5 Foods to Get You Through Cold Season

It’s that time of year again. The sniffles, the coughs, the sneezes. You hear it in your lecture halls, the library, and in every single meeting you attend. Quite frankly, it’s kind of gross and makes you never want to interact with another human-being again. It’s the kind of grimy that not even singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” twice as you lather your hands can wash away. The most wonderful time of the year, you say? Not quite, it’s cold season baby.

So what’s there to do during this terrible time of year when temperatures drop as low as your motivation to do anything other than binge Netflix? As per usual, we eat. So here are five powerful, wonderful, magical cold-fighting foods to boost your immune system.

Citrus Fruits: When life gives you lemons, you better be making lemonade. Even in the winter. Though there are conflicting studies on the effectiveness of vitamin C on cold prevention, it doesn’t hurt to stock up on it as some research shows that it can help lower the duration and severity of a cold especially in cold environments (uh, you mean, the great white north?). It also boosts immunity by promoting the production of white blood cell, aka the good cells that fight bad things (thank you, grade 12 bio).

Green Tea: Is there anything that green tea (including our beloved matcha) can’t do? Apparently not, since its powerful antioxidants prevent colds. More specifically, the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (@ Scripps National Spelling Bee), or EGCG, inhibits virus replication and improves the body’s overall immune response. Warm fluids in general also help to warm up the body which boosts recovery, soothes a sore throat to minimize discomfort, and keeps you hydrated when you’re feeling under the weather.

Yogurt: Stock up on those probiotics because you know what they say, a healthy gut is a happy gut. More than 60% of the body’s immune defense lies along the lining of the gut so keeping it happy is key to good health. To protect the body from invading germs, these good bacteria improve immune responses by increasing white blood cell count. Yogurt also provides a healthy amount of zinc, an essential mineral for a thriving immune system.

Garlic: Known to scare vampires away, garlic can also keep the cold away too. It contains allicin, a sulfuric compound, that fights bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections. It also enhances the immune system as shown in study where people taking garlic supplements experienced fewer and less severe colds than people who were given a placebo. Furthermore, it promotes gut health with prebiotics that help the growth of healthy bacteria and combats stress and fatigue, two root causes of sickness.

Broccoli: This leafy green is my favourite vegetable and it’s cold-fighting properties are just one of the many reasons I love it so. Sulforaphane, a chemical, activates immune cells and prevents you from getting sick. High in vitamins A, C and E, broccoli packs a punch when it comes to boosting the body’s immune system. In fact, this green vegetable contains more vitamin C than oranges do! Oh yeah and it’s full of fiber to keep your gut in check.

Got that all that? Put these foods on your next grocery list and look forward to being healthy all season long because let’s be completely honest, sickness?

Ain’t nobody got time for that.