Episode 66: Foods to Fight Sickness

Episode 66: Foods to Fight Sickness

Welcome back to The Easy Feed Podcast! This episode is inspired by a recent segment I did on Sunrise (Channel 7), and I knew I had to take a deeper dive with you into the best foods to help your child fight sickness—because let's face it, bugs are everywhere right now.

As a paediatric dietitian, I’m constantly talking about immunity and gut health, and with up to 70% of our immune function linked to the gut, it’s essential we understand the connection between food and illness prevention.

In this episode, I talk about key immune-supporting ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen—like garlic, onion, and citrus—and how to use them in child-friendly ways. I also discuss herbal supplements, my go-to chicken broth recipe, and realistic food swaps to help boost your child’s immune response without the overwhelm.

Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Highlights:

Introduction (00:00.96)
How Your Gut Protects You from Getting Sick (01:47.276)
Vitamin C, Berries & Beyond: Foods That Power Your Immune System (04:10.238)
The Parent’s Guide to Gut-Friendly, Immune-Boosting Foods (06:24.802)
From Bruschetta to Curry: Delicious Ways to Strengthen Immunity (08:42.732)
Cooking Up Immunity: The Flavor-Packed Way to Stay Well (11:06.036)
The Kitchen Cure: Flavor, Comfort, and Immunity in Every Bite (13:24.672)
From Kitchen to Nature’s Pharmacy: Foods & Herbs That Support Immunity (15:50.126)
The Ultimate Immune-Boosting Guide: From Kitchen Staples to Powerful Herbs (18:13.354)
The Immune-Boosting Foods You’re Not Eating Enough Of (20:36.138)
How to Keep Your Kids Healthy All Year — Naturally (22:55.754)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Here’s what you’ll learn:

1. Gut Health & Immunity Connection Why your child’s immune system begins in their gut—and how probiotics, fibre, and gut integrity all come into play.

2. Top Immune-Boosting Foods How everyday ingredients like berries, garlic, ginger, and onion support your child’s ability to fight off viruses.

3. Supercharged Recipes for Sick Days I share two of my top go-to recipes: a red lentil curry and my nonna’s chicken broth (a family favourite packed with nutrients).

4. Herbs & Supplements That Work What science says about elderberry, echinacea, andrographis, and more—and how to use them safely.

5. The Link Between Processed Foods and Illness How certain snack foods can sabotage gut health and what to swap in instead.

Show your support by leaving a review and sharing this episode with a fellow mum. Let’s keep our little ones nourished and thriving!

Show Notes:

More about Karina and Nourishing Kids!

📒 Grab Karina’s Time Saving Healthy Supermarket Kids Snacks Guide now for the INTRO offer https://karina-savage.mykajabi.com/offers/GkPU49mj Karina's popular Nourishing Kids lifts the "food stress" load, giving mums a clear plan to get kids trying new healthy foods and guidance on how to feed their family more easily! Learn more here https://nourishwithkarina.com/nourishingkids

Her Podcast The Easy Feed dives into popular topics - check it out here https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-easy-feed/id1710594874

Karina is a regular on Channel 7, Sunrise. Check out her segments here: https://nourishwithkarina.com/press

For online consultations & personalised support. Click here https://nourishwithkarina.com/nutrition-consultation

Karina's popular Kids Food Reviews are here https://nourishwithkarina.com/food-reviews

If you have a Fussy Eater, register for Karina's online training and learn the 3 Essential Steps required to end fussy eating. https://nourishwithkarina.easywebinar.live/endfussyeating

Introduction (00:00.084)
You're listening to the Easy Feed podcast episode number 66, foods to fight sickness.
Hi there, I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learnt all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed podcast.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Easy Feed. Today I want to talk about a topic that I was asked to present on earlier this week on Sunrise Channel 7 and it was on the topic of foods to fight sickness because I think everybody is starting to struggle a bit, not everybody, but myself included. I've picked up a bit of a bug that I'm trying to shake and there's a lot of sickness going around. see or I hear about lots of
different viruses or people getting double viruses or kids getting a combination of COVID and influenza. And I just feel like it's time to address immunity and foods because I have talked about it earlier in, I think it was episode 40, but it was time to refresh and come at it from a slightly different angle. I want to share some of what I talked about on 10 or 7 the other day.
And obviously take a bit of a deeper dive into foods to help fight sickness because I have a little more than three and half or four minutes that I get on a DV segment. So we can chat a bit more. And of course you can ask me questions. You can flick me a direct message on Instagram. You can contact me via my website nourishwithKarina.com. You can email me directly hello at nourishwithKarina.com.
How Your Gut Protects You from Getting Sick (01:47.276)
And that's Karina K-A-R-I-N-A. So there's plenty of ways that you can reach out to me, ask me questions and give me ideas. there's something you want to hear about on this podcast, then please let me know because I'm always happy to consider ideas. And if it's a good one, then there's every chance that it may become a podcast episode of the Easy Feed in the future. So please reach out to me and I'd be happy to consider. So back in episode 40, we talked about.
your child's gut health as I'm a gut health geek. love everything to do with the gut. And we know that up to three quarters of our immune function is in the gut. And therefore when we're talking about sickness, you can't not talk about the gut because that's where the majority of our fight against sickness or our sickness prevention happens at the gut cellular level. And there's so many intricate activities that go on.
in our gut, whether it's to do with probiotics in our gut, fighting off or competing with bugs for spots on the cell surface so that they don't enter into our system. So there's lots of things happening at the gut cellular level that of course we don't even realise is happening to prevent us from getting sick. There's tight cell junctions that stop baddies getting through. There's all sorts of other immune helpers.
macrophages and all sorts of other things that have fantastically geeky names that help the immune system work well. So most of it's in the gut, but it starts actually in our mouth with our mouth acid. Then it goes into our stomach where our stomach's acidic to try and help fight off bugs. So there's other areas where our body is trying to protect us from getting sick, but our gastrointestinal tract is where most of it happens. Okay. So now let's dive into the foods that can help our body.
fight germs and fight the sickness and it can be anti-inflammatory. If we start off with fruits and vegetables, no surprises there, but I think sometimes we can overlook the incredible role that fruits and vegetables play in our gut and immune health. I was talking the other day on sunrise about citrus because I shared a delicious lemon and berry cake. It was a drizzle cake.
Vitamin C, Berries & Beyond: Foods That Power Your Immune System (04:10.238)
And I was talking about the importance of vitamin C, especially in the early stages, if you feel like you're getting sick, vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant. then berries, berries are also very powerful antioxidants and they contain polyphenols. They contain anthocyanin, which is an antioxidant. And this anthocyanin is what's responsible for these vibrant reds and purples that we see in berries.
Anthocyanin is a self protector. It protects the cell from getting damaged, getting sick. And so there's many ways that fruits and vegetables help to protect us. Not only through the fiber that these fruits and vegetables provide and the benefits to our gut health, but also the antioxidants and the other beautiful plant compounds such as phytoestrogens, which again,
form part of the plant's natural defense mechanism against sickness to the plant. And then when we eat that plant, we then get the benefit from that as well. So there's so many components of fruits and vegetables that offer us as human beings benefits to our own immune system and fighting sickness. And I think we eat them and we just don't value them. Maybe you do. don't know. I feel like we just eat them. don't really appreciate.
the extent to which they offer us value and protect us from getting sick. Vitamin C helps wide blood cells work more effectively, helps to reduce inflammation. Now all plant foods will contain varying degrees of vitamins, minerals and fibres and phytoestrogens, but to name a few superfood options, we really have berries that are standouts. We have citrus that's standouts. We have broccoli, which is a standout.
Sweet potatoes, great as well. So different colored vegetables will offer different vitamins. And that's the beauty of our diverse range of vegetables. They all offer different nutrition, which is why they keep going on. You'll hear nutrition professionals talk about trying to have 30 different plant foods a week because it helps to make sure that we're getting all the nutrition that we need. Now we know very well that in children, often they don't get the 30 plant foods a week.
The Parent’s Guide to Gut-Friendly, Immune-Boosting Foods (06:24.802)
But if your child can have maybe one from each food group, even if it's an orange carrot, and then they don't eat anything green in the vegetable well, but they will eat perhaps a green pear or a green apple. Trying to pair up the colours across the fruit and vegetable range can give us some comfort as parents, but look if they can then expand their intake over time. If you join Nourishing Kids and get your kids eating really well, then they will get to have different coloured vegetables.
and different colored fruits, and then obviously expand their intake of vitamins, which is so important for not only gut health, but systemic health. We need these different nutrients for different reasons across the body. So out of everything that I just talked about with the fruits and vegetables, if you could just start by adding a little bit of extra lemon to your child's day, a few extra berries into their day, that would be a great start.
And lemon could be squeezing some lemon over broccoli or squeezing some lemon into water, popping a wedge of lemon in their water just for fun, or adding some berries into their cereal, popping a couple of berries on the side of their toast in the morning. Just ways to try to increase the colour in their day and just increase exposure. Okay. Moving on to other foods that are beneficial when you are sick or when you feel like you're getting sick, we have garlic and onion.
Now garlic is a germ fighter. It really helps to boost white blood cell count and help the body to defend itself from sickness. It helps to boost our natural defense mechanism. Garlic contains allicin, which is a sulfur containing compound that's released when the garlic is chopped or crushed. And this allicin, and it of, it sounds like a female's name, but it's spelled differently. It's A-L-L-I-C-I-N.
And it's been shown to have antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties. It's funny because my daughter's friend eats garlic cloves whole. And I'm sure plenty of people do, unless you've got IBS and you have trouble with garlic, but she eats them whole and raw. And maybe it's to benefit her immune system. Maybe she just likes it. I don't know, but...
From Bruschetta to Curry: Delicious Ways to Strengthen Immunity (08:42.732)
People will do this and it may be beneficial to their health. Although it does say that you need to chop it or crush it to release the allicin. And yes, no, it's not a female's name. But it's definitely been studied to be effective with the immune system and immune health. It helps to stimulate the immune cells like these macrophages, which are really the Pac-Man cells that engulf viruses and bacteria. It's the body's way of munching up the bugs inside.
and also help stimulate immune cells like lymphocytes and natural killer cells, which are critical for early immune response. So when you feel like you're getting sick and you're getting run down, it's really important to try and get on top of quickly. In one study, people who took a garlic supplement daily had significantly fewer colds and when they did get sick, they recovered faster. So really at the end of the day, just incorporating garlic. I'm not saying you have to get your child to eat.
munch on crushed garlic every day, but just incorporating it into their day, especially when they're sick, making a bit more of an effort to put more garlic in. Maybe you make garlic bread at home, you grab some sourdough and with a bruschetta when you toast the bread and then you rub the garlic onto the bread and then you put the tomato on and balsamic in oil. Maybe you do that. That's a great way to increase garlic in your children's day, especially if they like bruschetta.
Otherwise it might be just pop it in a pasta sauce or you make a red lentil curry because red lentil curry is the recipe I shared on Sunrise and I've actually popped up my website nourishedwithKarina.com. Head to the recipes page, Healthy Recipes for Kids. That is an absolute immune boosting dream because it's got garlic, it's got ginger, it's got herb, it's got spices, it's got an amazing sort of dream team for the immune system. So.
Yeah, definitely. Garlic is a good one, but so are spices. So you may use the curry as a way to get the garlic in or even popping garlic in the stir fry. Now I mentioned ginger. Ginger is also an immune supporter and soother. So it supports the immune system to fight sickness, but also soothes the stomach. So ginger is great if you're not feeling well, feeling a bit nauseous, it can help to soothe the stomach. Now, another one that's also very effective is onion.
Cooking Up Immunity: The Flavor-Packed Way to Stay Well (11:06.036)
Onion is a great food for the immune system. It's rich in quercetin, which is a natural antioxidant and flavonoid that helps to reduce inflammation. And it also acts as a natural antihistamine. It even has antiviral properties. Now sound like an onion ad, but really onion is beneficial to us. Again, as long as you tolerate it, but most kids tolerate it. It's sometimes adults with irritable bowel that don't tolerate it as much, especially if it's raw.
But most kids will tolerate onion and onion is so good for us and it makes food taste great. Right. So onions are also rich in prebiotic fiber, particularly a compound called inulin, which feeds the beneficial gut bacteria, which is crucial for regulating immunity. yeah, onion really has it all as well. It's a great, I guess you would say it's a vegetable, but it's probably not. It's probably part of some other family. I'll look it up in a minute, but.
Basically they're a cheap, versatile immune booster. In short, onions are cheap, they're versatile, they're a win for the immune system. They are good for our health. They make food taste yummy. I'm a little bit biased. I grew up with my Nona and my mum who's an Italian background using onion in cooking all the time. And I use onion in cooking all the time. Actually, fun fact, my Nona always used to say if she didn't have dinner ready.
But she knew that her husband was coming home and she wanted to make it seem like she had dinner underway. All we need to do is fry up some onions and it makes the house smell beautiful. So that was the big hack. So that's funny things that you remember, right? So I always have that trick up my sleeve. You want to make the house smell good or make it smell like you've cooked dinner, just pop some onions on.
in the pan and at least you've started with that. And you know what? I'm more and more, I'm realizing the benefit of sauteing them more slowly on lower heat rather than cooking them too quickly and burning them a bit. It's just a game changer and it makes things taste so yummy. So if you've got the chance to cook them a little slower and caramelize them, so delicious and so good for you. So next time you're at the Bunnings barbecue,
The Kitchen Cure: Flavor, Comfort, and Immunity in Every Bite (13:24.672)
Yes, ask us some onion, extra onion, because it's, it's good for all of us. Now it would be remiss of me whilst I'm talking about my nonna to not mention chicken soup or chicken broth, because really that's what I was brought up on. Whenever we were sick, it would be lemon drinks and my nonna's brodo, which is basically chicken broth. And this was one of the recipes that I shared on sunrise on Monday and actually got Nat Gevo to have a little shot glass of the broth.
And it was delicious. It is delicious. I made it of course, not floating my own boat much. No, it's not my recipe. It's my nonna's recipe and it's yummy. And it's so good for the soul, so good for the body. They've actually researched it. They've researched not my nonna's recipe, but basically the same thing, chicken broth. And they actually found that in people with chest infections and nasal congestion, that actually helped improve their symptoms. So there is evidence to support the use of chicken broth.
in an anti-inflammatory way for the body when you're sick. And certainly nice and soothing. It's hydrating. It's got electrolytes. It's got natural nutrients from the chicken and the vegetables that you pop in there. And so if you're not feeling like eating much, it's a great option for children. It's a free recipe up on my website. It's called Nonos Brodo and it's nourishedwithKarina.com forward slash healthy recipes for kids, but just hit the recipes tab on my website. When you get there.
So you can either serve it up just as the broth for them to drink in a mug or mine used to serve it up hot and then scrambled an egg in there. You could pop some rice vermicelli in there. She used to mash up a bit of the carrot and pop some Parmas in there and it was delicious. So really it's chicken, carrot, it's the broth, it's got some Parmas in it if you want. You can pop the noodles in if you want or not or pastina, the little pastina. It's really, you can choose your own adventure, but it's a really great
great food for the soul and it's great when you're sick because sometimes you don't feel like eating much. So it ticks so many boxes there. Okay. So we've talked about fruits and vegetables. We've talked about garlic, ginger, and onion. We've talked about my nonna's chicken broth. And now I want to move on to herbs because as a dietitian, I never really got taught much about herbs. We got
From Kitchen to Nature’s Pharmacy: Foods & Herbs That Support Immunity (15:50.126)
very much taught about the medical system and all of the foods that are in our five food groups, but we didn't really learn anything about herbs. And I'm not sure why, to be honest with you, because I have a lot of respect for Chinese herbal medicine and I have a lot of respect for mother nature and using natural remedies. And look, of course as dietitians, we learned about your traditional herbs like parsley and coriander and the benefits, all of those.
But in terms of herbs, such as the herbs that you will find in supplements, we didn't learn about any of those. So for example, andrographus, elderberry, not a herb, but a fruit, berry, echinacea, astragalus, licorice root. We didn't learn about those at university. I don't even know if it's in the curriculum today. I think it should be because again, it's part of our earth and these are beneficial to the immune system.
So, andrographus you will see commonly in the supplement Armoforce, which is a really popular and what I think is one of the best immune support supplements for when you're getting sick. And there's also a junior version. But andrographus has antiviral properties, antibacterial, anti-inflammatories. They've studied it. may reduce the severity and duration of colds and flus. It helps to stimulate the immune system. So if you've got a cold, flu, sore throat, or chest infection,
then definitely andrographis could be beneficial for you. Elderberry is commonly found in, what's that supplement? Sambucol, I think it is, because the actual native name of elderberry is Sambucos nigra. That Sambucol, which is quite clever actually, is elderberry and that's another good supplement for when children are sick. And elderberry has been shown to block viral replication. So what that means is
the replication of viruses, helps to block that and it may reduce the flu symptoms by up to four days, some studies show. So elderberry is rich in flavonoids, anthocyanins, again, it's that responsible for that purple color, as I said, with the other berries like blueberries. And they help to stimulate, it's a bit geeky, but it's called cytokine production, which is basically the immune system working at its best to try and kill off the viruses or the bugs.
The Ultimate Immune-Boosting Guide: From Kitchen Staples to Powerful Herbs (18:13.354)
Echinacea is another one and Echinacea is commonly also found in those immune supplements or immune support. And Echinacea is also one of the herbal supplements in the Armofors. I have no affiliation with Biocid because Armofors, but I just think it's one of the good options. If there was another supplement company that had Echinacea in it, then I'd also be supportive of that too. One thing I do need to just warn you with though, it has now been identified as a potential allergen. Somebody had it.
quite a serious allergic reaction to it. And for this reason, now there's warning statements on products that have it. So just be mindful of that. If there's any possibility of having a reaction, it's almost impossible to know, but just know that is, there's a very small chance, but it's a potential allergen. Okay. Another one is, is astragalus. And that is also helpful when there's like chronic immune weakness.
It supports white blood cell activity and the resilience to the immune system. It's been used for years and years in Chinese herbal medicine. And it appears that it's more beneficial as a preventative and for longer term support rather than for like acute early onset. Whereas some of those other herbs such as Echinacea is probably better when you can feel it coming on. Whereas Astragala seems to be more beneficial over the longer term.
There's also licorice root, which has been identified as helpful for soothing sore throats and helpful with respiratory licorice root also has anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties. But there is some contraindications there with blood pressure. So this is probably more for adults, but with any supplements, especially this is more for adults, you need to make sure that if you are taking medication and then you take supplements, that there's not going to be.
interactions between the two because sometimes there is and it can impact medication. So that's really important to be mindful of. Okay. A couple of other honorable mentions that I would just like to add. Thyme is also very powerful antioxidant. It's a powerful, very healthy herb. Thyme is a very powerful antioxidant. It's a wonderful herb and that's helpful to use in cooking. Oregano oil has also been identified as being a potent antimicrobial.
The Immune-Boosting Foods You’re Not Eating Enough Of (20:36.138)
And then turmeric, is curcumin, which is that bright yellow powder, which again is in my red lentil curry recipe also has anti-inflammatory properties. So there you go. There's my top foods for fighting sickness. And I think it's also just important to make the comment that, you know, what you're putting in really matters, but also what you're taking out also really matters because we know that
Too much sugar can suppress the immune system, can make you sick. Highly processed snack foods can often contain additives and emulsifiers that disrupt our gut barrier. It disrupts our gut health. Okay. And then that increases our chance of getting sick. So look, your child's diet doesn't have to be perfect. My kid's diets are definitely not perfect, but just start by making healthy swaps. Look, I've created a fantastic low cost supermarket guide. I'll pop the link in the show notes.
where you can for $4.79 and if you can still snag it at that price, then great. Cause it won't be like that price forever, for now it is. And it's a fantastic guide. I've got over 85 healthy kids product options for you to buy. got the pictures of them, whether it's cereals, I've got music bars, I've got snacks, I've got ice creams, I've got crackers, you name it. It's in there and it's a really helpful guide for you. So check out the link in the show notes and you can grab that.
Healthy Kids Supermarket Guide. I'm also super excited that next week I will be right into my Five Days to Healthier Kids Challenge. It starts on Monday. So if you're listening to this on Tuesday and you are still not a part of the challenge, it is not too late. You can definitely catch up. I'll pop the link to the Five Days to Healthier Kids Challenge in the show notes because people join at all stages through the week.
They watched the replay and they can still participate in the challenge right up until the end of that week. So yeah, if you're listening to this and you're like, damn it, I haven't joined. Then it's not too late, click on the link and join because it's going to be amazing. Look, I'm recording this now just before it goes live. We'll have close to a thousand registrants by the weekend. We start on Monday and yeah, it's going to be another fantastic challenge. Last challenge just blew me away with how many wins people had.
How to Keep Your Kids Healthy All Year — Naturally (22:55.754)
And this one's going to be no different. I'm sure looking at the people that have posted comments in our private chat group already, it's going to be a week full of inspiration, motivation and learning. So we go live every day and we talk about a particular topic. So Monday is going to be all about gut health and microbiome. Tuesday is managing fussy eating. Wednesday is avoiding nasty food additives.
Thursday is all about sugar and reducing sugar without the tantrums. And Friday is all about how we can create mindful eaters that have a really positive body, that have a really positive body image and that love their bodies and know how to have a healthy relationship with food. And we talk about how to create this in your child for life so that they're not the ones who grow up feeling guilty about eating a snack or that end up on Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, even if that exists in 30 years time.
I just feel like there's been this whole couple of decades of diet misinformation and I just feel as adults, sometimes we lose our ability to eat mindfully and listen to our appetites. But if we can create this and instill this in our next generation, then we're going to be setting them up for a really healthy future. So that's going to be the Friday. That's going to be a jam packed week. It's going to be amazing. Not too overwhelming, but plenty of quick, easy wins. If you haven't yet signed up, then click on the link and join us.
Okay. I think I'll wrap it up there. I hope that's been helpful giving you a quick 101 on the best germ fighting foods, the best foods to support the immune system and really try and nip illness in the bud early from fruits and vegetables to garlic, onion, ginger, to chicken broth, to those herbs and berries that we were talking about, preferably in some of the herbs will be in supplement form.
Elderberry, can get Elderberry, but it's also obviously in supplement forms. Whatever's going to be easiest and best for your child and your family, go with that. But you've got the information now as to what are the best options to go for. If you've got any questions on this, please reach out to me on the gram or send me an email. As I said, I'll pop my details in the show notes and let me know what you thought of this podcast episode. Please hit the star rating, leave me a review and I can't wait to chat to you again next time. Bye for now.