Diet taboos for fever

Stimulating high-sugar and high-fat foods, foods that can cause allergies, and excessive supplements that exceed the tolerance of the gastrointestinal tract. Most of the taboos spread online such as "cannot eat eggs, cannot touch hair, and cannot eat cold food" must be judged based on personal physique, type of fever and reaction after consumption. There is no unified standard answer.

Last week, my sister-in-law's cousin had a fever of 38.8 degrees Celsius. She heard someone said that she needed to take nutritional supplements to recover from her fever. So she ate half a bowl of stewed abalone and scallop porridge. As a result, she vomited all over the place in the middle of the night. Her body temperature spiked to 39.5 degrees Celsius, so she ran to the emergency doctor. It's all nonsense - when you have a fever, gastrointestinal motility is about 30% slower than usual, and gastric acid secretion is less. Highly nutritious and thick foods will put extra burden on the gastrointestinal tract. The body is busy digesting food, but has no room to mobilize energy to fight the virus.

Speaking of which, I have to mention the most controversial question, "Are eggs a fat?" I have asked a Western medicine doctor in the Department of Respiratory Medicine, as well as an old Chinese doctor I know, about this question before. In fact, there is no conflict between the two opinions: from a Western medicine perspective, as long as you are not nauseated or allergic to eggs, high-quality protein that is easy to digest, such as steamed eggs and egg drop soup, can actually replenish the body with the raw materials needed to synthesize antibodies, which is much more nutritious than just drinking white porridge.； However, according to traditional Chinese medicine, if you have a wind-heat type fever with thick tongue coating, sore throat, and coughing up yellow phlegm, you should definitely avoid heavy foods such as fried eggs and tea eggs. Light steamed eggs are not within the taboo range at all.

I have been through the trap of high sugar myself. Last winter my fever reached 39 degrees, and my mouth felt bitter and tasteless. I really wanted to eat something sweet, so I ordered a cup of full-sugar bubble milk tea. It was very refreshing when I drank it. However, within half an hour after drinking it, my throat hurt as if I had swallowed broken glass, and I coughed all night. After doing some research, I found out that a high-sugar environment will accelerate the reproduction of inflammatory factors, which will only make the already swollen throat worse. In the same way, there are high-fat foods such as deep-fried fried chicken, thick bone soup, and fatty pork belly. When you have a fever, the intestines and stomach cannot digest them at all. It is easy to make you feel nauseous and have stomach upset after eating them, which is simply doing your body a disservice.

As for the taboo on "hair-making" that the elders often talk about, there is really no need to apply it across the board. If you have a cold and fever caused by the cold, with chills all over your body and a runny nose, then drinking a bowl of water boiled with ginger, brown sugar, and sweating can actually help to cool down. At this time, if you drink iced milk tea or iced watermelon, you are looking for trouble. ； But if you have wind-heat fever, you are already very hot and your throat is on fire, and if you eat hot foods such as mutton, durian, or lychee, the fever will definitely be worse. There are also so-called fat foods like seafood. As long as you are not allergic to them, cook some soft shrimp porridge or fish fillet porridge. It is much more nutritious than drinking plain porridge for three days. I had eaten it when I had a fever due to the new coronavirus before, and it did not aggravate the symptoms at all.

The most speechless thing is that many people still believe that "eat more to be strong when you have a fever" and force themselves or their families to eat. When I was volunteering at a community hospital, I met a grandmother whose grandson had a fever and had no appetite. She chased her and fed him a large bowl of braised pork with rice. As a result, the child had vomiting and diarrhea that night, and his fever became even higher. When you have a fever, the body's energy is given priority to the immune system to kill viruses. The energy allocated to the intestines and stomach is already low. The food you force into it cannot be digested, but will become a burden on the body. Eat less when you don't want to eat, and eat when you are hungry. It is better than anything else.

There are also many taboos spread on the Internet that are completely unnecessary, such as "You can't eat fruits when you have a fever." When I have a fever and my mouth is dry, I eat half an orange at room temperature or steam a pear. It feels very comfortable. I need to supplement vitamin C and replenish water. As long as I don't chew it right after I take it out of the refrigerator.； It is also said that "you should not drink cold water when you have a fever." I can't drink water that is too hot. When I have a fever, I drink cold boiled water at room temperature. It's absolutely fine, as long as you don't feel uncomfortable in your stomach and intestines. You don't have to force yourself to drink hot water, which will cause your throat to hurt.

In fact, there really aren’t that many rules to adhere to when it comes to eating when you have a fever. The core is just one: as long as your body is comfortable. Don't listen to what the Internet says about what you can't eat and what you can't eat, and don't think about taking supplements while you're sick. If you want to eat something light, eat something light. When you have a good appetite, eat some steamed eggs or soft noodles. It's more effective than any supplement. After all, your body knows what it needs better than you.