Diet taboos for fever

Don’t touch high-sugar, high-fat, highly irritating foods, don’t force yourself or your family to eat, and don’t use folk remedies indiscriminately. As for "can't eat eggs", "can't touch hair" and "can only drink white porridge" posted on the Internet, there is actually no absolute standard answer. It needs to be adjusted based on your physical constitution and specific circumstances.

I have seen too many cases in the emergency room where eating the wrong things aggravated the disease. The most exaggerated case was during the peak of COVID-19 last year, when a 20-year-old boy had a fever of 39.2 degrees. His mother felt sorry for him because he was "deficient" and kept stewing old hen soup and braised pork ribs. He was reluctant to skim off the thick layer of oil on top of the soup, saying "nutrition is all in the oil". As a result, the young man suffered from acute gastric dilation as soon as his fever subsided. He vomited all night and had watery stools for two days. He was supposed to be bouncing around in three days, but he was forced to stay in the hospital for a week of nutrient solution.

When many people have a fever, their mouths feel bitter, so they want to order full-sugar fruit tea or milk tea. Some people believe in the folk remedy of drinking concentrated honey water to "detoxify". However, high sugar will increase the osmotic pressure in the throat, which will in turn aggravate the swelling and pain in the throat and the sticky phlegm. The phlegm that can be coughed up will stick to the throat after drinking two cups of full-sugar milk tea and cannot be coughed out, which makes it even more painful. Of course, if you really want to eat something sweet, take two bites of canned yellow peach and swallow a piece of rock sugar. The amount of sugar is totally fine, just don’t overdo it.

Don't believe the nonsense that "eating spicy food and sweating can reduce fever". I have seen several people who had a fever and went to eat spicy hot pot. After eating, the fever did not go away, and their throats swelled like walnuts, and they couldn't even swallow water. There are even more outrageous people who think alcohol can cool down their body temperature. After drinking half a kilogram of high-strength liquor, they burned to 40 degrees and suffered liver damage. There is really no need to fool around. There are also folk remedies such as ginger water and scallion water that are not universal. If you have a cold fever, runny nose, and chills all over, drinking a bowl of it to make you sweat is really comfortable. But if you already have a sore throat, a thick yellow tongue coating, and cough up yellow phlegm, drinking hot ginger water will simply add fuel to the fire.

As for the most controversial question, "Can you eat eggs if you have a fever?", I get asked this question 800 times every year. The view of modern nutrition is very clear: As long as you are not allergic to eggs, it is perfectly fine to eat steamed or boiled eggs when you have a fever. High-quality protein is easy to absorb. It is much more nutritious than eating white porridge for three days, and it will not aggravate your fever. But the view of traditional Chinese medicine is also reasonable: if the fever is caused by exogenous wind-heat, the digestive function itself is weak, the tongue coating is thick and greasy, and it is difficult to eat. Especially fried eggs and tea eggs that are heavy in oil and salt will indeed increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, so it is best not to touch them first. There is basis for both opinions. There is no need to argue about right or wrong. If you want to eat steamed eggs when you have a fever and you don’t feel uncomfortable after eating them, then eat them. If you feel sick when you see eggs, then don’t touch them. Whatever makes you feel better.

There is also controversy over "eating foods", such as seafood, mutton, beef, etc. In the eyes of Western medicine, as long as you are not allergic, you can eat them if you want, and nutritional supplements can help with recovery. However, traditional Chinese medicine generally recommends avoiding them when you have an exogenous fever, especially for people who usually get angry or develop oral ulcers after eating mutton. Eating them when they have a fever may indeed aggravate the symptoms of sore throat and dry mouth. This also depends on your own physique, there is no need to follow a certain standard.

Many elders think that if you have a fever, you can only drink white porridge for three to five days. In fact, it is really unnecessary. White porridge has no nutrients except carbohydrates. If you are already weak, if you drink white porridge for three days, you will feel exhausted after the fever is gone. If your appetite is still good, eat some soft noodles, steam some pumpkin yam, or even take a few bites of watermelon or orange at room temperature to supplement your vitamins, which will make you feel better faster.

When I had a fever last time due to influenza A, I couldn't eat anything, so I wanted to eat canned yellow peaches on ice. My family even stopped me and said, "You can't eat cold food when you have a fever." I secretly ate half of the can and swallowed it coolly. Most of my sore throat was relieved, and I didn't have diarrhea or aggravate the fever. On the contrary, I recovered faster than my friends who drank plain porridge all the time. In fact, there are really not that many dietary taboos for fever. The core is not to put a burden on the stomach and intestines. If you feel comfortable eating it, then it is right. If you feel nauseated, flatulent, or uncomfortable after eating it, don’t force it on you, even if it is a "magic tool for healing" that others say.