Foods to Avoid When You Are Sick

Foods to cut back on when you are sick, have a cold or flu, feel weak or are in poor health, and that you should take off the menu

Some foods, like milk, orange juice and hot tea, are often thought to be very good when you are ill. In reality that's not always the case: some very familiar foods should definitely be avoided when you are sick.

Let's take a closer look at this with VN Cooking!

1. Avoid coffee when you have a fever or stomach problems

If you are ill, especially with a fever, stomach trouble or digestive problems, take coffee off the menu right away! Coffee contains caffeine, a stimulant and diuretic that makes you urinate more and become dehydrated.

Vomiting and diarrhea already dehydrate the body, but caffeine makes things much worse. It speeds up dehydration and also stimulates the muscles of the digestive tract, making bouts of diarrhea more urgent and more frequent.

2. Avoid orange juice when you have a cough or sore throat

Many people make the unfortunate mistake of thinking that orange juice will help a sick person build up their resistance. In fact, orange juice is not good for people with a cough or sore throat.

Oranges contain citric acid, a strong irritant to the inflamed lining of the throat. This means your throat will become more and more irritated and will take quite a long time to heal.

3. Avoid milk when you have a stuffy nose

Some say that drinking milk when your nose is blocked produces more phlegm or mucus in the nose, but there is still no definitive answer. Some patients find that the more milk they drink, the thicker the mucus in their nose. If you notice this, simply stop drinking milk until your nose is completely clear!

4. Avoid eggs when you have a fever

Normally eggs are a very nutritious food, but when you have a fever you should avoid them. Eggs are rich in protein, which generates a lot of heat after eating. For someone with a fever, especially a child, eating eggs raises body heat that cannot escape, leading to a high fever that takes a long time to go away.

5. Tea raises body temperature

The tannins in tea raise body temperature. Drinking a lot of tea, or tea that is too strong, overstimulates the brain. This raises blood pressure, which in turn raises body temperature further. Also, drinking tea while you have a fever can reduce or completely cancel the effect of fever-reducing medicine.

6. Avoid fizzy drinks when you are ill, especially with stomach problems

Like coffee, fizzy drinks dehydrate the body. They contain sugar, which suppresses the immune system and also upsets the digestive tract. They are also full of artificial sweeteners that are hard for the body to eliminate, causing bloating, indigestion and diarrhea.

7. Avoid snacks and hard, crunchy nuts if you have a sore throat

Snacks such as potato chips and bread scrape the throat as you swallow. Your throat gets more irritated and your condition gets worse. So it's best to steer clear of these foods as soon as you have a sore or inflamed throat!

8. Avoid alcohol with almost any illness

Like coffee, alcohol makes you urinate more, causing dehydration. After drinking, your body loses fluid while the alcohol level in your blood rises more quickly.

 Alcohol can also suddenly speed up digestion, causing diarrhea or undigested stools. On top of that, alcohol and medicine don't mix: alcohol can cancel out the effect of medicine and lead to other harmful effects.

9. Avoid fried and fatty foods when you have stomach problems

Greasy fried foods and fatty foods take longer to digest, so people with stomach problems may suffer from nausea or acid reflux.

What's more, eating a lot of fried food can cause intestinal cramps, making diarrhea worse and worse.

10. Avoid hot, spicy food when you have a runny nose

Capsaicin is the compound that makes food spicy. It can cause irritation that makes your nose run, so eating spicy food can turn a mild runny nose into a worse one.

11. Avoid sweets with almost any illness

Sweets are not good for people who are ill, especially those with stomach problems. The refined sugar in sweet foods can temporarily weaken the ability of white blood cells to fight bacteria. For several hours after eating something sweet, your immune system is much weaker, so your body becomes less effective at fighting off germs. Not only that, sugar also draws fluid into the digestive tract, leading to loose stools or diarrhea.