Ginger, oranges, garlic, honey, yogurt – no, you’re not in the southern Mediterranean.
You’re in the grocery store stocking up on food to keep the cold-and-flu blues away.
If your throat is sore, your nose is running and your energy is nil, you need more than vitamins to keep your strength up. Sure, you can load up on supplements, call the doctor and take to bed, but better yet, look in the fridge and search your pantry.
Food may be nourishment and even pleasure, but it can also function as medicine. Whether your doctor recommends boosting your selenium (found in seafood) or your mother plies you with tea with lemon and honey, there’s credibility to the notion that food and drink can help block illness.
And yes, it’s cold and flu season in the Four Corners, and a nasty one at that. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say this year’s vaccine is not as effective as in the past. The number of people hospitalized from the influenza virus has almost doubled this year over last, especially for seniors. The agency is also reporting a spike in flu-related deaths.
There’s no time to waste. Pull out the veggies, throw in the chicken, toss in the garlic and put the pot on to simmer to prepare that flu-buster of mythical proportions, chicken soup. Everyone from nutrition experts to the family guru – i.e., mom – swears by this homemade remedy and not without reason.
Researchers have explored the science behind “Jewish penicillin” and discovered that the magical broth contains anti-inflammatory properties to help you feel better. The heat can release congestion, the liquid can boost your nutrition and the compound carnosine can strengthen your immune system.
Grandmothers everywhere are smiling smugly to themselves.
So, what’s your family tradition? Do you break out the hot water, lemon and rum, swallow raw garlic, slurp down creamy yogurt? Knock it at your peril, because many maternal healing methods has been proved to work.
If you’re looking for a fast flu-and-cold recovery trick, try slicing a few slivers of fresh ginger into a cup of hot water and adding honey. Ginger is a known anti-inflammatory, a natural anti-nausea agent and a powerful antioxidant.
Amita Nathwani, a practitioner of ayurvedic medicine and owner of the Main Avenue shop Surya, says ginger can draw out mucus, stimulate digestion and cut down a fever.
When she’s feeling under the weather, however, she uses another ancient Indian palliative, the amla berry, also named the Indian gooseberry. She likes it best in the classic formula called chawanprash, similar to a fruit paste with ghee and herbs. The berry has a high concentration of vitamin C, which can help the body fight off disease.
Dietitian Mikel Love, a consultant for Animas Surgical Hospital, prefers a different berry for fending off illness. Her new warrior in the battle of the bug? The little elderberry, visually similar to wild blueberries. Elderberries are a rich source of flavonoids, which can help shorten the length of the flu virus.
Love makes homemade elderberry syrup for her two young children, believing it boosts the performance of the body’s immune system. She buys the berries online, cooks them with cinnamon and cloves until thickened and adds raw honey once they’re cooled. This season, she gave it as Christmas presents, swearing that no one in her family has had so much as a sniffle.
Should that not work, well, all bets are off.
“I go into my cabinet and I take some vitamin C and some D and some echinacea and some garlic and see what works,” she said. “And then I never know.”
Doctor, dietitian, naturopath – they’re all difficult, consuming vocations, but none so demanding as being a mother. So if your bambino is sick, pressure heavier than an olive press weighs upon you. Feed him, starve him, force liquids into him, what do you do?
“Garlic,” counsels Emily Jensen, mother of Kanan, 3 and Gavin, 5 months, and co-owner of Homegrown Biodynamic Farm. “I’m a real believer that garlic is good for you, very antiviral and antimicrobial. I put it in tea.”
She also makes a stew of chicken legs, broth, vegetables and 40 cloves of the iconic bulb, known throughout history for its healing properties. Garlic contains allicin, which is not only a potent weapon against cold and flu, but high cholesterol, hypertension and cancer. And, this is key, Kanan likes it.
He’s not so hot on drinking tea or water or juice, for that matter, yet staying hydrated is a crucial element of wrestling down illness. Jensen compensates by making meals that include lots of liquids. That can mean oatmeal for breakfast, soup for lunch and warming, turmeric-and-ginger-based curry for dinner. She also turns to a completely whole-food diet, getting rid of all processed flours and especially sugar.
But some folks ascribe to a different theory about what to eat when you’re sick – avoid food altogether.
“A little bit of fasting is good,” said Vilma Brown, mother of two young sons and co-owner of Fired Up Pizzeria.
She used to load up on food and medicines to help her sons beat the symptoms of a bedeviling cold or a debilitating flu, but now she holds off. She offers miso soup, a family favorite, a little bit of herbal tea and maybe a slice of orange.
“I don’t worry about the kids not eating,” she said. “When you’re getting sick, less is better than more. The body is fighting.”
Love, the dietitian, offers a last word on how to escape illness during the plague of flu and cold that abound in offices and schools now – eat healthy all year, filling your plate with fruits, vegetables and pure proteins in every season.
It’s January and time to fulfill all our resolutions for a happy, healthy 2015. Love’s lesson is a good place to start.
