieve you of symptoms and that give you energy. 

1. Chicken soup & broth

Cooking a whole chicken is genius! There are several reasons for this: 

• It takes almost no effort, just chop up all the things you want and put it in the oven for a couple of hours, perfect for these quarantine days! 
• It works great as food prep, a whole chicken is a lot of food and it will last you for a long time.
• Cooking a chicken whole will ensure you consume a lot of healthy collagen, a protein that you can find in the bone-marrow, it’s an important protein, but we don’t get enough of it because we rarely cook the bones or the entire animal.
• You’ll get the base for a really really good broth that you can use as a base for chicken soup, ramen or whatever else you feel like. 

Also, chicken soup is delicious and works great as comfort food. But more importantly, it contains amino acids that as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. It also has electrolytes which are great in order to help you stay hydrated when you’re sick. And it also has a lot of B-6 that help create and keep your blood cells healthy.

If you need inspiration on how to cook an entire chicken, you can click here for our recipe.

2. (Green and White) Hot tea

Hot tea can relieve congestion, so if you have a feeling of stuffiness in your breathing passageways i.e. throat, hot tea can help. 

Green and white tea are packed with antioxidants that enhance your immune system and its functions. 

White and green tea also contains amino acids (L-Theanine) that can help your body fight germs.

3. Coconut water

It is important to keep hydrated when you’re sick. A great way to make sure you stay hydrated is to provide your body with electrolytes. You can get these through coconut water, but also through chicken soup or broth as I mentioned above. 

Keep in mind to buy pure coconut water, not coconut juice or water that has been added sugar.

4. Ginger tea

Ginger will help decrease inflammation, this is why it can help if you have a sore throat and other inflammatory illnesses. Personally, I like consuming ginger trough tea when I a sick. It really feels like an instant relief and opens up the passageways. If you think the ginger taste is too strong you can mix in some orange, lime, lemon or some honey. 

If you want some inspiration on how to make some really good ginger shots, click here.

Ginger can also help decrease nausea. 

However, it is important to remember that although ginger is healthy, too much of ginger isn’t healthy. About 3-4g of ginger extract is recommended. Pregnant women should be extra careful with ginger, and kids shouldn’t consume it. 

So use ginger with care, and don’t over-consume it. Personally, we like using ginger for cooking, making ginger shots or, as I’ve mentioned, in our tea. Then we often mix it up with some oranges, lemon, lime or green tea.

5. Banana, rice, and toast

These three foods can help with nausea. Although all three of them will give your body sorely needed energy, only bananas can be considered healthy.

Bananas also has lots of calcium and C-vitamin and are really easy to eat. You can eat them as a snack, make pancakes, have them on bread (this is underrated and awesome!!), on cereal or use it in a smoothie. So this is really a great source of both energy and vitamins.  

6. Honey

Besides honey being really good and a great substitute for sugar it also has great antibacterial effects and it can give your immune system a propper boost!! 

But remember, kids cannot have honey!

7. Yogurt

Yogurt contains a lot of probiotics, these are live microbes that are important for you when you’re sick. The reason why is that they can stimulate your immune system and help you fight the sickness faster. 

In addition to this yogurt is also easy to consume while sick, and filled with healthy fats and protein. This is important in order to get the nutrition right so your body will get the energy it needs to recover.

8. Garlic  

Garlic is great for cooking and will add flavor to your food. It will also boost your immune system and it is believed to also maybe have positive effects on low blood pressure. Ancient civilizations used garlic in fighting off infections, so I guess we should too. 

9. Fruits & berries

Fruits and berries are packed with lots of vitamins, but also healthy sugar. Eating fruits and berries will give you energy which is really important. Also, berries such as blueberries and raspberries also have a lot of antioxidants in them which is pivotal in fighting off sickness. 

A lot of fruits are great to eat, but fruit people rarely think of is avocado. Avocado is believed to have anti-inflammatory effects. It is also very easy to eat since it is soft and contains lots of healthy fats. 

10. Green vegetables 

Vegetables are packed with vitamins and minerals your body needs in order to get healthy. Vegetables such as spinach and kale are especially great to eat while sick. 

11. Salmon 

Salmon contains a lot of omega-3. Omega-3 is essential to fight off inflammations. 

If you eat wild salmon it contains much more Omega-3 than farmed salmon. If you purchase wild salmon though, you should always make sure it is cooked before you eat it. 

12. Rice w/salt

Rice might not be the healthiest of foods, but it has a lot of carbs aka energy! And your body needs energy in order to recover. Rice is also very easy to eat and easy for the body to digest. 

Adding salt or bouillon to your rice can be great for taste but also because of the salt. A critical element when you’re sick is to stay hydrated, and the salt will help to keep water, avoid cramping and stay hydrated. 

Salt is important for your body when you’re sick if you’ve lost water,
also good with crabs to get energy. It is easy to eat and digest

13. Water

When you’re sick your body needs fluids to get healthy again, therefore you have to drink water! Water is the most important thing your body needs to survive, it can actually only last 3 days without water. So, stay hydrated! 

14. Mineral water

Mineral water has a lot of magnesium. Magnesium is great to avoid leg cramps but it is also important to keep the skeleton healthy too.

15. Foods high on energy

This last bullet is a compilation of many different high energy sources. They are not healthy, but they are a great energy source of you are very sick and they are easy to eat. 

• Coca-cola with sugar: this is great to get energy because it is high on sugar and has some caffeine as well. Make sure to shake out the carbonation, the carbonation can really upset the stomach if you haven’t had any food in a while.
• Crackers: they have lots of energy and easy to eat. 
• White bread & pasta: this also has lots of energy, white bread can also help if you feel nauseous.  
• Popcorn: has a lot of energy and add some salt on top and you get some of that too!
• Rice crackers: also very easy to eat and has lots of fast energy.
• Icecream: this one isn’t healthy at all, but it cools down the throat and is great comfort food. It is also easy to eat and swallow if your throat hurts and is high on fat and carbs, so it will give you energy.

Remember to buy these things before you get sick!

If you are sick seek advice from health care professionals and follow your country’s guidelines. 

I hope these 15 tips will help you get better soon!