Flu dietary taboos

Try not to touch foods that are high in sugar and oil, highly irritating, and aggravate the gastrointestinal burden. There is no need to completely fast for the two controversial foods such as eggs and "fat foods". You can adjust according to your own symptoms and digestion ability.

To be honest, I have seen too many people fall into this trap. Last week, a girl from the same department had just recovered from H1N1 infection and felt that she was mostly recovered. She bought a cup of full-sugar iced milk tea and fried skewers on the way home from get off work. She coughed so much that night that she couldn't sleep. Her symptoms, which were about to get better, were delayed for half a month.

Let’s talk about the high-sugar and high-fat foods that everyone agrees on first. It’s not that you can’t touch even half-sweet foods – after all, when many people are sore from burning, they rely on a mouthful of canned icy yellow peaches to relieve themselves. It’s perfectly fine to eat a small amount of sugar to relieve discomfort. I’m just afraid of drinking tons of milk tea or eating heavy-fat takeaways. High sugar will make upper respiratory tract mucosal secretions thicker, which will make the phlegm blocked in the throat, not to mention uncomfortable. High-fat food will put a burden on the already weak gastrointestinal tract. Many people have no appetite during the flu and feel bloated after eating two bites of fried chicken. This is the reason. I met an old man at a community free clinic before. He just had the flu, so he went to eat with him and showed off his big elbow meat. That night, he suffered from vomiting and diarrhea and was admitted to the hospital. It was completely unnecessary.

Let’s talk about spicy food, which is very controversial. Many friends in Sichuan and Chongqing have experienced that if you eat a bowl of spicy noodles at the beginning of a cold and make you sweat, you will feel better the next day. In fact, this method is not wrong. If you just have symptoms of chills and soreness, and your throat doesn't hurt at all, it's okay to eat something slightly spicy to sweat and stimulate your appetite. However, if you already have a sore throat and cough up yellow phlegm, eating spicy food will only make the congestion and edema of the throat worse, and the pain will be so painful that you can't even drink water. At this time, don't bear the stubbornness of the local indigenous people, and endure it for a few days instead of eating something light.

The same goes for raw and cold food. Nowadays, many otolaryngologists will recommend eating ice cream or frozen yogurt to relieve the pain when you have sore throat and cannot sleep. This method is really useful for people without gastrointestinal symptoms. Applying it coolly on the edematous posterior pharyngeal wall can temporarily numb the pain. But if you have diarrhea and vomiting when you have the flu, and eating ice will only stimulate gastrointestinal cramps and make diarrhea worse, it is better to drink two more sips of warm salt water.

The two most frequently asked questions are "Can you eat eggs and can you eat beef, mutton and seafood when you have the flu?" The older generation always said that these are "foods" and should not be touched when you have a cold. Modern nutrition also says that you need to supplement high-quality protein to get better quickly. Both sides actually make sense. Foods in the traditional concept essentially refer to foods that are likely to induce allergies and aggravate inflammatory reactions. If you usually eat seafood, you may easily get a rash, or you may be intolerant to beef and mutton. During the flu, your resistance is low, and it is indeed easy to aggravate the symptoms. But if you have no problem eating these on a daily basis, then there is no need to eat them, but you have to pay attention to the cooking methods - don't make fried eggs or spicy shrimps, steam an egg custard, cook some steamed fish, it is easy to digest and can replenish protein, which is much better than drinking plain porridge all the time. I once met an aunt who didn't dare to eat anything during the flu. She drank plain porridge and pickled vegetables every day. After the fever subsided, she was so weak that she couldn't go to work for almost a week. After checking, I found out that she was low in protein, because she didn't take enough supplements.

In the final analysis, dietary taboos are never hard-and-fast rules. After all, everyone’s physique, underlying diseases, and tolerance levels are different. The most reliable criterion for judgment is actually your own physical feelings—you are not burdened after eating, and your symptoms are not aggravated. This is more effective than any popular health tips. If you are really in doubt, there is no harm in taking a few bites less. After all, your appetite is already poor during the flu, so there is no need to forcefully stuff things into your stomach.