Wondering about the best thing to drink when sick? Drink these comforting, healing beverages when you’re sick to boost your immune system and get well again quickly.

The weather may be dreary, but you’re feeling cheery… until, suddenly, sickness strikes. The soreness in your throat. The achy feeling in your body. The extreme lack of energy. Even your mood turns sour.

As the signs of sickness set it, you may be tempted to lay on the couch and feel bad for yourself. And yes, you do need rest (and a good dose of zzzzzzs). But why not use this as an opportunity to take care of your health?

Choosing healthy, fresh, whole plant foods may be the best way to care for your body in its time of need. And doing your best to prevent illness before symptoms hit is always a good idea.

But when you’re unwell, the right healing beverages may help ease your woes and even end your illness. (Even if you don’t feel like drinking them.)

What Should You Be Drinking When You’re Sick?

You’ve probably heard it before. When you’re sick, you need to drink plenty of fluids.

It’s true. You want your body to be well-hydrated so it can fight off germs.

But it is possible, though not very likely, to drink too much water or other liquids. So you shouldn’t be downing buckets of water — or even guzzling gallons of green tea. (Flooding your body with fluid won’t actually flush out the bugs.)

It’s true that most people don’t drink enough water. But as in so many things, the answer is balance. Even when you’re well, drinking too many fluids can overwhelm your kidneys and liver, making it harder for them to get rid of toxins.

Instead, you may want to drink a little more than the often recommended eight glasses of fluid throughout the day (and pay attention to your body). Doing this should help you get what you need without going overboard.

You may not feel like drinking anything. (If so, I get it. In college, I ended up in the ER from dehydration when I got the flu.) But you really do need to drink a good amount of fluids when you’re sick.

Do Hot Liquids Ease Cold and Flu Symptoms?

Hot liquids, like a warm cup of tea, are said to clear up congestion — but is this true?

The answer is yes. Researchers at the Common Cold Center at Cardiff University in Britain investigated this claim. Their results supported the belief that hot drinks can provide helpful relief for most cold and flu symptoms.

The hot drinks provided immediate and sustained relief from a runny nose, coughing, sneezing, a sore throat, chilliness, and tiredness. On the other hand, the same drink at room temperature only provided relief from a runny nose, coughing, and sneezing.

Best Thing to Drink When Sick? 13 Easy Healing Beverage Ideas

No liquid will magically make your symptoms disappear in a snap. But these libations are good for your body and won’t cause nasty side effects (like you need that). And they can help revive your spirits, too.

When I’m feeling under the weather, I typically don’t want to make complicated foods and drinks. So these suggestions are not only healthy and comforting but also quick and easy, too. Try these home remedies for cold and flu and see if they help you.

Dietary cholesterol and saturated fat are not the enemies

I'll never forget sitting in a nutrition lecture when I was in culinary school and my teacher told us she reversed her high cholesterol by eating 9 eggs a day! How could that be since eggs are high in cholesterol and saturated fats?  In fact, research has shown that egg consumption is not associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cardiac mortality in the general population (2). Many studies have emerged since the diet-heart hypothesis that indicate dietary cholesterol has little impact on blood cholesterol levels. About 25% of the population, known as "hyper-responders", show a slight increase in their blood cholesterol levels in response to dietary cholesterol, but even in this group their blood cholesterol levels are not clinically significant.  

Get an overview of vegan statistics from around the world. See why so many people are going vegan — from athletes to celebrities to everyday people. The rise of plant-based diets is here to stay. 

Diets that limit or exclude meat, dairy products, and eggs used to be on the fringe and were seen as fads. Identifying as vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based was often viewed as weird or extreme — more the domain of hippies and activists than of large numbers of everyday people.

Until recently, references to vegan eating in the mainstream media were often negative. And meat-free food options weren’t universally available or appetizing. But now, all that is changing.

Much of the world is trending towards plant-based eating — and this global shift could be here to stay.

Millennials are central drivers of this worldwide shift away from consuming animal products. But the plant-based movement is bigger than any one generation. Everyone from celebrities to athletes to entire companies including Google and countries as big as China are supporting the movement to eat more plant-based foods.

Plant-based eating may not be entirely mainstream yet. But it’s becoming more accepted every day. And this trend is having far-reaching impacts.

Vegan Statistics: Incredible Signs the Global Demand for Plant-Based Foods Is Rising

First of all, according to a forecast report by restaurant consultancy group Baum + Whiteman in New York, “plant-based” will be the food trend of 2018. The report also anticipates that plant-based foods will become the new organic.

In addition, Nestlé, the largest food company in the world, predicts that plant-based foods will continue to grow and … this trend is “here to stay.”

Many years ago, my boyfriend (at the time) and I were invited to dinner at the home of his friends. The conversation was good, but no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t enjoy the food on my plate. What struck me about this meal was its emptiness. It was devoid of joy and bland in flavor and vitality.

The couple that had kindly asked us into their home was accustomed to an all-American diet, but a doctor had recently told the husband he needed to make a change. So, the cupboards were stripped of snack foods and the fridge was filled with “health foods,” such as turkey bacon, egg whites, and low-fat cream cheese.

This couple wanted to be healthy, but they didn’t know how to change their habits. So, they chose poor substitutes for the foods they were accustomed to eating, and they assumed that eating healthy foods meant that they would forever be relegated to dull meals. There was no joy in the food because they felt no joy in this new way of eating.

No matter how healthy your diet is, many modern eaters are lacking in essential nutrients. If you want to thrive on a plant-based diet, consider these supplements for vegetarians and supplements for vegans. 

Whether for health, ethical, or environmental reasons, hundreds of millions of people are basing their diets around plant foods.

A whole food, plant-centered diet offers tremendous advantages, including reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, dementia, and many other ailments, according to research.

But due to the realities of our modern times, a large number of plant-based eaters aren’t getting specific nutrients from plant foods. And failure to get these nutrients can cause serious consequences.

Many people think a healthy diet should supply all the nutrients you need for optimal health. And that is basically true.

"But where will I get my protein from?"

If I had a pound for every time I was asked that question from patients toying with the idea of switching to a vegan or vegetarian diet, I would’ve bought my tesla by now! Fear around whether a plant-based diet provides enough protein and where to actually source it from seems to be the number 1 reason people don’t make the switch or do it very poorly.

Indeed, protein is an essential nutrient, absolutely critical not just in building and repairing muscle tissue, but in the maintenance of a wide array of important bodily functions. But does it matter if our protein comes from plants rather than animals?