When you have a cold or flu, it is important that you maintain a healthy diet without any preservatives or added ingredients that your body doesn’t need. However, our functional medicine Studio City experts recognize that there are some ingredients that are great to use, especially in soups and other soothing foods to eat when you are sick. These include many spices that provide healing benefits as well as flavor.
Ginger
Among the different types of spices that can help with the cold and flu, ginger is probably at the top of the list. This powerful spice is not only great with many types of cuisine but also has some health properties. Particularly, it contains a natural anti-inflammatory property that can help clear your sinuses and also ease the headaches and nausea that often come from these types of viruses. There are many ways to use more ginger when you are sick. Our functional medicine Burbank doctors suggest adding it to your chicken noodle soup or making a hot tea with ginger and lemon.
Cinnamon
The great thing about using cinnamon is that it is delicious, easy to use daily, and something most people love. Cinnamon is a spice that can be used for both sweet and savory dishes, so no matter what your palate or preferences, it shouldn’t be hard to increase its usage each day. Cinnamon is a wonderful spice for your immune system and can help treat side effects from having a cold or flu. It has natural antioxidant properties and can increase blood flow in your digestive system. Here’s a tip from a functional medicine Los Angeles provider—try adding it to oatmeal, cereal, coffee or tea, or savory dishes.
Cloves
Another spice recommended by our North Hollywood functional medicine doctors that will help you if you get the common cold or come down with the flu is cloves. This goes great along with cinnamon, especially with your seasonal recipes. It is great that these spices help with a cold since fall is the season when you would get the illness anyway. Cloves work similarly to other herbs in that they naturally have properties to help relieve your body of viruses and infections. As an added bonus, clove is wonderful for any type of toothache you might have.
Turmeric
The last spice Functional Medicine Los Angeles suggests adding to your spice cabinet for healing powers is turmeric. This has been popular for a few years now and isn’t going anywhere. It naturally has anti-inflammatory properties, along with being an antioxidant and antiviral spice. Turmeric has a bright orange color and is great with savory dishes, along with tea and tonic. If you are making a pot of coffee, you can even add some turmeric and cinnamon to your coffee for a little spice and to help treat the cold or flu at the same time.