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Check your symptomsWhat should you not eat when you have a cold?
When you are feeling unwell with a cold, you may crave comfort foods such as chocolate, ice cream, crisps and pizza. However, you may be unaware that certain foods, specifically ones high in refined sugar and fat, can actually worsen your symptoms. The culprits include:
- Sweets
- Fried foods
- Dairy products
- White bread.
Read on to find out more about how these foods can worsen cold symptoms, and get some suggestions on alternative products which you can benefit from.
1. Sweets
When you're suffering from a cold, you may like the thought of curling up in bed with a box of your favourite chocolates or sweeties. However, sweet snacks like these may actually make it harder for your body to fight the infection, worsening symptoms and making your cold last longer.
The high sugar content of sweet treats may have the potential to inhibit the effectiveness of infection-fighting white blood cells, therefore, weakening the body's immune response.
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that sugar reduces the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacterial cells. This means that not only will you be battling the original cold, but you may be left more susceptible to developing bacterial infections.1
In addition, eating lots of sweets can increase the number of inflammatory markers in the body, known as cytokines. Increased inflammation in the body can not only worsen symptoms of a cold, but it can also put you at risk of more serious conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
If you have a sweet tooth, try swapping the chocolates and sugary sweeties for a fruit smoothie or some dried fruit. Our blueberry and oatmeal smoothie is full of immune-boosting blueberries, as well as vitamins C, K and other antioxidants, which can help you fight off infections!
2. Fried foods
When you are fighting cold symptoms, greasy, fried foods can often leave you feeling a lot worse, even if they taste good at the time!
Fried foods such as French fries and fried eggs, as well as highly processed products such as sausage rolls, pies and ready meals, trigger the body to produce proteins or lipids known as advanced glycation end products (AGE). When there is an overload of AGEs circulating round the body, this can increase oxidative stress and inflammation, which certainly isn't helpful if you're trying to recover from a cold.
Moreover, fried foods tend to be high in saturated fat, another immune system saboteur! Research suggests that when a person's diet is high in saturated fat from animal products such as burgers and hotdogs, their white blood cells are less effective at fighting off infection.2
The salt content of fried and processed foods can also cause issues if you're suffering from a cold. Foods such as bacon and pepperoni can be very salty, and may be dehydrating on the body.
Ensuring you are hydrated during a cold or flu is extremely important, especially if you have symptoms such as a fever, which increases the amount of water your body loses. Therefore, it may be beneficial to stay clear of the salty foods and make sure you are drinking plenty of water!
Another top tip when you're suffering a cold is to try Echinacea. Our Echinaforce drops help fight cold and flu symptoms, and help to strengthen the immune system.
My Top Tip:
Echinaforce supports the immune system, and can help to speed up recovery time.
Try taking 15 drops in a small amount of water, 2 to 3 times daily.
"We've used this for years and it always seems to keep heavy colds at bay."
3. Dairy products
In some people, dairy products can make the mucus that's already in the throat thicker, worsening symptoms such as congestion, headaches and coughs. So, if you find that dairy products cause you to have excessive mucus, perhaps stay clear of foods such as milk, cheese and yoghurt until your symptoms have subsided. There are plenty of dairy-free alternatives widely available these days.
However, if you don't feel that dairy worsens your symptoms, you should not worry too much about continuing to enjoy this, even when you are sick.
That being said, sugary dairy foods such as ice cream probably aren't the best option to go for when you're unwell. Ice cream is high in sugar and fat, both of which, as previously discussed, can have an inflammatory effect on the body, worsening cold symptoms.
If you're looking for a tasty alternative to ice cream, try our tropical fruit nice cream. It is a dairy free version of ice cream, made with bananas, a selection of frozen fruits, and plant milk!
4. White bread
White bread, and other foods containing refined carbohydrate, such as white rice, white pasta and sugary breakfast cereals, are quickly broken down into sugar in the body, which can cause a considerable spike in blood sugar levels.
This peak in blood sugar level is similar to that which occurs when you have sugary snacks or drinks and, as previously discussed, this has an inflammatory effect on the body – not what we want when trying to recover from a cold!
However, not all carbohydrates have this effect. Wholegrains and wheat breads are rich in fibre, and have a low glycaemic index. This means they break down more slowly and do not cause a spike in blood sugar level and, therefore, do not increase inflammation in the body.
Warm veggie soup can be a comforting and tasty snack to enjoy when you're feeling under the weather, and will give you lots of helpful nutrients too. If you are a fan, you may like to try our 15-minute rainbow lentil soup. It contains lots of tasty, fresh veggies and herbs, and is bursting with plenty of nourishing nutrients!
References
1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4748178
2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25404025
What you said!
We recently ran a poll to find out which foods worsen your cold symptoms. We've crunched the numbers and here are the results.
Results: Which foods worsen your cold symptoms?
46.8% of you said dairy products make your cold symptoms worse. In some people, dairy products can make the mucus that's already in the throat thicker, worsening symptoms such as congestion, headaches and coughs. So, if you find that dairy products cause you to have excessive mucus, perhaps swap these for dairy-free alternatives.
