Diet taboos for fever

All alcoholic beverages, energy drinks with high doses of caffeine/strong coffee and tea, foods that are known to cause your own allergies. Most of the other requirements such as "cannot eat eggs", "cannot touch hair" and "cannot eat cold food" have no universal scientific basis and do not need to be copied blindly.

Not long ago, my influenza A fever reached 39 degrees. My mother stayed by the bed and wouldn't even let me touch the steamed eggs. She said, "Eggs are fat, and the fever will be worse if you eat them."

In fact, there is indeed a difference in understanding between traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine regarding fever taboos. There is no need to argue about right and wrong. In traditional Chinese medicine, "hair-raising foods" refer more to foods that can aggravate body heat and induce allergic reactions. For example, people who are allergic to mangoes and seafood will get rashes and throat swelling after eating them. Their immunity is low during fever, and eating them will most likely aggravate the discomfort. Of course, it is right to avoid them, but if you are fine with whatever you eat, there is no need to put these foods on the blacklist.

I met a young man in the emergency room before. When he had a fever, he was worried that he would not be energetic at work, so he drank two bottles of taurine energy drinks. After sitting for half an hour, he felt flustered and nauseated, and his hands were shaking. When he came for a checkup, he found that his heart rate was as high as 130. It was caused by caffeine + taurine. Fever itself will increase the basal metabolic rate and accelerate the heart rate. If you add a high dose of caffeine, it is equivalent to stepping on the accelerator of the heart that is already running at high speed. You are lucky if nothing happens. Not to mention alcoholic drinks. Not to mention that alcohol will cause a disulfiram reaction after taking antipyretics such as cephalosporins and ibuprofen. Alcohol will dilate blood vessels and accelerate heat dissipation, which will then cause the body temperature to rebound and aggravate body dehydration. If you have a fever, you need to drink more water to replenish yourself. Drinking alcoholic drinks is completely unhelpful.

As for the most quarrelsome question "Can you eat sweet or cold food when you have a fever?", there is actually no standard answer.

Research in nutrition journals shows that high sugar intake will temporarily increase the activity of inflammatory factors in the body. If you already have a sore throat and cough up yellow phlegm, eating sweet and greasy food will definitely make your throat more uncomfortable. Of course, don’t touch it.； But if your fever reaches over 39 degrees and your mouth is so bitter that you can't eat anything and just want to eat a mouthful of iced watermelon and drink half a cup of iced milk tea, there is no need to hold on. I met a 10-year-old girl a while ago who couldn't eat anything after having a fever for two days. To put it bluntly, when you have a fever, your body consumes energy in contact with viruses. If you don't even give yourself something to make yourself happy and eat, and just drink some carbohydrates from plain porridge, how can you get the energy for immune cells to work?

Many people think that when you have a fever, you should eat as light a meal as possible. Just plain porridge and pickles. In fact, it is really not necessary. As long as there are no gastrointestinal symptoms such as severe vomiting or diarrhea, you can eat eggs, milk, lean meat and other high-quality proteins that are easy to digest. When clinical nutritionists I know meet patients with fever, the first thing they ask is "can they eat?" The second thing they ask is "if they can eat more steamed eggs and a cup of warm milk, it is better than any supplement."

Of course, don’t be arrogant. If you have diarrhea when you eat something cold, then you definitely shouldn’t touch ice when you have a fever.； If you usually suffer from insomnia when drinking milk tea, don’t drink high-sugar and high-caffeine drinks when you have a fever. The core premise of all dietary taboos is "will you feel uncomfortable if you eat it?" Those "unified taboo lists" that are universally applicable are not in line with everyone's physical differences.

Harmful, really. When you have a fever, you don’t have to set so many rules and regulations. Avoid those three types of foods that are definitely harmful to the body. Eat the rest if you want. If you can eat well and sleep well, it will be more effective than any taboos.