Mothers...Medicine...AND, Maxims

     While 'suffering' this, little bit of a cold, that I 'caught', recently, little more than a nuisance, really, although, yesterday, I felt, rather, 'ICKY', I have been wondering about something I used to hear, long ago, while being sick as a child. This, 'Pearl of Wisdom' being the 'universally accepted truth', 'Feed a cold...starve a fever'. In that I have, but, a cold, and, my appetite has NOT been impacted, I have been eating, as, typical, and, wondering, all the while, whether or not I was doing my cold any good, or, more, harm. My curiosity bested me, and, so, I've done a bit of research, regarding this Myth, passed down, over the years, by Mothers, and, here is some of what I've discovered. 'No one really knows the origins of the axiom, but most accounts link it back as early as 1574, when dictionary writer John Withals wrote “Fasting is a great remedie of fever.” In those days, medical wisdom dictated that a drop in body temperature caused colds, while fevers produced a temperature spike.The rationale behind “feed a cold, starve a fever” may have been that eating food and drinking tonic helped the body generate warmth during a cold, while laying off the calories helped temper the inner heat during a fever.' ~ As 'borrowed' from the website, DukeHealth. org ~ Other research has indicated that this, maxim, though, indeed, one of the oldest, is, also, a bit outdated. For, today's 'modern-thinkers', within the scope of modern-medicine, know a bit more than their predecessors in the field; and, it is now, a common-belief, that it is important to feed BOTH a cold AND a fever. Here's some data from the website, 'Scientific American' ~ Let’s take colds first. When your body fights an illness it needs energy, so eating healthy food is helpful. Eating can also help the body generate heat—although wearing an extra layer of clothes or slipping into bed can keep you warm, too. There’s no need to overeat, however. The body is quick to turn recently digested food into energy, and it’s also efficient at converting stored energy in fat. The reasons to eat for fever are more interesting. Fever is part of the immune system’s attempt to beat the bugs. 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. Replacing fluids is therefore critical to helping the body battle the infection. The same is true for combating colds. “You have to make yourself drink fluids, even though all you want to do is collapse,” says William Schaffner, chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. ~ So...there you have it, in case any of you has ever been curious about this, as well. My 'bottom-line' is this: I KNOW that I'm not TOO sick, as long as I have an appetite. It takes a great, deal, to prevent me from eating, I'll tell ya' that! Just knowing that my peanut-butter and 'nanner' 'sammie' has benefit for my wee. bit, o' illness, causes me pleasure. Now...as far as my waist-line is concerned, well...that's ANOTHER story! Just Sayin'...