
It's right about the time when we start to notice frost on our cars in the morning or we're not able to go outside in the evening without putting a coat on, that we start to pull out our teapots and packages of hot cocoa more regularly. For most of us, it's because warm drinks are an easy—and tasty—way to take the chill off. But did you know that there are proven health benefits that come with drinking warm (and hot) liquids?
According to one study, habitual tea drinking has a way of improving your brain power. Also, when you drink hot water, it is able to do everything from clearing up nasal congestion and calming your nervous central system to improving blood circulation throughout your body and decreasing your stress levels.
The Best Hot and Warm Beverages for Fall and Winter
That's why, on this very chilly fall (or winter) day, I thought it would be a good idea to give a personal shout-out to some of the warm drinks that not only taste good, they are really good for you too. Oh, and as a bonus, I also included some recipes, just in case you want to go the homemade route on any of them (which will make them taste even better!).
1. Ginger Tea

I'm one of those people who gets motion sick whenever I ride in the backseat of a car, so ginger and I have been rolling deep for many years now. Not only does it help to ease dizziness and an unsettled stomach that is oftentimes associated with motion sickness, ginger also helps to relieve nausea that may come as the result of pregnancy or even chemotherapy. Some other benefits are it reduces blood pressure and blood sugar levels, relieves menstrual cramps and headaches, and strengthens your immune system as well. All of these are solid reasons to drink a cup or two of warm ginger tea, at least a couple of times a week, if you can.
Try This: Immune Boosting Ginger Tea Recipe
2. Lemon Water
Lemons are loaded with vitamin C. And since vitamin C is the ultimate kind of antioxidant, you can understand why lemon water is the ultimate warm drink; especially during cold and flu season. If you're looking to detox your system, improve the quality of your skin, reduce kidney stones, or even simply freshen your breath—warm lemon water is just what your body needs. Some other awesome things about lemon water are the flavonoids in it can increase blood circulation while increasing oxidative stress throughout your body too.
Try This: Hot Lemon Water Recipe
3. Turmeric Latte
When it comes to turmeric, make sure that you get a tea that says it contains curcumin because that is the active ingredient that supplies you with all of the benefits that I'm about to share. Turmeric tea is great because it boosts immunity; protects against liver damage; helps to keep asthma at bay; fights cancer cells, and it also reduces arthritis-related symptoms.
If a part of you is hesitant to give this a try because you're wondering if it's a little too spicy for your taste, all you need to do is add some almond milk and cinnamon and—voila! Now your tea has turned into a latte.
Try This: Turmeric Latte (Golden Milk)
4. Dark Hot Chocolate

If there's a signature drink for the fall and winter seasons, it's got to be hot chocolate. The cacao that is in it is packed with antioxidants. Dark chocolate also improves heart health and cognitive function; is great for maintaining gut health; reduces blood sugar levels; fights off free radicals, and it contains copper, iron and magnesium which is good for your hair and skin. Plus, dark chocolate is also known aphrodisiac (yes!).
Try This: The Best Hot Chocolate from Scratch
5. Chamomile and Lavender Tea
If you've got menstrual cramps, drink some chamomile tea. Want to relieve your cold symptoms? Drink some chamomile tea. If you've been having a hard time falling asleep, drink some chamomile tea. If you've got a stomachache, you're stressed out, or if you want to fight bodily inflammation, drink some chamomile tea. Yeah, chamomile tea is awesome. In fact, the only time you shouldn't drink it is if you've got severe allergies because sometimes it may have pollen in it that could trigger your symptoms.
Also, if you want to take chamomile to another level, add some lavender tea to it. Lavender contains antioxidants and volatile compounds that fight free radicals. Lavender also stimulates the release of certain neurotransmitters in your body so that you're able to feel calm and relaxed. It's the perfect tea to consume right before nighttime.
Try This: Lavender-Chamomile Herbal Tea Recipe
6. Earl Grey Hot Toddy
As someone who is a big fan of tea, I'll be the first to say that Earl Grey is one of the blander ones on the list. Still, it had to be mentioned because it contains the antioxidant catechin to protect your teeth, along with a citrus extract to keep your weight under control and properties that fight depression while giving you an energy boost at the same time. Something else that's cool about Earl Grey is the bergamot that's in it can improve your immune system and also cure a fever (if you happen to have one).
If you add some whiskey (which relieves stress, aids in digestion, and acts as an antiseptic and numbing agent if you've got a sore throat) and honey (which is loaded with antioxidants) to the tea, you've got a hot toddy on your hands that will stop pretty much every beginning stage of a cold in its tracks.
Try This: Earl Grey Hot Toddy Recipe
7. Matcha Tea

You probably already know that green matcha tea is a form of green tea. So, why should you go the matcha route? Basically, it's because one cup of it is the equivalent of ten cups of "regular" green tea. One example of what this means is matcha tea contains 137 times more antioxidants than the standard green tea brand does.
One other benefit worth mentioning is matcha strengthens your immune system. Not only that but, it contains L-theanine to improve your level of concentration; the catechin EGCg (epigallocatechin gallate) that reduces free radicals; contains properties to improve your mood while relaxing your body and, it's also got fiber, chlorophyll, and vitamins in it too.
Try This: Green Matcha Tea Recipe
8. Cinnamon Apple Cider
If you've always wondered what the difference is between apple juice and apple cider, basically cider is the unfiltered version of apple juice. You know what that means, right? When you drink cider, you're able to get more benefits from the apple itself. As far as what those benefits are—apple cider contains flavonoids that fight heart disease; fiber to fight constipation; iron to keep your blood healthy; potassium to strengthen your muscles, and pectin to absorb any bad cholesterol that may be in your system.
If you add a little cinnamon into the mix, its antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory properties can help to keep cold- and flu-causing germs from getting you sick all fall and winter long.
Try This: Spiced Hot Apple Cider Recipe
9. Vanilla Chai Tea
One of my personal favorite drinks would have to be vanilla chai tea, whether it's hot or cold. This type of tea is good for you because it's also loaded with antioxidants. Some other perks include the fact that vanilla chai tea has the ability to improve digestion, fight anxiety, reduce the risk of diabetes and, it has anti-inflammatory properties as well. Also, if you're someone who likes to get a caffeine fix every morning, but you want to cut back a bit, vanilla chai tea will give you a dose of caffeine, although not nearly as much as a regular cup of java does.
Try This: Vanilla Chai Tea Recipe
10. Mulled Wine

Believe you me, I've read enough comments on the xoNecole platform to know that y'all are big fans of wine; specifically, red wine. That's good to know because red wine contains the polyphenol resveratrol which helps to keep your heart healthy, protect against the development of breast and colon cancer cells and, it can even aid in the prevention of vision loss too. Red wine is also great because it raises the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in your system, improves how your lungs function, it protects your skin from UV sun ray damage (which can happen in hot and cold weather).
And just what turns a glass of wine into a hot cup of mulled wine? Usually some cinnamon, some cloves (cloves promote bone health, fight bacteria, and increase liver health), a little apple cider, and some oranges which are loaded with antioxidants. Maybe a few raisins for garnish as well. Make some tonight or impress some of your friends this weekend by creating a batch. It'll do your body—including your taste buds—a world of good!
Try This: Mulled Wine Recipe
Feature image by Shutterstock
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Because We Are Still IT, Girl: It Girl 100 Returns
Last year, when our xoNecole team dropped our inaugural It Girl 100 honoree list, the world felt, ahem, a bit brighter.
It was March 2024, and we still had a Black woman as the Vice President of the United States. DEI rollbacks weren’t being tossed around like confetti. And more than 300,000 Black women were still gainfully employed in the workforce.
Though that was just nineteen months ago, things were different. Perhaps the world then felt more receptive to our light as Black women.
At the time, we launched It Girl 100 to spotlight the huge motion we were making as dope, GenZennial Black women leaving our mark on culture. The girls were on the rise, flourishing, drinking their water, minding their business, leading companies, and learning to do it all softly, in rest. We wanted to celebrate that momentum—because we love that for us.
So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.

In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.

In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.

And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.

We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.

So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.

That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.

This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff
I seriously doubt that it will come as a shock to anyone reading this that the “official” cold (and flu) seasons are considered to be during the fall and wintertime. However, what kinda tripped me out is that there really are only a few months of the year when we aren’t susceptible to catching a cold: May-July. SMDH.
Know what else is wild about colds? They have five stages: incubation (1-2 days); symptom onset (1-2 days); peak symptoms (1-2 days); plateau (2-3 days), and recovery (3-5 days) — and that is why, sometimes, it can seem like it takes FOREVER to get over a cold. Also, SMDH.
Luckily, there are some things that you can do to either speed up the healing process of a cold or make having one more bearable than usual. Things that are affordable, all-natural, and easy to incorporate into your daily routine.
Are you ready to know how to nip a damn cold in the bud…before you even get one?
Here ya go.
1. Fire Cider

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Two drinks that I am gonna drink all the way down, each and every fall season, are hot chocolate and apple cider (that’s warmed up). So, when I read about something called “fire cider,” it absolutely caught my attention. If you’re not familiar with it, fire cider is a homemade drink that consists of things like apple cider vinegar, herbs and other ingredients that are specifically designed to boost your immune system.
I won’t lie to you — since some of the traditional recipes contain things like onion and garlic (sulfur has potent medicinal properties) and sometimes even hot peppers (which help to clear up congestion) — although fire cider might not be your favorite as far as your palate is concerned, the viruses (because there are reportedly somewhere around 200 of ‘em) that cause colds will lose a lot of their impact if you drink this; and that makes it worth a shot — well, swallow. Some fire cider recipes can be found here, here and here.
2. Probiotics
A few years ago, I wrote an article for the platform entitled, “80% Of Your Immunity Is In Your Gut. Take Care Of It Like This.” — and that alone should explain why and how a probiotic can help to prevent colds and make it easier to get over them. The reality is that a healthy gut is what helps to monitor how your immune system reacts and responds to harmful pathogens that may try and get into your system, including ones that cause the common cold.
And since probiotics feed your gut with “good bacteria,” this gives your gut the ability to be better (and quicker) at fighting off the bad. So yeah, take a probiotic — all of the time and definitely while you have a cold. It helps.
3. Peppermint (or Eucalyptus) Oil

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Although I rarely get sick (praise the Lord!), when I do catch a cold, I think what I hate the most is not being able to comfortably breathe. Well, something that is proven to help with that is peppermint essential oil. That’s because it contains properties that act as a natural decongestant as well as a fever reducer. Another essential oil that can hook you up in this department is eucalyptus oil. It’s bomb because it helps to soothe a nagging cough, it can clear up chest congestion and ultimately makes it easier to breathe.
So, before turning in at night, either mix a few drops of one (or both) of these oils with a carrier oil like grapeseed, avocado or jojoba, warm it up for 10 seconds in the microwave and apply it to the sides of your nose or on your best or back. Or put the oil in a diffuser. It can quickly ease cold-related symptoms while also making it so much easier for you to rest (which is something else your body needs to get over a cold; more on that in a sec).
4. Zinc Lozenges
Zinc is a mineral that helps to keep your immune system healthy and strong — and since a weakened immunity is directly connected to having more colds (2-4 a year is considered to be “normal,” by the way), it’s always a good idea to have some zinc in your body. As it relates to colds, specifically, aside from the fact that zinc can help you from catching one to begin with, there are also studies which say that sucking on zinc lozenges can help to shorten the timespan of a cold as well.
To be fair, some people have said that zinc lozenges make them feel nauseated; however, everything has its pros and cons and so, how would you know if you’re one of these folks unless you try it? Oh, and while we are on this topic, there are also zinc supplements and foods that are high in zinc (like red meat, lentils, hemp seeds, cashews and quinoa) if you want to try and get more zinc into your system that way (although lozenges are gonna be your best bet on the shortening tip; just sayin’).
5. Foods Rich in Vitamin C

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Speaking of foods that can fight a cold, out of all of what you’ve read here, probably what you are quite familiar with is the fact that vitamin C and colds are mortal enemies. In fact, one pretty significant study says that by taking one gram of vitamin C a day during a cold, you can reduce the severity of your symptoms by as much as 15 percent.
That’s because vitamin C is packed with antioxidants, it helps to reduce bodily inflammation and it helps to strengthen your immunity too. Foods that are full of vitamin C include chili and yellow peppers, kale, kiwi, papaya, broccoli, kale and citrus fruits.
6. Elderberry Tea
If you’re someone who likes to put preserves on your biscuits or toast, have you ever tried one that is made from elderberries (recipe here)? It’s actually pretty good — and good for you because elderberries are high in vitamin C, fiber and antioxidants. And that is why they are great whenever you are trying to hurry up and get over a cold because they also contain properties that are literally antiviral — and since a cold is a virus…well, there you have it.
One of the best ways to get elderberries into your system? Elderberry tea. If you add honey to it, honey can help to shorten symptoms like a stuffy nose, sore throat and cough by 1-2 days. Very cool.
7. REST

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Did you know that even one day of not getting the sleep that you need to weaken your immune system and increase bodily inflammation at the same time too? That’s because one of the benefits of a good night’s rest is it rejuvenates and recharges your system, so that your immunity can work at its optimal level.
Not only that but, according to science, if you already have a cold, getting plenty of rest can benefit you on a few different levels as well. First, your cytokines (proteins that boost your immunity) are released when you sleep.
Second, your body temperature elevates enough to kill some of the bacteria and viruses that are making you sick. Finally, sleep provides you with the energy that you need in order to get through the day while you are healing from your sickness. So, if you want to get through your cold ASAP, be intentional about getting as much rest as you possibly can.
BONUS: A Humidifier
When you get a chance, please check out “10 Really Good Reasons To Get Yourself A Humidifier This Fall”. There really are all kinds of solid reasons to invest in a humidifier around this time of the year — and one of them is to make getting through the cold (and flu) season so much easier for you. Since humidifiers bring moisture into the air, that can help to loosen up congestion, soothe an irritated throat, decrease coughing, help with the healing process of respiratory infections and it can help you to sleep better — so that you can get past your cold sooner.
So, if you don’t already have a humidifier, cop one ASAP. Your future colds will absolutely hate that you did. LOL. For a list of some highly recommended humidifiers that are currently on the market, click here.
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