What to Eat When You Have a Cold

Colds can be extremely unpleasant and annoying.

Between the sniffling, sneezing, wiping your nose, and blowing your nose, it can seem like an eternity to get over a cold sometimes.

While the only thing that truly cures a cold is time, there are definitely things that you can do to recover from a cold faster.

One of these things is knowing what to eat and what not to eat when you have a cold.

As negligible as it may sound, knowing about these kinds of things will at least provide you with a plan to recover from a cold as fast as possible, rather than waiting for it to pass.

If you don’t have an idea of what you should be eating when you have a cold or know about keeping yourself nourished when you have a cold, it will probably take you a little longer than it needs to take when recovering.

Knowing what to eat and how frequently you should eat will reduce your recovery time by a little bit if you have a cold.

Before knowing what to eat and what not to eat when you have a cold, you should know about the importance of keeping yourself nourished when you do have one.

What “Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever” Means

We have all heard the phrase “feed a cold, starve a fever,” but what does this phrase actually mean?

It has to do with keeping your energy levels up while you are coming down with a cold.

It takes a lot of energy to be sick, whether it is something as harmless as a cold, something as intense as a fever, or even something terminal.

When you expend energy, it needs to be replenished somehow.

This is generally done in two ways: The first is to sleep. When you sleep, you regain energy, but of course, you can’t be conscious while you are asleep. So if you have things to do, you won’t be able to get them done if you choose to recover from your cold by sleeping.

It is also not very healthy to oversleep, whether you have a cold or whether you do not have one.

While sleeping a little more than usual can certainly help with a cold, there is another method of regaining energy.

And that way, of course, is to eat and keep yourself nourished.

This is where the phrase “feed a cold, starve a fever” comes in.

If you do not keep yourself nourished when you have a cold, you will leave yourself open to developing stronger illnesses.

This does not mean that it is guaranteed that you will develop a stronger illness if you do not stay more nourished than usual when you have a cold, but it does mean that it is possible.

That is the meaning behind “feed a cold, starve a fever.” It means that it takes a lot of energy to have a cold, and if this energy is not replenished, it will prevent you from fighting the cold you currently have and the cold could transform into something worse that could resemble a fever.

In order to get over a cold as fast as possible, you need to sleep more than usual and eat more than usual.

But knowing what to eat and what not to eat when you have a cold is just as useful a strategy when it comes to recovering from one as fast as you can.

Knowing what not to eat when you have a cold is crucial to recovering from one quickly. Here are a few things that you should not eat when you have a cold.

What You Should Avoid Eating When You Have a Cold

While it is important to eat a little more than usual when you have a cold, if you eat the wrong things, you cold might get worse.

Understand that your body produces a little more mucus than usual when you have a cold because it is more vulnerable than it usually is.

Because of this, consuming things that could possibly produce more mucus should be avoided.

Most dairy products are made from ingredients that produce a little more mucus naturally when consumed than other food items.

This means that consuming dairy products may not be the best thing to do when you have a cold. They will only cause you to produce more mucus than usual and because of this, you will struggle with your cold more than you should.

You should also stay away from anything with a lot of fat content if you have a cold. Like with dairy products, fat takes your body a lot more energy to digest and process.

While food items with a lot of fat and protein content is usually good for staying full for a long time, this means that you use even more energy that you may not have if you consume these things when you have a cold.

Although you should avoid fast food and overly processed food whether you have a cold or not, you should avoid them at all costs when you have a cold. Overly processed food will not help you recover at all and although they are high in calories, these calories do not have a “purpose,” for lack of a better word.

Another thing you should also avoid are sweets, especially sweets that contain ingredients with milk in them, such as ice cream or milkshakes. These kinds of foods not only have the same kind of harmful content for a cold that dairy products do, but are also full of empty calories.

Now that you know what you shouldn’t eat when you have a cold, it’s time to know about some things that you should eat when you have a cold.

What Should You Eat When You Have a Cold?

When you have a cold, your body does two things.

First, your sinuses are affected to where they get congested. This is perhaps the most irritating thing about a cold, but it can at least be temporarily relieved.

Relieving congestion can be solved by eating things that are a little hotter than usual. The capischum content in these kinds of foods will temporarily clear up sinuses and relieve congestion.

Although this only provides temporary relief, it can really help if you are really congested. You’ll feel better in seconds, and in some cases it may clear up your congestion permanently.
Fruits, vegetables, and other food with a lot of vitamin C content in it are necessary enough in their own right, but this is even more necessary when it comes to having a cold, they are that much more important.

Remember that when you have a cold, your body is using a little more energy than it needs to. It also uses nutrients that desperately need to be replenished.

These nutrients include a few vitamins in your bloodstream and other fluids in your body, and these are vitamins that your body desperately needs.

Fruits, vegetables, and other kinds of foods that contain those kinds of vitamins will help you recover from a cold much faster than if you ate other kinds of things. They contain complex carbohydrates which your body breaks down quickly, which will allow you to keep eating, allowing your body to “work” its way through the cold you are suffering from.

Something else that should be mentioned is the rate at which you eat. If you take a little less time in between meals, you’ll be able to get your energy back at rates that it needs. This is necessary since having a cold does take up a lot of energy.

The faster this energy is replenished, the better.

This does not mean that you should overeat. It means that you should eat smaller portions with a shorter time frame in between meals. This is important because your body is using energy constantly to fight a cold. This means you must get this energy back at similar rates.

Eating small portions at faster time intervals will accomplish this.

Conclusion

As troublesome and unpleasant as a cold can be, there are things that you can do to make sure you recover as fast as you possibly can.

One of these things is to get a little more sleep, but the more important thing to do is to avoid the wrong foods and go for the right foods.

Do all you can to avoid anything with a lot of fat and protein content. These foods will satisfy your hunger, but they will do their job too well in that your body needs to constantly be breaking food down so that you can get the energy back that you spend fighting your cold at a faster pace.

This is why you should also gravitate towards plant based foods and fruit. These kinds of foods are broken down easily, and not only will they have you keep eating which will replenish the energy you spend faster, they will also replenish the nutrients that your body naturally uses to fight a cold.

The next time you come down with a cold, remember that how and what you eat makes a difference in how fast you will recover.