What to Eat When You Have COVID-19

When we get sick with the common cold, many of us turn to soup for comfort and nutrition. If we’re knocked down by the flu, we may only be able to stomach bland foods. But what should you eat when you have COVID-19?

Spoiler alert—there is no magic diet that will help. There is limited information about foods and drinks that may reduce flu and cold symptoms or duration, and the same goes for COVID-19. With that said, if you’re dealing with long COVID symptoms, you may want to incorporate some anti-inflammatory foods into your diet.

Despite the lack of specific nutrition recommendations, here are some general guidelines to help you or a loved one who gets sick with COVID-19, including what to eat and drink, what to limit and how to prepare in advance.

Personalize Your Diet

Symptoms of COVID-19 can vary greatly from person to person. Some of the most common symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, muscle pain, fatigue, headaches, sore throat and GI symptoms, like diarrhea. When you’re feeling unwell, call your healthcare practitioner for medical advice.

Depending on your symptoms, severity, food preferences and availability of help, your diet will look different from someone else who also has COVID-19. Just like with the flu, you may not be feeling as hungry. You may also lose your sense of taste and smell with COVID-19, which can impact your appetite. Eating foods that bring comfort and nutrition while feeling ill is one coping strategy. It may be minestrone soup, pretzels and Lemon-Lime Gatorade. But this also depends on if you have someone who can cook for you—or if you’re fending for yourself and whether or not you feel up to cooking.

It’s important that you stay home if you’re not feeling well and call your healthcare practitioner for advice. See about getting any food or groceries delivered with no contact, via family and friends or a delivery service.

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate

Pictured Recipe: Mango-Ginger Smoothie

Staying well-hydrated is important when you get sick, especially if you have diarrhea, are vomiting or have a fever—which may cause you to lose water by sweating. Try to drink plenty of fluids by sipping on these options:

Tea with honey is comforting, plus the honey may also help calm a cough. If you’re having trouble eating, have a fever or are experiencing diarrhea or vomiting, grab a drink that contains electrolytes. Coconut water, maple water, sports drinks and Pedialyte all fit into that category. Juice is a tasty option and can also help you get some nutrients. Just be sure to grab a bottle that is 100% juice, as opposed to juice beverages and juice cocktails, which have just a little bit of juice with added sugar.

If you’re not feeling well, it’s important to stay hydrated and rest as much as you can. If you find you can’t keep anything down—including water—it is imperative that you contact your healthcare practitioner and watch out for signs of dehydration as it can quickly become an emergent situation.

Focus on Nutrition & Calories

You may have heard the saying, “Starve a fever, feed a cold.” But there is no research to support that theory, and regardless of what type of infection you have, your body still needs calories for energy and to help fight the illness off. In fact, when you have a fever, your metabolism rises, which makes you burn more calories.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any foods or drinks that will relieve flu-like symptoms. But there are certain nutrients—including vitamins A, C, D and E and zinc—that help support your immune system. And protein is necessary to build every cell in the body, including the immune system.

Getting those nutrients can be as simple as making a smoothie with fruit and yogurt or nut butter. Chicken soup is another option that is comforting and may be beneficial when you have a respiratory infection. Plus, its broth adds hydration. Dealing with nausea? Ginger has been shown to be an effective treatment for nausea and vomiting. Try it in tea or add it to carrot soup.

In the end, just try to get enough calories in to support your body and eat foods that help you feel good.

Foods to Limit

If you start feeling sick, it’s best to avoid drinking alcohol. Alcohol is dehydrating and may inhibit your immune system that’s working hard to fight off the virus. Instead, keep yourself hydrated with drinks like water, tea, broth, juice or seltzer.

If you’re dealing with GI symptoms—diarrhea, nausea, vomiting—you may want to limit hard-to-digest foods like cruciferous vegetables, beans and whole grains. They take more energy to digest and may upset your stomach and GI tract. Swap them for foods that are easy to digest, such as bananas, cooked carrots and peeled white potatoes.

Whole grain crackers and other crunchy, hard foods, spicy food and anything very acidic—like lemon or vinegar—may irritate your throat if you have a sore throat. Softer crackers, like saltines and oyster crackers, are a better choice for a sore throat if you’re craving some sort of carbs for your upset stomach—especially when eaten with a liquid since they quickly soften up.

Prepare in Advance

You may want to have foods and some over-the-counter medicine on hand to help you in case you start feeling sick. Soup and casseroles freeze well, so if you do end up coming down with an illness, you’ll already have premade food options. Shelf-stable or freezer foods like crackers, bread and frozen fruit are also options to have available at your home.

The Bottom Line

Food and drinks aside, the best thing you can do to prevent getting sick with COVID-19—or any cold or flu—is to continue to follow guidance from your healthcare practitioner. Should you find yourself coming down with one of these viruses, it’s important to take care of yourself by staying hydrated and eating nutrient-dense foods. Try to eliminate drinking alcohol as you recover and avoid spicy foods and cruciferous vegetables if you have GI symptoms.