Are flu symptoms interfering with your daily activities? Is it taking a long time to recover? You have been washing your hands, but despite your best efforts, you have been defeated by the flu. You may not feel like eating anything, but certain foods can help you during your difficult days and will take you to recovery.
Flu and associated complications:
Flu is a common health problem that can affect almost every person at any time, and yet many people do not know how to deal with it properly. Rest, drink, and proper eating, these three things are the good keys for a quick recovery. It has been proved by experts and scientists that what you eat can impact your immunity levels. So it is important to add that food to your diet that can boost your immunity and help stave off the flu.
When you have the flu, appetite is low, or in some cases, it is gone. One of the most important things is to remain hydrated. It is best to check your urine, which is pale yellow in the adequately hydrated state. If you are dehydrated, it will appear in deep yellow. This visible test is the best and easiest way to know whether you are taking enough fluids or not.
While water is optimal, the majority of people don’t like the plain taste of water when they are sick. For such people it is best to mix fruit juices or chunks of lemons, orange to add flavor to the water. Because flu symptoms vary from person to person, it is important to pay attention to how you feel and eat, according to your condition. Choice of food is more based on personal preference.
Food choices during flu time
When you have the flu, you usually suffer from fever, muscle pain, weakness, runny nose, coughing, and headache. Apart from these, many people also experience loss of appetite due to accompanying digestive symptoms of flu such as vomiting, sore throat, diarrhea, and nausea. One can modify his/her diet according to flu symptoms. During flu time, make a diet plan that will not result in stomach upset or worsen your symptoms. Your eating habits play a significant role in flu recovery. Therefore, it is important to know about the food that speeds up your recovery and foods that need to be avoided as they can aggravate flu symptoms.
If you have the flu along with digestive symptoms as well as poor appetite, consider frequent small feeding. You need to eat small portions of the food, but more frequently to meet the requirement of your body. Because you experience vomiting as one of the digestive symptoms, it is not a good idea to eat all at once. Consider eating general by boosting, nutrient-rich, and high water content foods throughout your illness.
Four superfoods to fight flu symptoms
Certain foods are specifically recommended to make you recover faster from flu symptoms. These following foods provide specific health benefits. Know your flu symptoms and think of food that can fend off symptoms.
- Citrus fruits-Citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits have vitamin C and flavonoids, which are antioxidants that improve the immune system function and enhance its ability to fight viruses, pathogens, free radical, and toxins. A fruit rich in antioxidants speed up your recovery by boosting body’s healing capacity through a more efficient immune system.
- Broth-based soup-The soup is a fluid replacement. Chicken noodle soup is highly recommended to an individual with flu. Chicken contains cysteine and amino acids that make mucus present in the respiratory tract thinner, which makes it easier to cough out mucus. The warm breath helps to soothe a sore throat and moisten nasal passages.
- Bananas-Eating bananas in flu can help fill the place of electrolytes that you have lost along with the fluids.
- Hot tea with honey-A cup of hot tea can help relieve nasal congestion by making mucus thinner in the nasal cavities. One can have chamomile tea to boost the immune system and reduce stomach upset. Adding honey to it increase its nutritional power. Honey can soothe and shrink infection in your sore throat. Packed with antioxidants, honey is a good support to the immune system.
