text: what is the best vegetarian way to cure the common cold? no chicken noodle please!  o and i've already tried vitamin c, zinc, oj, water, tea with honey, and echinacea the best way to cure a cold is to not get one in the first place.  believe it or not its not normal to catch a cold. i may get a cold every 4 years or so, and generally only catch one under stressful conditions, when i mess with my sleep and don't eat right.    if you have a cold its your body's way of saying my immune system is weakened.    to avoid catching colds ever:  1)make sure you control stress in your life,  2) that you are eating properly (is your vegetarian diet created by a nutritionist so that you don't get ill because you lack proper nutrients? or did you just create it yourself by deciding not to eat meat? be healthy and make sure your diet is meeting your own bodys requirements)  3)get proper rest for your body(generally between 7-10hrs a night sleep),  4) maintain routine schedules (eating, sleeping, exercise, etc).  5) wash your hands regularly and throughly throughout the day.  6) during high cold seasons when several people around you are sick, use a plain saline nasal spray throughout the day.  7) take a well balanced multi-vitamin daily. high doses of vit c (500mg) are good for you.   8) exercise regulary.     once you have a cold the best way to treat it is to treat the symptoms with medicine (tylenol cold), get plenty of rest (16hrs), drink lots of water and liquids, eat several small light meals (avoid carrots and other vegetables that are hard to digest. you don't want you body spending the energy to digest hard foods when you are ill. soups, oatmeal,veg broths,oranges, are good to include) and give it a few days to past.  your body will heal itself if it is healthy enough.