Feed A Cold !?

Feed a Cold ?!?

As winter comes along, colds, flu and other infections will come with it.
I suppose everyone has heard the maxim “Feed a cold; starve a fever”. 

This is interpreted to mean: “If you have a cold keep eating lots – if the illness is more serious, with a fever, then eat less”. If we have a cold, we tend to be extra well-fed by mothers and others, who are all following this slogan. 

In fact, this short slogan, “Feed a cold, starve a fever”, is really an abbreviation of a longer sentence, which is: 
"If you feed a cold, you will end up having to starve a fever."

This is the opposite, of course – eating well is not good for a cold. The reason is that the body needs its energy to fight the infection and it should not have to deal with excessive digestion at the same time. 

Drink lots
With a cold, a much better way is to drink lots – that’s hot water again, perhaps twice as much as you would normally drink. Keep food intake to a minimum, such as a little light soups. Chicken broth with well-cooked Basmati rice is good. 

Avoid hard exercise
Avoid hard exercise as well, which will use the body’s energy and resources that are needed to fight off the infection. Casually walking around the house will keep the circulation and joints rolling along but a run or session in the gym would be stupid. 

The appetite will soon come back with an improvement in health.

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