The best foods when you’re sick depend on your symptoms, but the short answer is: warm broth-based soups, fluids with electrolytes, honey for a cough, and whatever regular foods you can tolerate. The old advice to starve a cold or restrict yourself to bland toast is outdated. Your body needs calories and nutrients to mount an immune response, so the goal is to eat as normally as possible while choosing foods that ease your specific symptoms.
Why Chicken Soup Actually Works
Chicken soup isn’t just comfort food. Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center tested a variety of soup preparations and found they reduced the movement of neutrophils, the white blood cells that swarm to infection sites and trigger the inflammation behind your stuffy nose, sore throat, and congestion. In other words, chicken soup appears to have a mild anti-inflammatory effect that can ease upper respiratory symptoms.
The researchers couldn’t pinpoint a single magic ingredient. The benefit likely comes from the combination of vegetables, chicken, and broth working together, with the active compounds being water-soluble. That means the broth itself carries much of the benefit. Even if you don’t have an appetite for a full bowl, sipping warm broth delivers fluids, sodium, and those anti-inflammatory compounds at the same time.
Fluids and Electrolytes Come First
Fever, sweating, vomiting, and diarrhea all drain your body’s fluid reserves fast. Dehydration makes fatigue, headaches, and dizziness worse, and it thickens mucus. Plain water helps, but when you’re losing fluids quickly, you also need sodium and a small amount of sugar to help your gut absorb that water efficiently. The World Health Organization’s oral rehydration formula uses a 1:1 ratio of sodium to glucose, which optimizes a specific transport system in your intestines that pulls water into your bloodstream.
You don’t need to mix a medical-grade solution at home. Diluted fruit juice, broth, coconut water, or a commercial electrolyte drink all work. If you’re dealing with vomiting or diarrhea, take small, frequent sips rather than gulping large amounts, which can trigger more nausea. Popsicles and ice chips count too, especially for kids who refuse to drink.
Honey for Coughs and Sore Throats
A systematic review published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine found that honey reduced cough frequency and severity compared to standard care. It performed about as well as dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in most over-the-counter cough syrups, and outperformed diphenhydramine (the antihistamine found in some nighttime cold medicines). One study in adults found that honey increased the proportion of patients with at least 75% improvement in throat irritation by day four.
A spoonful of honey in warm tea or water coats the throat and seems to calm the cough reflex. It works for adults and children over one year old. Never give honey to infants under 12 months due to the risk of botulism.
Ginger for Nausea
If your illness involves nausea, ginger is one of the most reliable natural remedies. Its active compounds appear to work similarly to anti-nausea medications. Research suggests that around 1,500 milligrams of ginger per day can be effective, though there’s no firm consensus on the ideal dose. In practical terms, that’s a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger steeped in hot water, or a few cups of real ginger tea (check the label for actual ginger, not just flavoring). Ginger chews, ginger ale made with real ginger, and crystallized ginger are other options.
What to Eat With a Stomach Bug
The classic BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) was once standard advice for gastroenteritis, but the CDC now considers it unnecessarily restrictive. It can actually lead to poor nutrition during a time when your body needs fuel to recover. Their guidance is clear: children and adults should continue eating their usual diet during episodes of diarrhea, including complex carbohydrates, meats, yogurt, fruits, and vegetables. The priority is maintaining calorie intake during the illness, then eating a bit extra afterward to make up for what you missed.
That said, listen to your stomach. If all you can manage is plain rice or toast for the first day, that’s fine as a starting point. Just don’t stay there. As your appetite returns, add protein and nutrient-dense foods back in. Yogurt is a particularly good choice because it’s easy on the stomach and contains live cultures that may support your gut’s recovery.
The evidence on probiotics for stomach bugs is mixed. A European pediatric gastroenterology group found that certain strains can modestly reduce diarrhea duration in children, though the strength of evidence was low. The American Gastroenterological Association actually recommended against probiotics for acute infectious gastroenteritis in their 2020 review. Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, and miso are unlikely to hurt and may help, but probiotic supplements aren’t a guaranteed fix.
Nutrients That Support Your Immune Response
Vitamin C and zinc are the two supplements with the most evidence behind them for colds, though neither is a cure. Routine vitamin C supplementation (250 milligrams to 2 grams per day) shortens cold duration by about 8% in adults and 14% in children. That translates to roughly half a day to a full day less of symptoms. You can get this from supplements or from vitamin-C-rich foods like oranges, bell peppers, kiwi, and strawberries.
Zinc lozenges, started within 24 hours of symptom onset, can also shorten a cold. The effective dose in studies is more than 75 milligrams per day in lozenge form. Timing matters here: zinc works best at the very beginning of illness, not midway through. Short-term use of zinc lozenges at doses up to 180 milligrams per day for one to two weeks has not shown serious side effects in studies, though some people find they cause a metallic taste or mild nausea.
Foods to Avoid While Sick
Alcohol is the biggest one to skip. It contributes to inflammation, disrupts sleep quality (which is when your immune system does its heaviest repair work), and dehydrates you. Even a single drink can worsen respiratory symptoms and delay recovery.
Beyond alcohol, pay attention to what makes your specific symptoms worse. Dairy thickens mucus perception for some people, so if milk or cheese seems to worsen your congestion, swap in other protein sources temporarily. Carbonated drinks can cause bloating and abdominal pressure that makes breathing feel harder when you’re already congested. Very salty foods promote fluid retention, which can add to that swollen, uncomfortable feeling. Sugary foods and refined carbohydrates like white bread and pastries offer little nutritional support and can increase carbon dioxide production during digestion, which is uncomfortable if you’re already short of breath.
Coffee in moderation is fine if you normally drink it and it doesn’t upset your stomach, but don’t rely on it as a fluid source since caffeine is mildly dehydrating in large amounts.
A Practical Sick-Day Eating Plan
For a cold or flu, lean toward warm, brothy soups with vegetables and protein. Sip fluids constantly. Use honey in tea for coughs. Eat citrus fruits, berries, and cooked vegetables when you can. Scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and toast with nut butter are easy options that provide real nutrition without requiring much effort to prepare.
For a stomach bug, start with whatever you can keep down: broth, crackers, plain rice. Advance to your normal diet as soon as your stomach allows, prioritizing yogurt, bananas, lean proteins, and cooked grains. Keep sipping electrolyte-containing fluids between meals. If you can’t keep any fluids down for more than 12 hours (or sooner for young children or elderly adults), that’s when dehydration becomes a serious concern.
The simplest rule: eat what sounds tolerable, prioritize fluids, and don’t restrict your diet more than your symptoms require. Your body is fighting an infection, and it needs fuel to do the job.