If you feel a cold or the flu coming on, make this easy recipe ASAP to help stop that sickness in its tracks.
INGREDIENTS
- Ginger, fresh, 1-2 inches thinly sliced or zested
- Green Onions, 4 pieces, medium sliced
- Garlic Cloves, 4 peeled and chopped
- Mushrooms 1/2-1 cup (maitake, trumpet, oyster, shiitake)
- Bone or Veg Broth Organic, Grassfed Beef OR Pasture Raised Chicken 6 cups (I like Kettle and Fire brand)
DIRECTIONS
Place ginger, onions, and garlic in a pot and add 2 cups of broth.
- Simmer until ingredients are softened.
- Add the remainder of the bone broth and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes
- Drink throughout the day to reduce your cold/flu symptoms
INGREDIENT BREAKDOWN
I included this after the recipe ‘cuz man doesn’t it just bust your balls when you wanna make the damn soup or recipe and they’re blogging about how the falling leaves outside their great-aunt Mabel’s house reminded them of this one time they were sick when they were seven and their dog tracked mud into the house and…… you get it.
Anyhow, I put the good stuff first and if you wanna nerd out on the details… keep on reading my fellow philomaths.
Ginger:
Ginger is one of the best herbs for colds and flus and can help with symptoms like sore throat, nausea, indigestion, chills and sinus pressure.
It’s anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, contains anti-oxidants to expedite healing. Cold medications cannot kill viruses. But ginger might.
This has gotta be the actual raw ginger root, ginger powder won’t cut it. Also stay away from the ginger candies. Most are packed with sugar which weakens your immune system, increases inflammation and feeds bacteria!
Green Onion/Scallions:
These are great for the initial stage of colds and helps with chills, mild fevers and body aches. This herb has historically been used to help break a sweat and is also beneficial for treating parasites, aiding digestion, and helping with nasal congestion. The bulbs are particularly useful. But the whole plant is delicious and beneficial!
Garlic:
If you’re not aware that garlic has incredible health benefits, kindly step out from the rock you’ve been living under. Allicin, a compound in garlic, has some rather impressive antimicrobial properties. These compounds have been shown to boost the disease-fighting response of some types of white blood cells in the body when they encounter viruses, such as the viruses that cause the common cold or flu.
Additionally, garlic serves as an impressive digestive aid and in case you didn’t know, your gut has a HUGE connection to the lymphatic and immune system know as the GALT (Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue).
One study gave 146 healthy volunteers either garlic supplements or a placebo for 3 months. The garlic group had a 63% lower risk of getting a cold.
Here are a few ways to maximize the health benefits of garlic:
- Crush or slice all your garlic before you eat it. This increases the allicin content.
- Before you cook with your crushed garlic, let it stand for 10 minutes.
- Use a lot of garlic — more than one clove per meal, if you can.
Mushrooms:
Shrooms are AHMAZE for many reasons and if you’re not shrooming, you’re missing out on a jam packed source of nutrients, immune modulators and cancer fighting properties.
Here’s the dirt on some of my faves:
Maitakes contain immune-boosting compounds called beta-glucans, which, though present in some other foods, possess a structure in maitakes that are extra effective. Receptors for these polysaccharide molecules, known as D-fraction, are found on a category of white blood cells known as macrophages.
Eating maitakes activates the macrophages (basically pac-men who go around and engulfing pathogen and tumor cells) to keep your system clear. Macrophages, in turn, activate other components of the immune system, like natural killer cells and cytotoxic T cells. Unlike other anti-cancer agents, which must be injected, maitake D-fraction is effective when taken orally, making it a fantastic food or dietary supplement.
Shiitakes were used by the Chinese to improve energy levels, speed up illness recovery, slow the aging process and treatment respiratory and liver diseases. Modern science focuses on shiitake’s immune-stimulating effects.
The beta-glucan in shiitake, lentinan, may enhance the effects of certain chemotherapy drugs, according to New York University’s Langone Medical Center. Shiitake also boosted immune anti-tumor activity and increased the effectiveness of radiation therapy in a tissue culture study of human lung cancer published in the November 2011 issue of the “Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.”
Oysters have a beta-glucan called pleuran that has immune-modulating properties as well as antiviral and antibacterial effects.
An 8-week study in 41 people found that compared with placebo, taking a daily oyster mushroom extract supplement heightened the immune system by activating interferon-γ (IFN-γ), a molecule that plays a critical role in protecting against infection (23).
A 2021 rodent study found that supplementing the diet of obese rats with oyster mushrooms decreased the growth of pathogenic bacteria and increased the production of beneficial short-chain fatty acids in their guts (29Trusted Source). Don’t forget, gut health and immune health are BFF’s! They go hand in hand
Trumpets also have beta-glucans that increase natural killer cell activity and acts as an immune enhancer to help rebuild our immune systems by activating humoral and cellular immunity (20).
They contain broad-spectrum antibiotic compounds that are beneficial for protection against various bacteria such as Bacillus megaterium, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Trichophyton spp., and Epidermophyton spp (13).
Trumpets are also great for gut health as they reduce inflammation in the colon, increase good bacteria and short-chain fatty acid formation. They also increase the antioxidant capacity of the colon making trumpets very beneficial against inflammatory bowel disease (9).
Bone Broth:
1. High in Amino Acids + Nutrients :
Just 1 cup has around 10 grams of protein! And, that protein comes from nearly 20 different essential and non-essential amino acids that leach into the broth. These amino acids help heal and protect our bodies in all sorts of ways, and bone broth has A LOT of them. Plus, the calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and many other essential minerals help flush out toxins and reduce inflammation in our bodies. Many of us don’t get enough of these minerals from other foods, so bone broth can be a good source. And, combined with the many amino acids, these minerals can help speed up some of our body’s healing processes.
2. Easy To Digest
Most importantly, the minerals and amino acids in bone broth are highly bioavailable nutrients—meaning they come in an easy-to-digest form. It can be difficult for the body to digest proteins or absorb certain minerals. So, even when we consume foods with healthy nutrients, our bodies don’t always absorb all of them.
3. Collagen, Gelatin, Glycine, Oh MY!
Animal bones (including human’s) contain collagen—a protein in all kinds of connective tissues. Bones and connective tissue are the only true source of type II collagen which is the type known for keeping our skin smooth and our joints healthy!
So, after 24+ hours of simmering, that collagen starts to seep out of the bones, eventually producing gelatin which is important because it:
- helps form (or re-form) connective tissue
- protect our bones
- boost our immunity
- improve our gut health
There you have it. Simple recipe and a whole lotta learning.
For more tips on how to get and stay well, check out my blog post: 5 TIPS FOR THRIVING THIS FLU SEASON!
