It's Cold and Flu Season - Is Your Body Prepared?

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Is your body prepared for flu season or do you wait until you get sick and then deal with it? Recently, during a radio media tour for SuperTarget, question after question was asked about foods to eat to keep your body as healthy as possible during cold and flu season. One of the radio hosts wanted to know if it's true that chicken broth has health benefits beyond being a comfort food and if so, what was a good soup recipe.

Just like this radio host, we are all stretched for time and find it hard
to get a healthy meal on the table, especially if we aren't feeling well. If you're looking for some simple, easy-to-prepare recipes that take under 30 minutes from door to dinner table, check out the recipes at the
SuperTarget website.

Let's say you get home at the end of the day, open the refrigerator door, and think to yourself--I have chicken, what can I do with it? On the SuperTarget website, enter chicken in the search box and up will pop a variety of recipes. One of my favorite is Roasted Chicken and Corn Tortilla Soup but there are many to choose from. You can browse and see which onesa you have ingredients for or print the recipes and take them to the store on your next visit to make sure you have all the needed items.

Most weeks I try to make at least one item on the weekend or a slow
weeknight. Maybe it's a pot of soup, spinach lasagna, or chili and I
always freeze part of it in several containers for another quick meal or two. This way if you are sick or need to care for someone that is, you have several meals in the hopper. You can add fresh fruit or a salad and still eat well. Give it a try.

There are a number of foods that are good for us year round but
particularly during cold and flu season. Think about ratcheting up your diet a notch with some of these foods before you get sick to give your body a nutritional boost:

1.        Chicken broth and/or chicken soups: beyond the cozy comfort feeling that chicken soup provides, it also helps keep you hydrated, keeps your throat soothed and your nasal passages moist.

2.        Onions/garlic/ginger: chop up some garlic and onions and add to your soup. They contain phytochemicals. Phyto what? These are naturally occurring chemicals in food that have a health benefit beyond basic nutrition. Garlic and onions may have a healthy effect on your immune system.

3.        Red Rooibos tea: if you haven't tried this tea yet, look for it in
your supermarket. It's a South African tea that when brewed has a deep red color signifying that it's teaming with phytochemicals. Celestial Seasonings makes one called Madagascar Vanilla Red that I've tried and is good. Check it out.

4.        Pomegranate-blueberry juice: fairly new on the juice scene,
pomegranate juice is often found in the refrigerated section of the
grocery store. According to the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), pomegranates have a high OREC rating which is the score used to measure the antioxidant power of food, particularly fruit.