When you’re feeling lousy with congestion, a runny nose, coughing it’s difficult to know exactly what to do and the old adage of feed a cold and starve a fever just adds to the confusion.

But take heart,  recent medical science says the old saying is wrong. It should be ‘feed a cold, feed a fever’ because starving is never the correct answer.

While the cure for cold and flu is still no where in sight, one thing is certain — your body needs proper nutrition at all times to help keep your body functioning optimally, especially during cold and flu season. 

When suffering a cold or flu, your body needs energy so it can continue to fight off the illness, so eating healthy food is helpful when seeking recovery. The body is quick to turn recently digested food into energy, and it’s also efficient at converting stored energy in fat.

A fever is part of the immune system’s attempt to beat these bugs down. It raises body temperature, which increases metabolism and results in more calories burned; for each degree of temperature rise, the energy demand increases further. So taking in calories becomes important.

Even more crucial is drinking. Fever dehydrates your system, in part through increased sweating from that elevated temperature. So replacing fluids becomes critical to helping the body battle the infection. The same is true for combating colds.  The info graphics below outline some helpful tips when you find yourself on the wrong side of the Kleenex box. .